20 Rules of Plain English
Contents
1. Try one The president said she hoped all employees would give generously to the charity at a staff meeting today 58 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Use prepositions with care Prepositions are words that connect or relate nouns and pronouns to other words They can relate things spatially in time or figuratively Some common prepositions e about e according to e at e across e beneath e down e by e for e of e into e on e next to e through e on top of e to e over e with e up For years many students were told not to end sentences with prepositions a dangling preposition This is a rule that you should ignore English has always had sentences that end with prepositions was That is the sort of English up with which I will not put His reply pokes fun at the awkward sentences that often result if you try to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition Examples of bad fixes That s an area into which we don t want to get He s the consultant about whom you spoke This is the styleguide about which they referred Examples That s a behaviour we can t put up with That s an area we don t want to get into He s the consultant you spoke about This is the styleguide they referred to If your sentences sometimes sound like these are you avoiding placing a preposition at the end Many writers do but don t realize that2. Cursor over to the right of the screen His presentation was totally radical Hey dude look at these figures Some writers will use slang but place it in single quotes Here s what Strunk and White authors of The Elements of Style have to say about this practice If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase simply use it do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks To do so is to put on airs as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better New words to consider AQUADEXTROUS ak wa deks trus adj Possessing the ability to turn a faucet on and off with your toes CARPERPETUATION kar pur pet ua shun n The act when vacuuming of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times reaching over and picking it up examining it then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance DISCONFECT dis kon fekt v To sterilize a piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it assuming this will somehow remove all the germs ELBONICS el bon iks n The actions of two people manoeuvring for one armrest in a movie theatre FRUST frust n The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he or she finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug LACTOMANGULATION lak toe man gyu lay shun n Manhandling th
3. that are punctuated last proposal differently Because which introduces a clause that could be placed in Exercise 18 Which and that Review each sentence and decide if which and that are used correctly The manager plans to take us to the new Thai restaurant that is in our old office building Penticton which lies within the Okanagan Valley is shown on the attached map The proposal which we liked best was from Acme Printing and Binding The Committee reviewed the best plans that were submitted We could not find the digital file which was missing 60 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid surplus nouns Avoid nouns that don t add meaning or precision Watch out for Example They were interested in the e approach e location decentralized decision making e e area environmen concept No e concept e situation l i e condition e type They were interested in decentralized decision making Yes Try one The meeting was delayed by the courier shortage situation Avoid noun and modifier strings Avoid stringing nouns or modifiers together Even two word strings can be taken in several ways How many different meanings can you think of for management option Instead unstack strings to make the meaning clear Before you use strings ask yourself if all your readers will know what yov re talking about Instead
4. 71 Capitalize properly Capitalize proper nouns only names Exercise 25 List 10 types of things of people objects and entities Don t that should be capitalized capitalize a word because you think it s important or you want it to stand out 1 Capitalization helps readers distinguish the names of things from the descriptions of things Some capitalization varies depending on local practice For example some organizations usually capitalize the following words e Board e Act e e J ile O eile oo IRS Corporation Company m S Exercise 26 Should these be capitalized Review the following and decide if they re capitalized correctly e Audit Of Financial And Management Practices title of report Kootenay regional district the Regional District referring to above district management staff the transportation of dangerous goods act the Act referring to above lower mainland greater Vancouver Northwestern British Columbia we audited three Ministries the insurance corporation of British Columbia the Corporation referring to ICBC the Board heard three submissions the Manager Human Resources the manager of human resources 72 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Abbreviate with care Abbreviations acronyms and initialisms referred to here simply as abbreviations are just code to those who don t know them so use them with care Whil
5. or widen the text column The chances of someone reading your writing are inversely proportional to its size IF YOU WANT 10 PAGES IT LL TAKE ALL DAY IF YOU WANT 5 PAGES IT LL TAKE LONGER y Signs and Notices From Around the World Leipzig Elevator Do not en ter the j lift bac ly kwards When lit up Swiss Inn Special today no ice cream L oa 70 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid foreign words Avoid foreign words in your writing unless they have come into common use or there s no substitute Spell them out in full Exercise 22 What do these foreign words and phrases mean pro bono gratis ipso facto est la vie tout fini savoir faire je ne sais quoi Abbreviation English equivalent e g for example or for instance 1 e that is or that is to say etc and so on or introduce the list with such as Avoid Roman numerals many of your readers will get confused Avoid Latin abbreviations Most of your readers won t know the words that these terms abbreviate In particular many people confuse e g and i e Exercise 23 What Latin words do these abbreviations stand for e g i e etc Exercise 24 Translate these numbers Ix M CM XC MCMXCIX MM Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English
6. s what they re doing Omit prepositions if you can without changing the meaning In the following examples the underlined prepositions are unnecessary and can be omitted Winston Churchill was once corrected by a senior army officer for ending a sentence with a preposition His reply Examples All of the managers went to the meeting We moved the files off of the server The study area is too near to the cafeteria We began at about 9 00 a m Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 59 Distinguish which from that Use which to introduce non parentheses it is preceded with a restrictive clauses clauses that don t comma But because that introduces narrow or restrict the meaning Such a clause that s integral to the sentence clauses could be put into parentheses and could not be placed in or removed entirely without altering parentheses it is not preceded with a the essential meaning of the sentence comma Use that for restrictive Example clauses clauses that narrow or restrict the meaning Such clauses are always integral to the sentence and could not be put into parentheses or We rejected the last proposal which was sent by fax The rejected proposal happens to have been removed entirely without altering the faxed essential meaning of the sentence We rejected the last proposal that was sent by fax But not necessarily the Which and
7. Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 55 MODULE 5 20 Rules of Plain English Now that you ve mastered the basics of plain English you ll want to learn more of the rules This module covers 20 of the most important rules to remember as you write These are the rules that most writing styleguides agree on Of course rules are meant to be broken and these are no exception The rules are meant to provide you with useful guidelines to help you make writing decisions not to be followed slavishly 20 key rules write in parallel ways keep related words together use prepositions with care distinguish which from that avoid surplus nouns avoid noun and modifier strings use pronouns with care avoid slang be gender neutral be specific avoid clich s place modifiers carefully avoid unnecessary qualification use contractions be concise avoid foreign words capitalize properly abbreviate with care write numbers consistently ignore some old rules 56 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Write in parallel ways Parallelism means being consistent in how you structure your writing Once you establish a pattern use it Parallelism makes reading faster and easier Keep items in a list parallel Each item should be constructed in a similar way and start with the same kind of word such as a noun or verb If one item is a whole sentence they all should be Examples Parallel
8. al antecedents Use these tactics to avoid gender specific pronouns or worse awkward constructions like he she e Repeat the noun despite what your English teacher may have said don t worry about using the same word over again e If appropriate make the antecedent plural so you can use they them or their for example talk about clerks instead of the clerk e Drop the pronoun entirely or re cast the sentence so that a pronoun is not necessary Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 65 Be specific Avoid abstract or inexact terms In business your readers are looking for solid descriptive information facts figures and directions Exercise 20 Revise these sentences to replace the general and the inexact with the exact and the concrete Mud the gyproc with a thin layer of filler then wait for awhile before sanding To ensure that the deadline can be met the draft must be finished quickly Some staff experienced computer problems Turn the bolt until it s quite tight Avoid unnecessary expenditures Be aware of suspicious transactions 66 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid clich s Clich s are time worn phrases that have lost their original freshness and can usually be replaced with one or two simple words Many of the more colourful clich s such as let s not beat around the bush have lost their orig
9. cannot contractions to give your writing an don t do not informal conversational tone Without rd I would them your writing will sound formal Pil I will and maybe a bit stilted Pm Iam it ll it will You may want to avoid using it s it is contractions in formal documents such she d he d she would he would as legal contracts or annual reports or she ll he ll she will he will where you want to emphasize the she s he s she is he is words For example You will go to the theres thereais doctor they ll they will they re they are were we are won t will not you ll you will you re you are Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 69 Be concise Remove all unnecessary words to keep your writing as short as possible You may find that your first draft contains unnecessary wording or redundant expressions Take the time to weed out these space wasters Your readers will thank you Ways to reduce words e understand what your readers need e stick to essential information and skip the marginal details e use active verbs e use everyday words e avoid redundant expressions such as abundantly clear e avoid clich s such as in the neighbourhood of Ways not to eliminate words or to make it look like fewer words e drop articles and verbs see Abbreviated scientific style page 7 e use acronyms instead e make the type smaller than 10 points e reduce line spacing
10. e open here spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the illegal side PEPPIER pehp ee ay n The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper 64 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Be gender neutral Don t make assumptions about gender If youre talking about all managers don t use he or she or his or hers unless you know that it will always be one gender or the other Avoid gender specific nouns Many new gender neutral nouns have entered the language in the last few decades Here are just a few Example The manager antecedent must submit his pronoun budget to head office Gender specific The managers must submit their reports to head office Gender neutral The manager must submit the report to head office Pronoun omitted Gender specific Gender neutral chairman chair or chairperson fisherman fisher actress actor fireman firefighter waitress server delegates and delegates and their their wives spouses workman worker Many writers run into trouble with personal pronouns because English does not have singular gender neutral personal pronouns He his she and hers are all gender specific Pronouns such as they their and them while neutral must refer back to plur
11. e they may make for quick communications among those in the know they re a problem particularly for newcomers and novices Example The ADM cc d the Mgr ISD on the email to the dept reps re the LCDs and attached the SOP on PDFing POs e form the plural by simply adding an s don t use an apostrophe unless it would be confusing for example CRTs but GI s e generally drop periods unless it would be confusing or it s accepted practice BC IBM COD ft e always use periods for Mr Mrs Ltd Co and Dr it s accepted practice Form 223 Avoid spell them out Tips on using abbreviations e use as few as possible and only when readers will understand them e never coin any of your own e avoid abbreviations of foreign words such as 1 e e g and etc use the English equivalents e spell them out the first time you use them Did you know Though the term abbreviations is used here to cover abbreviations acronyms and initialisms the following are definitions of each Abbreviation a shortened form of a word such as ft Acronym composed of the initial letters or parts of a compound term that is usually read as a single word rather than letter by letter such as scuba self contained underwater breathing apparatus Initialism composed o
12. ent s policy guidelines This prevented them from being processed Antecedents not clear The manager s expense reports were incomplete and were beyond the per diem rates set out in the Superintendent s policy guidelines The lack of completion prevented the reports from being processed Clear Example I gave him the file but he gave me nothing Okay Bob and me went over the figures together No Bob and I The above example is confusing because of the compound subject Bob and me In this case you can check the pronoun me by temporarily omitting Bob List of personal pronouns Subjective Objective Possessive First person Singular I me my mine Plural we us our ours Second person Singular you you your yours Plural you you your yours Third person Singu Masculine he him his lar Feminine she her hers Neutral it it its Plural they them theirs theirs Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 63 Avoid slang Avoid slang also known as colloquialisms words or uses of accepted words that are not generally considered proper Many commonly accepted words began as slang but have come into general use When you decide that a word is acceptable will depend on how liberal or conservative you are with the language and how formal your document is Examples of slang It was cutting edge technology
13. f the initial letters or parts of a compound term but usually read letter by letter rather than as a single word such as rpm revolutions per minute Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 73 Write numbers consistently Guidelines for using numbers in text e spell out numbers from one through nine e use figures for 10 and greater except numbers rounded to millions for example 10 million Ignore some old rules Here are some of the rules of English usage that you can safely ignore in business writing e don t use personal pronouns such as I we or you except in informal documents see Writing points of view page 39 and Use pronouns with care page 62 e don t use simple everyday words use your thesaurus and find an impressive one see Word choice page 44 e don t use contractions see Use contractions page 68 if one number in a sentence is 10 or greater then use figures for all numbers for example 4 apples 5 oranges and 12 pears except for one which is always spelled out always spell out a number used at the beginning of a sentence form plurals of numbers by adding s for example 747s avoid dangling prepositions see Use prepositions with care page 58 vary sentence structure to maintain reader interest see Active and passive verbs page 50 vary sentence length see Sentence length page 42 va
14. inal literal meaning While readers know this clich means let s get to it most could not explain the significance of the bush or the act of beating Exercise 21 Replace the following clich s with everyday words please feel free to call between a rock and hard place in connection with with regard to six of one half a dozen of the other with respect to easier said than done as already stated pursuant to your letter all things considered enclosed herewith is to say the least to explore every avenue in the neighbourhood of to a certain extent as a matter of fact suffice it to say hit the nail on the head the fact of the matter is we beg to acknowledge avoid clich s like the plague Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 67 Place modifiers carefully Watch where you place modifiers such 99 66 99 66 99 66 as only almost already even Just nearly merely and always Consider how the placement of one of these small words can alter the meaning of the sentence Example The company wants to negotiate the union s offer Only the company wants to negotiate the union s offer The company wants only to negotiate the union s offer The company wants to negotiate only the union s offer The company wants to negotiate the union s only offer The compa
15. ny wants to negotiate the union s offer only Examples They just wanted a time extension No They wanted just a time extension Better They almost spent five days writing the report No They spent almost five days writing the report Yes Try one The annual report only provides year end figures From Monday s classified ads a ec FORE SALE R D Jones has one sewing machine for sale Phone 555 0707 after 7 p m and ask for Mrs j t Kelly who lives with him cheap d Se Ti i Gy ss ea From Tuesday s classified ads LO A r n i os NOTICE We regret having erred in R D Jone s ad yesterday It should have read One sewing machine for j sale Cheap Call 555 0707 and ask for Mrs Kelly who lives with him after 7 p m a a agent ee w 68 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid unnecessary qualification Don t qualify words that don t need to be qualified totally committed completely devoted utterly rejected perfectly clear entirely finished quite precise radically new totally compatible somewhat unique relatively precise partially committed Use contractions WE RE SOMEWHAT COMPATIBLE THAT S RELATIVELY PRECISE Contractions are words formed by Common contractions joining two words together and dropping some letters Use can t
16. of Write component reference designators designators for referring to components marketing plan analysis analysis of the marketing plan long range failure prevention program long range program for preventing failures typical user interface problem area areas where users typically have problems Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 61 Exercise 19 Rewrite the following noun and modifier strings so their meaning is clear problem responsibility changes ad hoc report generation utility obsolete cardholder file operator induced failure rate increase problem non literate personnel manager 62 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Use pronouns with care A pronoun is a word that represents a noun The noun that it refers back to is its antecedent Here are some common pronouns e J e they e it e you e which e this e he e them e that e she e their e one Pronouns force readers to remember the antecedent In some cases the antecedent may not be clear Personal pronouns Don t be afraid to use personal pronouns particularly I we and you They give your writing a natural human quality See Person page 115 Some writers get confused between subjective and objective cases of pronouns Example The manager s expense reports were incomplete and were beyond the per diem rates set out in the Superintend
17. ry choice of words never use the same word more than once or twice on the same page see Word choice page 44 never start a sentence witha conjunction such as because or and 74 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Why English is Let s face it English is a crazy language There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger There is neither apple nor pine in pineapple English muffins weren t invented in England nor French fries in France Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads which aren t sweet are meat We take English for granted But if we explore its paradoxes we find that quicksand can work slowly Boxing rings are square A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig Why is it that writers write but fingers don t fing grocers don t groce and hammers don t ham If the plural of tooth is teeth why isn t the plural of booth beeth One goose two geese So one moose two meese One index two indices Doesn t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend You can have noses that run and feet that smell a crazy language If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them what do you call it If teachers taught why didn t preachers praught If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally in
18. sane In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down you fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm goes off by going on English was invented by people not computers and it reflects the creativity of the human race which of course is not a race at all That is why when the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are out they are invisible
19. sentences Originally writing was taught by analysis while now a synthesis approach is used Not parallel Originally writing was taught by analysis now it is taught by synthesis Parallel The evaluation report was written outlining the case study and witha list of contributors Not parallel The evaluation report was written outlining the case study and listing the contributors Parallel Example Not parallel list Students must bring the following items e styleguide e bring pencils and pens e You should bring a word processor Example Parallel list Students must bring the following items e styleguide e pencils and pens e word processor Exercise 17 Make the last three items parallel to the first The plan is deficient because e the budget was not prepared e Two major cost items were not identified e staffing not approved e other errors Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 57 Keep related words together Keep related words together otherwise confusion and ambiguity may result Examples She noticed a cigarette burn on the desk that was right in the centre No right in the centre of what She noticed a cigarette burn on the centre of the desk Yes He wrote three pages on how to use the computer for the user manual No not just for the computer manual He wrote three pages for the user manual on how to use the computer Yes
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