Plain English Language Writing Tips
When using the English language for writing it can be difficult to remain concise and clear, particularly if English is not your first language. However, here are a few tips that might help you.
The first tip is to consider the person who will be reading what you have written. Are they likely to have a good knowledge of the language? If their knowledge is not great then you may need to keep your language very simple and avoid phrases such as complicated metaphors. If you are using words that your reader has to look up then they may not bother to read what you have written and your time will have been wasted.
Language is also much simpler when you address the reader directly. Use ‘you’ in your writing instead of opting for a third person approach. This is often clearer and much easier for you to use. When you are working on a piece of writing then do not use any words that you do not understand and that you are not sure of the meaning. If you cannot be sure of the words that you are using then it is far too easy to make a mistake and the reader will definitely have a problem in understanding your meaning.
Avoid using long sentences in your writing. This can become unwieldy and it is far easier for you to lose track of what you are trying to say. Keep sentences fairly short and no more than 20 words so that they do not lead you away from the point that you are trying to make. It is also possible to lose the interest of the reader if you are using long sentences because by the time they get to the end they have forgotten what you said at the beginning!