Dictionary of English - plain English

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This is the kind of English to use in business: in letters, memos, reports to your colleagues, documents giving information to the public, promotional material, coursework and examination essays, or in any situation in which you are giving information, or want to persuade or interest.

Plain English is clear, concise, effective, interesting English. It saves time, paper, and misunderstanding, and so it saves money.

To make your English clear, you need to put yourself in the position of your reader, and decide what they need to know. In addition to the main facts, is there any background information you need to provide so that the reader can understand them? What is the most helpful way to order the information.

Show how your ideas are related. It may be obvious to you, but your readers will be happier if you give them signposts. Connect sentences with words and phrases such as for example; however; on the other hand; but; besides; so; at first; secondly; in other words; in the first place; as a result; eventually; otherwise.

If you need to deal with several questions, provide a clear heading for each.

Some information is very simple, and can be given in a straightforward way, but some is complicated. Would examples help? If the information is rather general, can you say what its practical implications are.

Write in everyday English. This will often save thinking time, for you can use the words that you first thought of when you got your aims straight for yourself. Don't waste time and lose clarity by wrapping up the plain facts in flowery language, long words, unnecessary technical terms, legalese, officialese, bureaucratic language, jargon, clichés, unnecessary words, or any other form of gobbledegook. Research shows that simple language sells products and services better than any other kind.

Don't waffle or pad. Be direct. Use we for your organization, rather than talking about it in the third person, and use you for the readers. For example, don't say, The Sheffield and Manchester Building Society is endeavouring to develop a wider client base, and to this end is offering an attractive package to first time mortgage applicants. Say, If you are a first-time borrower, you pay a lower rate of interest. Don't be pompous. That is, don't use phrases such as not unmindful.

In objective scientific writing there is good reason to use the passive, and to use long nouns made from verbs: The leaves were classified; the classification of the leaves. Who did the classifying is irrelevant. But where people matter, or emotions are involved, use active verbs rather than passive ones, and prefer the concrete to the abstract.

Keep sentences reasonably short, but not too short. Fifteen to twenty words is a good average. Don't be afraid to add a comma if it will make something clearer, particularly before and. What do you understand by the following sentence: The articles were sorted by size and price labels attached.

Did you start by thinking that the articles had been sorted according to size AND price, and then have to go back and re-analyse the sentence to see that and here joins two clauses and not two nouns? A comma before and would have prevented the confusion.

If you produce documents of which large numbers of copies go to the public, other companies, or government departments, you may like to have the help of Plain English Campaign, 'an independent organization which fights for clear, effective business communication and wants to stamp out all forms of gobbledegook.' For a fee, they will edit, write, and design documents, and train staff. They are particularly concerned with official documents and consumer contracts. They publish an A-Z of alternative words, plain English alternatives for words that make writing dull, confusing, or long-winded.

Plain English Campaign is at PO Box 3, New Mills, Stockport, SK12 4QP. Their telephone number is 01663 744409.

The flag was selected following a design competition. The waves represent the Pacific Ocean. Effective date: 12 July 1979. >>