Plain English writing is different and stands out because it goes straight to the point and makes things easy to understand. It’s not about using big fancy words and trying to show off our advanced writing skills; it’s about focusing on keeping the writing clear, simple and as short as possible so the reader doesn’t struggle to figure out what’s being said.
(W8, Briscoe, Plain Language Writing, W25, slide #39,53)
It makes it different because it’s easy to read by using simple words and shorter sentences instead of long confusing sentences all over the place. This makes the reading process quicker and easier to understand. (W8, Briscoe, Plain Language Writing, W25-slide #21-22)
Plain writing respects readers’ time because people don’t want to waste time trying to figure out what they just read or re-read the same sentence over and over again because it’s not making sense. Plain writing gets straight to the point, removing any fluff that is unnecessary to let readers find what they need right away and let them move on. (W8, Briscoe,Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing, W25-slide #14,15)
Lastly, plain writing takes into account that not everyone has the same reading level. Some people might be reading quickly and scanning through the content, some might have trouble with English, and some might just have a hard time understanding harder reading levels. Writing in plain English helps more people understand what they’re reading.
(W8, Briscoe, Plain Language Writing, W25-slide #36-37)