Table Of ContentCover page Page: i
Halftitle page Page: i
Title page Page: iii
Copyright page Page: iv
Contents Page: v
Acknowledgements Page: vii
Starting points Page: ix
The thirty guidelines Page: xxiv
Summary of the twelve main guidelines Page: xxvi
1. Planning comes first Page: xxxviii
Getting started with a plan Page: 2
Creating a core statement and horizontal document plan Page: 3
Alternative approaches to planning Page: 6
Strategic planning: learning from readers Page: 8
Finally Page: 9
2. Organizing your material in a reader-centred structure Page: 9
Model 1: Top-heavy triangle (‘news triangle’) Page: 11
Model 2: Problem-cause-solution Page: 13
Model 3: Chronological order Page: 14
Model 4: Questions and answers Page: 14
Model 5: S-C-R-A-P (Situation, Complication, Resolution, Action, Politeness) Page: 15
Model 6: S-O-A-P (Situation, Objective, Appraisal, Proposal) Page: 15
Model 7: PARbox emails Page: 17
Model 8: The 5 P’s (Position, Problem, Possibilities, Proposal, Packaging) Page: 17
Model 9: Correspondent’s order Page: 18
Model 10: Full-dress report Page: 19
Finally Page: 21
3. Writing short sentences and clear paragraphs Page: 21
Split and disconnect Page: 23
Split and connect Page: 24
Say less Page: 25
Use a list Page: 26
Cut verbiage Page: 26
Start afresh Page: 27
Developing paragraphs from topic sentences Page: 29
Other common paragraph patterns Page: 30
4. Preferring plain words Page: 32
Is there no place for unusual words? Page: 35
Use simpler alternatives Page: 40
Reorganize the sentence Page: 41
Examples of good plain words that show empathy Page: 42
Adjusting the style to the audience Page: 45
Conquering fear Page: 47
Plain English word list Page: 47
Frequency count Page: 54
5. Writing concisely Page: 56
Striking out useless words (padding) Page: 59
Pruning the dead wood, grafting on the vigorous Page: 62
Shortening wordy prepositional (‘prep’) phrases Page: 63
Rewriting completely Page: 64
Test your word-saving skills Page: 66
6. Favouring active-voice verbs Page: 67
Recognizing active-voice verbs (‘active verbs’, for short) Page: 69
Recognizing passive-voice verbs (‘passive verbs’, for short) Page: 70
Converting passives to actives Page: 72
Why the active should be your first choice Page: 73
Using ‘I’ or ‘we’ in formal reports Page: 75
Warning: passives can be useful Page: 76
Checking your passive percentage Page: 77
7. Using vigorous verbs Page: 77
Nominalization linked to parts of ‘to be’ or ‘to have’ Page: 80
Nominalization linked to active verbs or infinitives Page: 81
Nominalizations linked to passive verbs Page: 82
When the going gets tougher Page: 83
8. Using vertical lists Page: 84
Keeping the listed items in parallel Page: 85
Punctuating the listed items Page: 88
Numbering the listed items Page: 91
Seeing the possibility for vertical lists Page: 91
9. Converting negative to positive Page: 92
Some uses for negatives Page: 97
10. Using good punctuation Page: 97
Full stop (.) Page: 99
Comma (,) Page: 100
Colon (:) Page: 102
Semicolon (;) Page: 103
Dash (–) Page: 105
Square brackets [ ] Page: 106
Brackets ( ) Page: 106
Capitals Page: 107
Hyphen (-) Page: 109
Apostrophe (’) Page: 112
Possession Page: 112
Ellipsis (…) Page: 116
Quotation marks (‘‘ ”) or (‘ ’) Page: 116
Exclamation mark (!) Page: 118
Question mark (?) Page: 118
11. Using good grammar Page: 118
Examples of bad grammar: a quiz Page: 124
12. Keeping errors in Czech: its time to Proof read Page: 128
What is proofreading? Page: 130
Proofreading on screen Page: 130
Proofreading on paper Page: 131
Common sources of error Page: 131
Checking against copy Page: 134
For the professionals Page: 134
When in doubt Page: 135
13. Dealing with some troublesome words and phrases Page: 136
Troublesome words and phrases Page: 138
Words often confused Page: 151
14. Using or avoiding foreign words Page: 153
15. Undoing knotty noun strings Page: 158
16. Reducing cross-references Page: 160
17. Exploring and exploding some writing myths Page: 163
Myth 1: Never start a sentence with ‘But’ (or similar conjunctions) Page: 164
Myth 2: Never put a comma before ‘and’ Page: 168
Myth 3: Never end a sentence with a preposition Page: 168
Myth 4: Never split your infinitives Page: 170
Myth 5: Never write a one-sentence paragraph Page: 172
Myth 6: Write as you speak Page: 172
18. Avoiding clichés Page: 172
19. Pitching your writing at the right level Page: 177
Average reading age Page: 178
Examples of text written at the average level Page: 179
Readability tests that can help you check the level of difficulty Page: 181
Drawbacks and uses of readability tests Page: 182
20. Writing sound starts and excellent endings Page: 183
Trap 1: Writing an unfinished sentence Page: 184
Trap 2: Repeating the heading Page: 185
Trap 3: Archaic language Page: 186
Finishing well Page: 187
Conventions on opening and closing Page: 187
21. Creating better emails Page: 188
Planning and structure Page: 190
Standards to follow Page: 190
Formality in the text Page: 191
Checking carefully Page: 192
Abbreviations, emojis, and emoticons Page: 193
22. Using inclusive language Page: 193
Neutral language Page: 194
Disability language Page: 199
Language of ethnicity and skin colour Page: 199
LGBT, etc. on business forms Page: 201
Transgender language Page: 202
23. Using alternatives to words alone Page: 204
Tables Page: 205
Other possibilities with text and tables Page: 206
Decision trees Page: 209
Strip cartoons Page: 210
24. Caring enough about customers to write to them clearly Page: 212
Baffling or browbeating the customers doesn’t help Page: 214
Even the regulators screw up Page: 215
It’s that full-stop problem again Page: 216
What good writers do Page: 217
25. Overseeing colleagues’ writing Page: 219
Working with the team Page: 221
Making the right interventions Page: 223
Final thoughts Page: 227
26. Writing better instructions Page: 228
Principle 1: Remember the readers Page: 231
Principle 2: Favour a basic style of language Page: 232
Principle 3: Split the information into chunks Page: 233
Principle 4: Use separate headed sections Page: 235
Principle 5: Use clear illustrations with good labels and captions Page: 237
Principle 6: Test with typical users Page: 239
27. Clarifying for the Web Page: 242
Get help and plan Page: 244
Create scannable text Page: 244
Build attractive and accessible pages Page: 246
Help people find your site: the essentials Page: 248
Check your site thoroughly for errors, nonsense, and officialese Page: 249
Cut waffle to make the text more scannable Page: 251
28. Making legal language lucid Page: 252
Changes under way Page: 254
What else can be done about legalese? Page: 257
Replace or remove legal flavouring Page: 258
Chop up those snakes Page: 261
Put people into the writing Page: 262
Add some relevant headings Page: 263
Plainer writing, clearer judgments Page: 265
Invasion of the Fog People Page: 266
29. Writing low-literacy plain English Page: 268
Who needs this kind of writing? Page: 269
Testing is the key Page: 270
Preparing low-literacy materials Page: 271
Using difficult terms Page: 272
Language that’s dumbed down or cleared up? Page: 272
Numbers: figures or words? Page: 274
Accuracy: gains and losses Page: 274
Proofread carefully Page: 275
Type size and style Page: 275
Adding a contents page and summary to longer documents Page: 275
Examples: transforming text into low-literacy English Page: 275
Pictures and gestures Page: 277
Effects of plain English Page: 277
Getting professional help Page: 280
Web writing Page: 280
30. Clarifying page layout: some basics Page: 281
What’s the best way to get a feel for good layout? Page: 282
In paper documents, what’s a good page size to use? Page: 283
What are the key variables to control for high legibility? Page: 284
So which is the best typeface to use for high legibility? Page: 287
How should type be used to emphasize words? Page: 288
Any hints on the use of white space? Page: 288
Is it a good idea to reverse out the type? Page: 289
Should type be printed on a coloured background? Page: 289
Is it a good idea to track or scale the type? Page: 290
What does ‘hierarchy of headings’ mean? Page: 290
Should I use justified type? Page: 290
Does colour help? Page: 291
What paper should I use? Page: 291
Doesn’t decent layout cost more? Page: 292
Appendix 1: Commonest words Page: 301
Top 150 Nouns Page: 306
Top 300 Verbs Page: 306
Top 150 Adjectives Page: 306
Top 150 Adverbs Page: 306
Appendix 2: A Short History of Plain-English Moments Page: 306
Recent times: the US Page: 310
Recent times: the UK Page: 313
Recent times: other countries Page: 316
Promoting plain language internationally Page: 317
Sources and notes Page: 319
General Sources Page: 319
Legal Language Page: 319
Specific Sources and Notes Page: 320
Index Page: 325
Description:Plain English is the art of writing clearly, concisely, and in a way that precisely communicates your message to your intended audience. This book offers expert advice to help writers of all abilities improve their written English. With 30 chapters, each centred around a practical guideline, its coverage is extensive, including lessons on vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, layout, proofreading, and organization. There are also hundreds of real examples to show how it's done, with handy 'before' and 'after' versions. All this is presented in a straightforward and engaging way. This new edition has been fully revised, reorganized, and updated to make its content even more accessible. There are new chapters discussing customer-service writing and common blunders in the workplace, while other sections have been amended to update examples and provide easier routes through the book. The chapter on sexism, in particular, has been heavily expanded to advise on the use of inclusive language in general. A new appendix has also been added, summarising the history of plain English from Chaucer to the present day.
