Plain English or plain language means communicating your thoughts and ideas to your audience in a language they can easily understand. Writing in plain language is a law in the US. 

What is plain English?

As the Plain Writing Act of 2010 defines, plain language is “Writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.”

Writing in plain language does not mean watering down the content. It does not mean giving away the depth and essence of the content for the sake of simplicity. Instead it means writing precisely using vocabulary that your target audience will understand. 

What exactly makes writing in plain language stand out? Let’s look at three basics of plain English or plain language:    

Basics of plain language

Avoid unfamiliar vocabulary

Plain language uses words and phrases that do not need defining. However, this does not mean that you have to get rid of jargon in technical documents. If your target audience is well-familiar with it, by all means you can use technical terms in your document. However, if your audience might find them difficult to understand, it’s best to avoid jargon.  

For example, let’s say, you are writing two documents for a clinical trial. One of the documents is intended for doctors while the other one is for patients. If you say “the nurse will administer the injection to the patient” in the doctor-oriented document, doctors will understand it without any trouble. Because “administer” is a term medical professionals are aware of. However, if you use the same sentence in the patient-oriented document, patients may not understand it right away. The word “administer” can be confusing for patients. Instead, if you say “the nurse will give you the injection,” patients will easily and quickly understand it.     

Write concisely

Writing in plain language is concise and succinct. It avoids wordiness – it cuts down unnecessary and redundant words. It uses simple sentences instead of long-winded ones. 

However, reducing word count is not the primary goal of plain writing. Writing clearly is the top priority when in Plain English. This sometimes means using more words, if that’s what makes the content comprehensible.    

For example, consider the following sentence:

“State law requires all eligible citizens to be registered to vote.”

Now consider this revised sentence:

“If you are an eligible citizen, state law requires you to register to vote.” 

The revised sentence is longer than the original, but it’s easier to understand. It clearly states that you first need to check if you’re eligible to register to vote, and if you are, you must register, because it is required by state law. 

Clarify the subject and the object

Making a document easier to understand is the primary goal of plain language. Towards that end, it uses sentences that clearly lay out what action needs to be taken and by whom. It uses a conversational tone to speak directly to the person who is reading the document. Instead of heavy words such as “addressee” or “signee,” it simply uses “you” to refer to the person to whom the document is addressed or the person who is signing the document. 

Sentences in plain language clearly indicate the subject and the object. This means most sentences are written in the active voice.

For example, consider the following sentence:

“Premium subscription must be purchased by the licensee to upgrade the software.”

The same sentence is much simpler and more effective when you use a conversational tone and remove the passive voice:

“You must purchase a premium subscription to upgrade the software.”

Plain English movement in the US

Efforts to make official documents easier to understand have been going on for many decades. In the US, these efforts gained momentum in the 1970s when the federal government began encouraging its writers to write “less bureaucratically” and devoted resources to study problems in public documentation. 

In the 1980s, lawyers became interested in the movement. Namely, Professor Joseph Kimble of the Thomas Cooley Law School became an active advocate of plain legal writing. By the 2000s, many government agencies had initiated their own plain language programs. Around the same time, Arthur Levitt, the then Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), realized that investors would benefit from the use of plain language in financial documents. SEC then published its own “Plain English Handbook” to guide companies on writing clear SEC disclosure documents. 

The plain writing efforts culminated into the “Plain Writing Act” in 2010, which requires US federal agencies to use clear government communication that the public can understand and use. (plainlanguage.gov)

Plain English has since found its application in various forms of workplace writing, including technical writing. Plain language basics – avoiding unfamiliar vocabulary, writing concisely, and clarifying the subject and the object – apply to all types of technical content. Technical documents are used by people in action – when they are installing something, repairing something, or stuck while doing something. Giving them necessary information in a clear and concise manner saves them a significant amount of time and unnecessary frustration.