Plain English

Plain English focuses on being a flexible and efficient writing style that readers can understand in one reading. It uses only as many words as are necessary. It combines

• clear, concise expression
• an effective structure
• good design

It tries to avoid obscurity, inflated vocabulary, and convoluted sentences. Proponents say that plain English lets readers concentrate on the message instead of complicated language.

History

Before the 20th century, it was fashionable for English-language writers to use a very bloated, rambling style. A sentence could take up half a page, with its subordinate clauses following several tangents. In some other European languages, such as German, sentences that were even more extensive were also frequent; the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel was known for writing sentences that easily occupied three pages.

It is not clear where this tradition came from, but it may have originated with classical Latin, in which such prose was perfectly acceptable.

Important Influences

In the late 19th century, several gifted writers (e.g., Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain) demonstrated that plain English could be elegant when executed properly (e.g., the Gettysburg Address); but they were ahead of their time.

During the 1920s, such style guides as William Strunk Jr.'s The Elements of Style actively promoted the idea of writing in plain English. However, it would take over fifty years for Strunk's ideas to become widely accepted.

George Orwell wrote an important essay on the subject in 1946, entitled "Politics and the English Language".

The plain English revolution finally penetrated the fields of law and government during the 1970s, as shown by the passage of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1976, and the popularity of books like Plain English for Lawyers (1979).

See also

• Style guide
• Basic English
• Plain language
• Plain Language Movement

References

• Strunk, William Strunk Jr. & White, E.B. (1918) The Elements of Style, ISBN 020530902X　(paperback 4th ed., 2000)
• Wydick, Richard C. (1979) Plain English for Lawyers Carolina Academic Press, ISBN 1594601518 (paperback 5th ed., 2005)
• Rook, Fern Slaying the English Jargon (1992) Society for Technical Communication, ISBN 0914548719
• Cutts, Martin (1996) The Plain English Guide Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198600496
• Williams, Joseph M. Style, Toward Clarity and Grace (1995) University Of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226899152

External links

• Plain English Campaign
• Plainlanguage.gov
• Plain English Foundation
• Politics and the English Language
• Plain language in Sweden, the results after 30 years
• The Word Centre
• Nigel Grant Training
• The WriteMark, New Zealand's plain English standard
• Write Group, New Zealand's plain English specialists
• Word Centre, The Plain English People U.K.
• United States Plain Language Network
• The Plain Language Association, International
• Clear as Mud, an Article from the BBC
• The cost of poor writing in business
• EServer TC Library: Minimalism (a collection of resources about plain language)