Plain English

Twenty-five years of battling gobbledygook
It is twenty-five years since Martin Cutts, director of the Plain Language Commission, conceived the original Plain English Campaign and co-founded it with a public shredding of official forms in Parliament Square on 26 July 1979.

What is plain English?

Plain English refers to:

the writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a co-operative, motivated person a good chance of understanding the document at first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood.

This means pitching the language at a level of sophistication that suits the readers and using appropriate structure and layout to help them navigate through the document. It does not mean always using simple words at the expense of the most accurate words or writing whole documents in kindergarten language.

Here are our top tips for keeping your writing user-friendly:

• Over the whole document, make average sentence length 15 to 20 words.
• Use words your readers are likely to understand.
• Use only as many words as you really need.
• Prefer the active voice unless there’s a good reason for using the passive.
• Use the clearest, crispest, liveliest verb to express your thoughts.
• Use vertical lists to break up complicated text.
• Put your points positively when you can.
• Reduce cross-references to the minimum.
• Try to avoid sexist usage.
• In letters, avoid fusty first sentences and formula finishes.
• Put accurate punctuation at the heart of your writing.
• Avoid being enslaved by writing myths.
• Plan before you write.
• Organize your material in a way that helps readers to grasp the important information early and to navigate through the document easily.
• Consider different ways of setting out your information.
• Devote special effort to producing lucid and well-organized instructions.
• Use clear layout to present your plain words in an easily accessible way.

For more on plain English see Martin Cutt's Oxford Guide to Plain English.