Plain English writing is a flexible and efficient writing style designed to be brief, clear and free of technical terminology. This writing style is commonly used in official government communication, including laws.

Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers was credited for bringing the plain English to life. Gowers was a distinguished British civil servant who was asked by the British Treasury to write a guide to show government officials how to avoid pretentious and excessively elaborate writing. He completed a writing guide essayshark and published it as “The Complete Plain Words” in 1954. Gowers’ writing guide has remained in print since its original publication.

The push to use plain English writing in the United States began in the 1970s. Congress passed The Paperwork Reduction Act in 1976 to condense and simplify the language used in many federal government documents. By 2010, the Plain Writing Act made it a requirement for all Federal agencies to write documents in plain English.

Plain English writing is designed to engage the reader on a basic level of understanding. It emphasizes being simple and direct in communication like on the top paper reviews. Documents using this writing style are clear, easily readable and effortless to follow. Their message does not get lost among a maze of confusing terminology and wordiness.

Sharing ideas is much easier to do if writing is designed to be easily understood by its target audience. The guiding principle behind writing in plain English is to use only enough words to get the message across. Using plain English means avoiding complicated language that will simply distract from the message at hand.

Plain English possesses several defining characteristics. It uses concise sentences that flow naturally. It is free of jargon and redundant words that distract the reader. Plain English uses active verbs to communicate. The content is well organized and is specific to the topic. A document written in plain English considers the needs of its readers. Novice writers tend to disregard these rules and fill their writing with passive verbs, long sentences, wordy phrases and complex words.

Related resources:

How to Write in Plain English

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