Oxford Guide to Plain English
Contents: Acknowledgements. Starting points. The thirty guidelines. Summary of the twelve main guidelines. 1:Planning comes first. 2:Organizing your material in a reader-centred structure. 3:Writing short sentences and clear paragraphs. 4:Preferring plain words. 5:Writing concisely. 6:Favouring active-voice verbs. 7:Using vigorous verbs. 8:Using vertical lists9:Converting negative to positive. 10:Using good punctuation. 11:Using good grammar. 12:Keeping errors in Czech: its time to Proof read. 13:Dealing with some troublesome words and phrases. 14:Using or avoiding foreign words. 15:Undoing knotty noun strings. 16:Reducing cross-references. 17:Exploring and exploding some writing myths. 18:Avoiding clichés. 19:Pitching your writing at the right level. 20:Writing sound starts and excellent endings. 21:Creating better emails. 22:Using inclusive language. 23:Using alternatives to words alone. 24:Caring enough about customers to write to them clearly. 25:Overseeing colleagues' writing. 26:Writing better instructions. 27:Clarifying for the Web. 28:Making legal language lucid. 29:Writing low-literacy plain English. 30:Clarifying page layout: some basics. Appendix 1: Commonest words. Appendix 2: A short history of plain-English moments. Sources and notes. Index.
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.
