Plain Language

plain-language

Purpose

Write so that a reader finds what they need, understands it the first time, and can act on it. This guide is based on the Federal Plain Language Guidelines, which support the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

Plain language is not simplified language. It does not remove detail. It puts the reader ahead of the writer.

Choosing between this and Simplified Technical English

• Use plain language when a general public reader must decide or act.
• Use Simplified Technical English when a technician follows a procedure.
• Follow one standard in one document. Do not mix them.

The two standards disagree in places. Plain language allows contractions and asks for a conversational tone. Simplified Technical English forbids contractions, because they are hard for a reader whose first language is not English. The reader decides which standard wins.

Audience

• Identify your reader before you write, and learn what they must do.
• Address the reader directly as you.
• Separate the guidance for each audience when one document serves several.

Organization

• Put the main idea before any exception or condition.
• Start each section with the point, not with the background.
• Give each paragraph a topic sentence.
• Write headings that state the content, and prefer the question the reader asks.
• Use a list when the text holds several conditions, steps, or items.
• Use transition words to show how one idea follows another.

Words

• Use the simple word in place of the formal word.
• Replace a hidden verb with the verb itself. Write apply, not make an application.
• Do not use jargon. Define a technical term when the reader needs it.
• Do not build long noun strings. Break them apart with prepositions.
• Use the same term for the same thing every time.
• Use few abbreviations. An abbreviation that the reader must memorize costs more than it saves.
• Define few terms. A definition that contradicts ordinary usage confuses the reader.
• Put each word close to the word that it modifies.

Concision

• Write short sentences, and put one idea in each sentence.
• Keep the subject, the verb, and the object close together.
• Write short paragraphs and short sections.
• State what is true rather than what is not true.

Tone

• Use the active voice, and name the actor.
• Use the present tense.
• Use must to state a requirement.
• Do not use shall. It is ambiguous, and courts have read it both ways.
• Use contractions where they suit the reader and the register.
• Give an example when a rule is hard to picture.
• Do not use a slash between two words. Write the relationship out.

Design

• Use a table when the reader must match a condition to a result.
• Highlight the concepts that carry the decision.
• Use few cross-references. Each one sends the reader away from the answer.
• Use a visual when it carries the meaning better than a sentence does.

Web

• Write link text that names the destination.
• Do not publish a long PDF where a web page serves the reader better.
• Rewrite print material for the web. Do not paste it.
• Avoid a page of frequently asked questions. Organize the content by topic instead.

Testing

• Test the document with real readers before you publish it.
• Ask a reader to restate the content in their own words.

Source and boundary

This skill is an operational digest written in our own words. The source is public domain under CC0, so it places no limit on quotation. This digest does not replace the official guidelines, which carry the examples and the rationale.

Standard: Federal Plain Language Guidelines

The original site at plainlanguage.gov now redirects to digital.gov. The archived guidelines in the repository above are the source of record.

Every statement above is accounted for in a public trace. Each one either cites a named guideline, or is marked as our own editorial guidance, or is marked as narrative that asserts no rule. The trace lives in the stylewright repository. It is not installed with this skill.

Notice

This skill is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the General Services Administration, the Plain Language Action and Information Network, or any United States government agency.