Learn Plain Writing Today. Be a Better Writer in High Demand

The U.S. federal law demands all government documents be written in plain language. There are several acts of U.S. Congress that mandate plain English documentation in finance, credit, medical, housing etc. transactions.

There are dozens of ways to write plainly. Here are the first four selected principles of plain writing. The most important of them is: write in short sentences.

Communicating information through well-constructed lists is a great plain writing technique. This lecture offers you the chance to practice what you have learned and try your hand at writing a well-structured list.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR. First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

Contrary to what some people believe, using definite and indefinite articles in your writing like "a," "an," or "the" creates sentences that are easier to read. This lecture offers you the chance to practice improving your sentences by using definite and indefinite articles.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR. First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

Here are four more principles of plain writing. For example: eliminate ambiguity from your writing. Eliminate all nouns and verbs with multiple meanings and thus which can be misunderstood.

Eliminate ambiguity by eliminating words or phrases that suggest more things than one. This lecture offers you the chance to practice improving your sentences by eliminating ambiguity.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR. First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

Another golden principle of plain writing: do not assume too much on the part of your readers. What the readers get out of your writing may not be exactly what you had in mind. Several examples explain the hazards of making assumptions on your readers' behalf.

Some of the confusion in daily writing is due to the use of homonyms (words that spell and pronounce the same but have different meanings) and homographs (words that spell the same but are pronounced differently and have different meanings).

We cannot assume that the reader knows which meaning of the word we are exactly referring to. This becomes more of a problem with international readers and ESL students whose native tongue is not English.

It is much better to replace those words with other words or phrases that would make our meaning crystal clear.

In this exercise try to replace one or more of the homonyms and homographs with their plain counterparts to create a text that is easier to read and easier to understand.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR. First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

When you are presented with a complicated paragraph or text, sometimes the best way to present the same infomration plainly is to create a table. Sometimes tables communicate the same content much more efficiently than a paragraph. Several examples illustrate the point.

Use tables to present complex information and long descriptions that are hard to read and remember. Using tables to organize text into a pleasing visual format increases comprehension and retention considerably. This lecture offers you the chance to practice improving your sentences by organizing long and confusing blocks of text into great tables.

Select the attached TWO EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR. First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISES. Then compare your result to the solutions offered in the SOLUTIONS sheets.

Double negatives within the same sentences are a load on the mind; they are not easy to process. Get rid of double negatives for good clear plain writing.

Using gender-free language is a fundamental principle of modern non-fiction prose. This lesson provides many examples showing how you can replace the male-indexed old-fashioned language with its gender-free counterpart.

Using gender-free language is a fundamental principle of modern non-fiction prose. This lecture offers you the chance to practice what you have learned and try your hand at replacing sexist language with its non-sexist counterpart.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR.

First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

Eliminate all forms of the verb "to be" for writing that breathes freely and communicates with power. Examples provided in this lecture demonstrate how you can do that easily.

Eliminate all forms of the verb "to be" for writing that breathes freely and communicates with power.  This lecture offers you the chance to try your hand at replacing all forms of the verb "To Be" with other verbs or expressions for creating a text easier to read and understand.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR.

First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.

Unnecessary ornaments clutter a paragraph and make sentences hard to comprehend and remember. Follow the examples provided in this lecture for good clean writing without such deadwood.

Unnecessary ornaments clutter a paragraph and make sentences hard to comprehend and remember.

REWRITE the paragraph in the EXERCISE file plainly by eliminating as many “ornaments” as possible.

Select the attached EXERCISE and SOLUTION sheets (both PDF files) from the RESOURCES drop-down list on the RIGHT SIDEBAR.

First, try your hand at doing the EXERCISE. Then compare your result to the solution offered in the SOLUTION sheet.