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Principle 2: Tangible
By 'tangible, we mean 'about the real world' - about things you can see, hear, smell, touch or taste; about specific, knowable facts. Why? Because people understand and respond to real world.
Which of the following sentences has more impact?
1. Rapid economic development in the area has contributed to worsening pollution and a general decline in public health.
2. Dozens of new factories have sprung up, all belching carbon monoxide and other fumes in a toxic cocktail that has caused an estimated 120 deaths in the last month alone.
This isn't an argument against expressing ideas, but it is an argument in favour of grounding those ideas in physical reality. As the poet William Carlos Williams said: 'No ideas but in things.'
The power of metaphor
One of the functions of metaphor is to provide a real world way of explaining an idea that would otherwise be vague or abstract - a stockmarket 'bubble' or an economic 'boom'.
Where it's tempting to use an abstraction, it may be worth looking for a metaphor (be careful though - an imprecise metaphor or a cliched one can be worse than the vague language you're trying to replace).
The dangers of vague language
At its most extreme, vague, abstract writing isn't just dull, it can also be misleading, because it leaves the real world behind. George Orwell's essay 'Politics and the English Language' provides several examples of this. (You can find the essay for free online - Google it - or in Orwell's book Why I Write.)