The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.
—GEORGE ELIOT
THIS CHAPTER IS ABOUT WORDS AND SENTENCES. And about time, you’ll be saying. But I hope you have realized by now that plain language is not just about short words. It covers every aspect of your writing and editing. The advice in this chapter is all about good writing.
Use familiar words—words your readers will understand, and not words
they will have to look up. No advice is more elementary, and no advice is
more difficult to accept. When we feel an impulse to use a marvellously
exotic word, let us lie down until the impulse goes away.
—James J. Kilpatrick
As with all the other chapters, the first piece of advice is to think of your readers. That will guide you to the kind of writing that is necessary.
Is it for lawyers, general readers, immigrants, people who live on the streets, people with developmental disabilities? How much specialized vocabulary can you use?
Order
Before we move into the words and sentences, the first step is to make sure
we really know what we want to say and how we want to say it. Make some
notes for yourself, or an outline. Think logically and put the information you
want to share into a recognizable order so that the reader is not jumping
from one topic to another.
It doesn’t matter whether you go from general information to specific or the other way around, as long as you are consistent. For instance, if you are helping a friend to plan a holiday, you can start with a general idea of where to go— perhaps somewhere warm. Then you can narrow it down, maybe discounting India (because of the cost of travel) and Disneyland (too noisy). You might end up with tenting in the Okanagan. Or you can start with the specific (your friend really wants to go to Hawaii), but when that is impossible, find out what it is that your friend thinks she likes most about Hawaii and broaden the search to somewhere else. Is it the climate? The pineapples? The beach? No, she thinks it is the feeling of being on an island, surrounded by water. In that case, maybe Pender Island would be an acceptable alternative.
Put the most important information first, so that readers will find it, even if they give up before reading the whole document. That is how newspapers are written. The first paragraph gives you the big news. Succeeding paragraphs fill in the details or add less important facts. It makes it easier for editors to cut paragraphs from the end of the article when it is too long.