Practical tips for achieving a plain, clear writing style

Most advice for clear writing is staggeringly obvious and deceptively simple:

• Use short, common, everyday words, except for necessary technical terms.
• Keep the style clear and simple and appropriate for the audience.
• Aim at an average sentence length of 15-20 words (even less is better) and keep paragraphs and sentences short.
• Use the active voice.
• Use concrete, not abstract language.
• Avoid jargon, pompous language and ‘official speak’.
• Be consistent in your use of terms and spelling.

Do not overestimate your audience. Yes, they should be able to read challenging texts. But every reader, without exception, will be grateful if you try to keep the text accessible, just as you would be when reading their texts. And that message you wanted to convey has a much bigger chance of coming across.

Excellent software exists for helping you improve the readability of your document. Information on this can be found in the chapter ‘Tools for effective writing’ further down.