Writing in Plain English

Keep your sentences short. Use on average 20 words per sentence. Stick to one idea per sentence. Break long sentences into smaller sentences.

Use active voice. In active voice, The subject performs the action. In passive voice, the action is performed on the subject. Active voice is clearer and shorter. For example, say "Peter watches Television" instead of "The Television is being watched by Peter".

Use passive voice when needed. Passive voice is better in some cases. For example:

• To sound less hostile. Say "Mistakes were made in the report" instead of "You made mistakes in the report."
• To avoid taking blame. Say "The deadline was missed" instead of "We missed the deadline."
• When the doer is unknown. Say "The window was broken" instead of "Someone broke the window."

Use ‘you’ and ‘we’. Talk with the reader as if he’s next to you in the room. Call your organization ‘we’.

Use simple words understood by the public. Avoid words understood by a particular group of people.

Use commands. Say “do this” instead of “customers should do this”

Avoid nominalization. Nominalization makes writing dull and longer. Use verbs instead of nouns. Say “We discussed” instead of “We had a discussion”.

Split information into lists when appropriate.