Assignment 3 Question 1

1. We spoke about Plain English writing in class. Please answer the following in detail:

a. How would you explain to someone what “Plain English writing” is? (4 Marks)

Plain English writing is a style of writing that focuses on clarity, conciseness and readability. (Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 3). There is nothing that is different about it, it is just to ensure that readers can understand a message without difficulty. It eliminates unnecessary terms, complex sentence structures, and vague wording, making content more accessible to a wider audience without “dumbing it down” (Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 21).

The primary objective of Plain English writing is to help readers quickly understand the key points without having to re-read. This is particularly important in marketing and content because if a user does not understand what they are reading or it is too complex they will just go to one of the thousand other sources and bounce from yours. The goal is to ensure that readers comprehend the message the first time they read it since there’s so many people with different levels of literacy in the world(Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 37).

The Key Characteristics of Plain English Writing:

1. Clarity – Uses straightforward language instead of complicated words.
2. Conciseness – Eliminates unnecessary words and keeps sentences direct.
3. Readability – Uses short paragraphs, active voice, and everyday vocabulary (Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 42).

For example, the sentence:

“It is imperative that employees adhere to the procedural guidelines outlined in the organizational handbook to ensure compliance with company policies.”

The Plain English version would be: “Employees must follow the company handbook.”

This version simplifies the structure, and makes the sentence easier to understand without losing its meaning. Plain English writing does not oversimplify or remove important details. Instead, it ensures that content is accessible and easy to comprehend, avoiding all fancy or impressive tones of writing  (Briscoe, W8 – B – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 3).

b. What makes Plain English writing different? (4 Marks)

What makes Plain English writing different is that you are writing for the “average person”. The priority is to put the reader first by making sure you are having clarity over complexity and not trying to impress anyone. Since many traditional writing styles focus on sounding “formal” or “intelligent,” which often leads to long sentences, passive voice, and a lot of unnecessary details. Plain English does the opposite, it removes barriers to understanding and gets the message across as quickly as possible (Briscoe, W8 – B – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 2,5).

Key differences between Plain English and traditional writing:

• Sentence Length- Traditional writing tends to use long, complex sentences. Plain English keeps them short and clear. (Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 53).
• Word Choice-  Instead of technical terms or industry jargon, Plain English uses familiar words that everyone understands (Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 63).
• Voice & Tone- Traditional writing often uses passive voice for example Instead of saying, “The new headphone covers were released by our team last week.” you would say, “We launched new headphone covers last week.”

This approach is especially useful and important in marketing, law, healthcare, and government communication, where confusing language can lead to misinterpretation, frustration, and lost engagement. Making information clear benefits both businesses and customers overall saving time, improving communication, and making sure that the message is received.

c. What is plain language writing for the web and why is it important? (4 Marks)

Writing for the web isn’t like writing for any other medium. Since people don’t read every word like they would for print, they skim. As well as the internet is accessible to everyone, anywhere at all times from all backgrounds. So If content isn’t structured in a way that makes it easy to understand users will lose interest and leave. Plain language writing for the web makes sure that content is clear, engaging, and straight to the point, so users can find what they need without effort(Briscoe, W8 – B – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 4).

Web users make decisions fast. Studies show that people decide within 15 seconds whether to stay on a page or leave. If the content is too complicated or has too many long paragraphs, they won’t bother reading (Briscoe, W8 – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing, Slide 3). Short attention spans mean that every second counts, so writing needs to be direct, structured, and easy to digest.  

Most people are reading on their phones. If the text is too long, cluttered, or difficult to scroll through, they won’t stick around.Over all, if web writing isn’t clear, quick, and scannable, people will leave and never come back. Plain language writing makes sure that doesn’t happen by keeping content engaging, structured, and easy to read for any audience. At the end of the day you simply never know who is reading your content, and you want it to be “everybody” anyways, right? That is why you have to make sure regardless of disability, language, and lets be real IQ, everybody gets an equal chance to enjoy content like they deserve.(Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25), Slide 36).