The company provides editorial and training services in the plain-language field and runs the Clear English Standard accreditation scheme for documents and websites. He is now director of .uk ltd, which owns the trading name Plain Language Commission. The ‘Nebraska’ examples in chapter 21 are quoted from with permission.Ībout the author Martin Cutts co-founded Plain English Campaign in 1979 and remained a partner there until 1988. Several organizations have allowed me to include parts of their printed documents, so I’m grateful to the Local Government Ombudsman for an example in chapter 2 Calgary Sexual Health Centre, Canada for examples in chapter 23 Norwood for an example in chapter 23 and the following for examples in chapter 24-Enfield Homes, YHA (England and Wales), Simplification Centre, St Albans District Council, Yorkshire Water, and Enquire (Children in Scotland). The book is dedicated to my parents, Ivor and Joan Cutts, for bringing me up with an interest in words and for their many years of encouragement. Throughout, my wife Ingrid has given constant help and support. I remain grateful to Monica Sowash, who ran the focusgroup interviews for the original edition in 1995. Christina Gleeson, another Plain Language Commission associate, spent many hours extracting word-frequency data from the sources. My colleague Sarah Carr commented on chapter 10 and conducted several readability tests for me. Chapter 23 draws heavily on the practical knowledge of Janet Pringle, a Canadian expert on the needs of low-literacy readers, and she also commented in detail on the draft of that chapter. Writing short sentences and clear paragraphs Preferring plain words Writing tight Favouring active-voice verbs Using vigorous verbs, and untying noun strings Using vertical lists Converting negative to positive Cross-references, cross readers Using good punctuation Pitching your writing at the right level Six writing myths explored and exploded Clearly non-sexist Conquering grammarphobia Sound starts and excellent endings Planning well Using reader-centred structure Using alternatives to words, words, words Management of colleagues’ writing Good practice with email Writing better instructions Clarity for the Web Lucid legal language Writing low-literacy plain English Basics of clear layout Keeping errors in Czech: its time to Proof readġ 11 53 63 73 81 89 94 96 118 125 134 142 151 157 165 178 185 194 200 212 223 234 246 265Īppendix: commonest words Sources and notes IndexĪcknowledgements My thanks go to those who have given help and advice on parts of this edition. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available ISBN 978–0–19–966917–2 Printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, HampshireĬontents Acknowledgements Starting points Summary of guidelinesġ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Martin Cutts 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published as The Plain English Guide 1995 Published as the Quick Reference Plain English Guide 1999 Second edition published 2004 Third edition published 2009 Fourth edition published 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. ![]() ![]() ![]() Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
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