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Why plain English?

Everyone scan reads: we all have little time and short attention spans. Plain English helps people understand if and why your communication matters to them.

It gets your message across: it makes it clear to people what action they need to take, leading to better outcomes for you and your audience.

It's more accessible: it's better for

  • people who are anxious
  • people who find it hard to process information
  • people with learning difficulties, like dyslexia and autism
  • people whose second language is English,  including British Sign Language (BSL). Many people don't realise that BSL has a completely different grammatical structure to English.
  • even experts

Plain English in a nutshell

  1. Think about your audience
  2. Open with what matters most to your audience
  3. Use "you" and "we"
  4. Avoid the passive voice
  5. Keep sentences and paragraphs short
  6. Use lists
  7. Use the simplest words that work
  8. Avoid nominalisations ("zombie nouns")

These are explained in more detail below.

Things to think about

  • Think about your audience

    Take a few minutes to think about:

    • who your main audience is
    • your key message for them - one key thing you want them to know or do
    • why it's relevant to them: what need of theirs will it meet?
  • Open with what matters most to your audience

    Make your key message the first thing you say!

    Make it clear in:

    • the main heading or email subject line
    • the opening paragraph

    You can give the background, context and add mire details further down, if needed.

    Best practice example: The library will be closed on Saturday 9 April from 06:00 to 12:00 for electrical maintenance work.

    Bad practice example: Due to electrical maintenance, the library will be closed on Saturday 9 April from 06:00 to 12:00.

    Why: People will know at once if your message is relevant to them.

  • Use "you" and "we"

    Address your reader directly instead of using the third person. Make the text work for your core audience; other readers will know from the context if "you" really means them.

    Say "we" when referring to Ulster University or your Department/School/Faculty.

    If necessary (for example, in policies), you can define at the start who is meant by "we" and "you".

    Best practice example: We expect you to abide by our regulations.

    Bad practice example: The University expects staff and students to abide by its regulations.

    Why: it's more engaging for the audience and makes the organisation look more approachable. It also helps people understand what's relevant to them and whether they need to take action.

  • Avoid the passive voice

    Use active verbs. Make the protagonist of your sentence the person or thing that's doing something, not the thing that is being done.

    Best practice examples:

    • Sarah used the laptop
    • Send your application to ...

    Bad practice examples:

    • The laptop was used by Sarah
    • XXX receives applications

    Why: the active voice makes it easy to see who is doing what. It's clear who needs to take action and what they need to do.

    Exception: you might want to use the passive voice if you want to be less direct (to avoid apportioning the blame, for example). 'Your fine hasn't been paid', is softer than, 'You haven't paid your fine'.

  • Keep sentences and paragraphs short

    Try to make a single point per sentence. 15 to 20 words average sentence length are best. See if you can break a sentence into two.

    It's acceptable to start a new sentence with "and" or "but", but vary the length of your sentences so your text doesn't become dull.

    Paragraphs should make a single point:

    • Don't cover multiple points in one paragraph; start a new paragraph when you're changing topic
    • Start every paragraph with the key point that paragraph will cover. Make it clear in the first sentence

    Why: it's easier to find and digest information in small and clearly defined chunks.

  • Use lists

    Use bullets to make multiple points easy to scan. Use numbered lists to break down sequential steps.

    Why: your readers can scan information more easily.

  • Use the simplest words that work

    Substitute a simpler word to see if it would sound ok in your text - usually it will.

    If a complex word is the correct term and there's no simpler  way to say it, use it. If it's a technical term that might be new to your audience, define it the first time you use it.

    Examples:

    • 'Need' instead of 'require' or 'requirement'
    • 'Tell' instead of 'inform'
    • 'use' instead of 'utilise'
    • 'Help' instead of 'assist' or 'assistance'
    • 'Extra' or ',ore' instead of 'additional'

    We all make assumptions that everyone understands the second meaning of 'universally' understood words or phrases.

    So, for example the word 'key'. Many people use it to mean 'important', but if you only understand the literal meaning of the word (you put a key in a door), what you're describing will not make sense. What should be simple information becomes complex and difficult to understand. This will also be a barrier for people for whom English is not their first language.

    Try to avoid metaphors and common phrases like, 'chase that up' and 'reach out to us'. People with certain conditions or impairments will only understand the literal meaning of a word or phrase.

    Don't use jargon and acronyms unless you're sure the audience will know them: new people won't know many organisation-centric terms.

    It's better to use simple, concise English.

    More examples: A-Z of alternative words (Plain English Campaign)

    Grammarly is a free cloud-based writing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the mistake it locates.

  • Avoid nominalisations ("zombie nouns")

    Nominalisations are nouns made out of other words, often verbs. It's often better to use the base word in your sentence than the nominalisation.

    This 5-minutes video explains all: Beware of nominalisations (AKA Zombie Nouns) (YouTube)

    Examples:

    • 'Provide' instead of 'provision'
    • 'Fail' instead of 'failure'
    • 'Available' instead of 'availability'
    • 'Engage' instead of 'engagement'
    • 'Investigate' instead of 'investigatation'

    Why: nominalisations make sentences hard to process and can hide who is doing what.

Edit your text

Your first draft will probably not be as clear and concise as it could be.

Once you have a draft:

  1. Remind yourself of the audience's needs.
    1. Does it tell me if it's relevant for me straight away?
    2. Is it easy to scan and pick up on key themes?
  2. View suggested grammar and tone corrections from Grammarly. It helps sport passive voice, overly long sentences, complex words that could be changed into simpler ones, and so on. Use these suggestions to improve your draft.
  3. Can you shorten it? Look for padding you can cut, like:
    1. Please be aware that ...
    2. In order to ...
    3. Therefore, it is recommended that ...
    4. In the process of being ...
    5. Work collaboratively with ...

Readability guidelines

Content Design London has developed a universal content style guide based on usability evidence. Content collaborators in multiple sectors contributed to the project. They worked together to create evidence-based readability guidance.

The guidance has 5 sections: