The Plain English Approach to Business Writing

“Plain English”

The first and most important rule of English composition is to write in order to communicate, not to impress. Plain English means expressing your ideas in a simple, clear fashion. Make your sentences easy to read and understand. Write as you speak. Get to the point. Introduce your main subject up-front. Use simple words: for example, “near” not “close proximity to,” “try” not “endeavor,” “give” not “furnish,” and “begin” not “commence.” Similarly, choose “teacher” not “educator” and “lawyer” not “attorney.” Don’t use words to show off your vocabulary. Use them to communicate.

Consider this example from humorist and writer Russell Baker: “At the age of 80 my mother had her last bad fall.” In this sentence, Baker does not use any words with more than six letters. Most are half that long or less. Baker has a simple message to communicate: his aged mother suffered a bad fall, her last. He communicates this message perfectly. No elaboration. No words to impress. No unnecessary words at all. The point of good writing is to make the reader’s job easy, not hard. Of course, such writing is the opposite of verbose, showy business composition.

Avoid bureaucratic...