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5 tips to improve your email writing skills
An English blog post containing a list of five steps for writing effective emails.We’ve all been there. You click open an email, and there’s a long block of text that stretches beyond where you can see. Your first reaction is to close the window and flag the email for later. Much later. Email can be a useful communication tool, but not everyone uses it well. Below are 5 steps to follow in order to draft an email that readers will open, read and understand. 1. Maintain your credibility Present yourself as the trusted professional you are. Be polite: say please and thank you as appropriate Keep a professional tone: avoid slang, exclamation marks, and smiley faces Use a suitable greeting and opening, but avoid insincere small talk Include a suitable sign-off that fits the tone of the email Keep your email signature simple and short: limit images and avoid cursive fonts Don’t use too many high importance flags 2. Present your email thoughtfully Give the right amount of information in the right way so that your reader is able to read your message easily, and wants to. Place your key message and call to action near the top so it’s the first thing your reader sees Organize the rest of the information from most to least important Limit the number of issues covered in the email to increase the chance of a response Write briefly and stick to the point: try to keep to 150 words or less Use short, everyday words instead of jargon and difficult words Avoid acronyms and terms your reader won’t understand Keep sentences short 3. Help your reader scan We don’t read content onscreen word for word. In fact, most of us scan a web page in an F-shaped pattern. Use layout and formatting to guide your reader through the email and to your key points. Put your key message and call to action at the top For a longer email with a lot of details, use headings Write in easy-to-read chunks: use short paragraphs and lists with bullets or numbers Don’t use too much bold; if you emphasize too many words, you end up emphasizing nothing Avoid all caps, huge fonts and random colours; these slow the reader down 4. Write your subject line last Your subject line could determine whether your reader opens your email. Make it count. Write the subject line after drafting your message Use action verbs so the reader knows what you want done Be specific and descriptive so the reader knows right away what the message is about Appeal to the reader’s needs: ask yourself what will make the reader care about your email Avoid starting a sentence in the subject line and finishing it in the body Keep your subject line under 50 characters or 6 to 8 words, so the whole line will show in the inbox preview Keep in mind that some smartphones show only 33 to 44 characters for the subject line 5. Review and revise Imagine that everyone in the company will read your message. Emails are quick to create, but leave a lasting impression. Review your work now to save time and get results later. Use the spell-check feature to reduce errors Read the message backwards to check for errors that a spell-checker won’t catch, like homonyms and usage errors Check that your key message is perfectly clear, without typos, wordy phrases, or anything that can be misunderstood Check that all names and titles are correct Make sure you have attached any important files or included any necessary links Do you have a useful tip for effective email writing not included here? Please share it in the comments.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 212,975
Readability formulas, programs and tools: Do they work for plain language?
An English blog post about research on readability formulas, programs and tools and whether they work for plain language.You want to make your documents easy to understand. You want people to follow instructions, make decisions or send information to you. So you want to use plain language. You’ve possibly been told about reading levels or grade levels. And you’ve probably been encouraged to use a readability formula (such as the one in Word) to get your text down to a certain grade level. Sometimes running a document through a readability tool is all people do to flag plain language issues. Plain language experts say these tools are actually not useful. And they could even undermine all the other proven techniques you can use. Wait! What? Is this new? The idea that readability formulas are problematic goes back a long way. As early as the 1980s, people were researching it and talking about it. “By the mid-1980s, there was a widespread sense that plain-language advocates had shifted priorities from readability to usability.” “Research tells us that most readability formulas are outdated methods for assessing text quality.” – Dr. Karen Schriver Readability formulas are ineffective and counterproductive Dr. Schriver described some research on this from Richard Kern, which was published in 1980 (so experts have known about this for a long time). Kern’s research highlighted important problems with readability scores: (1) Readability formulas cannot match material to readers at targeted grade levels. (2) Rewriting to lower the reading-grade level score does not increase comprehension. (3) Requiring that text be written to satisfy a targeted reading-grade level focuses attention on meeting the score requirement rather than on organizing the material to meet the reader’s information needs. Dr. Schriver also described how people learn to write simply to get a better score. But this does not increase reader comprehension. Readability formulas don’t measure the right things “Most of what makes a document usable is not included in readability formulas.” – Dr. Ginny Redish Dr. Redish describes why the formulas don’t measure the right things. They were not created for technical documents. They assume that short words are always the better words. They don’t work with many documented features of plain language. Let’s look at the last two in that list because they are easy to follow. Readability formulas assume that short words are always the better words Plain language requires you to write for your audience’s needs. So what qualifies as plain writing depends on who the audience is. The goal is to pick words that are familiar to the reader, not to use short words all the time. Sometimes short words are harder to understand because they are abstract (ennui, writ) or carry a lot of historical meaning (fez, nadir). But a formula will score them as easy words. “The grade level score from a readability formula is based on the average length of the words and sentences. Though the formulas vary, they generally assume that longer words are harder words and longer sentences are harder sentences. They can’t tell you whether the words you are using are familiar to your readers or whether the sentences you have written are clear and cohesive.” – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services Readability formulas don’t work with many documented features of plain language Bulleted lists are known to be very helpful to readers (if used to properly chunk information), but readability formulas score such text as harder to read. “Readability formulas assume that you are writing prose paragraphs. They count sentence length by going from period to period. If you use bulleted lists to chunk your material and lay your text out with white space, readability formulas will say you have long sentences. Yet, usability studies have consistently shown the value of lists and white space as aids to locating and understanding information.” – Dr. Redish You can see a demonstration of this point with an example in one of Dr. Redish’s publications. Dr. Redish also notes these critical techniques that readability formulas do not measure: determining the right content for readers organizing the material for readers using meaningful headings and other tools to guide readers In her paper (written with Caroline Jarrett), she explains why improving readability scores doesn’t usually correlate with improving comprehension. In fact, she gives a specific example where the version with a readability score that indicated it was easier to understand was actually less understandable to the people who needed to read the document. The ISO plain language standard excludes such formulas An international working group made up of experts from 25 countries wrote the ISO plain language standard (published in June 2023). Between them, these experts speak 19 languages and work in a wide range of roles and organizations. Many of these experts have been doing research on plain language for decades. This group of experts all agreed with this wording in the standard: “Plain language ensures readers can find what they need, understand it, and use it. Thus, plain language focuses on how successfully readers can use the document rather than on mechanical measures such as readability formulas.” And there is no mention of readability formulas in the standard besides that explicit exclusion of them. What’s in the standard? “Plain language” is defined as follows in the standard: Communication in which wording, structure and design are so clear that intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information. The four principles in the standard give details on what methods can be used to write a plain language document: Readers get what they need (relevant) Readers can easily find what they need (findable) Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable) Readers can easily use the information (usable) Where does this leave us on using readability formulas for plain language? We can see then that since the early 1980s researchers have agreed that readability formulas focus only on a very small part of what makes a communication plain. It’s also clear that the international experts who worked on the ISO standard for plain language decided not to support using readability formulas for assessing the clarity of texts for audiences around the world. You should reconsider your use of the formulas and instead evaluate text quality by testing your communications with intended readers. View sources Note that Dr. Redish and Dr. Schriver endorse this summary of their research (personal communication to Gael Spivak). And Dr. Schriver contributed the closing paragraph. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, United States Department of Health and Human Services. “Tip 6. Use Caution With Readability Formulas for Quality Reports.” ISO standard 24495-1 Plain language — Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines, quoted with permission from Committee Manager: Mr. Changqing Zhou of ISO Technical Committee 37: Language and terminology. Jarrett, Caroline, and Ginny Redish. “Readability Formulas: 7 Reasons to Avoid Them and What to Do Instead.” UXmatters, July 29, 2019. Redish, Ginny. “Readability formulas have even more limitations than Klare discusses.” (PDF) ACM Journal of Computer Documentation 24(3), August 2000, 132–137. Schriver, Karen. "Evaluating Text Quality: The Continuum from Text-Focused to Reader-Focused Methods." (PDF) IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 32(4), (1989): 238–55. Schriver, Karen. “Readability Formulas in the New Millennium: What’s the Use?” (PDF) ACM Journal of Computer Documentation, 24(3), August 2000, 138–140. Schriver, Karen. “Plain Language in the US Gains Momentum: 1940 – 2015.” (PDF) IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 60(4), 2017, 343–383.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 8,224
4 tips for simplifying your PowerPoint presentations
An English blog post about how to simplify PowerPoint presentations and make them more effective.You’ve probably had this happen to you before. You’re attending a class, conference or meeting. When you get there, you take your seat, the speaker puts their PowerPoint up on the screen, and AARGH! The text is so small and dense that you can’t even read it. What’s more, you realize that you’re trying so hard to make out the words on the screen that you’re paying no attention to what the speaker is saying. We tend to forget that a PowerPoint presentation is supposed to be a visual aid. It’s the equivalent of a blackboard, projector or poster. There’s no need to write everything you’re going to say on a PowerPoint. Its purpose is to draw the audience’s attention; it shouldn’t become a source of distraction. So how do we create effective presentations? In this post, I summarize the major tips I’ve been able to glean from the Internet and provide a few references for those of you who want to find out more. One slide, one idea One way to cut back the clutter is to treat every slide in a presentation like a paragraph in a text. Each slide should present only one main idea, and this main idea can be broken down into three to five points at most. It’s a good way to zero in on what’s important. The “5 × 6 = 30” rule As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the problems in PowerPoint is the font size. The more text you have on a slide, the smaller the characters will be. If the text is too small, then there’s too much of it. So if you’re wondering whether you need to do some more pruning, the font size can be a good indicator. For those of you who like math, here’s a rule I came across in my reading and that I’ve adapted for you below: 5 points per slide 6 words per point 30-point font size Five and six are your ideal maximum allowable limits. But you can consider 30 a good average to shoot for. For example, you could have a title in a size 32 font and a bulleted list in size 28. Also, there’s nothing to stop you from going higher than 30, but ideally, you shouldn’t fall too far below that threshold. Bear in mind, too, that sans serif fonts, such as Calibri and Arial, are easier to read on a screen than are other fonts. As little distraction as possible Another way to make your PowerPoint presentation more effective is to simplify the content. Depending on the type of presentation, certain elements may cause some people to tune out. For instance, it’s easy to forget about that new employee or that colleague who is colour blind. You have to adapt the presentation to your target audience and make sure it’s easy to read and understand. Here are some issues that can make a presentation cumbersome: lack of uniformity complex statistics acronyms (if not defined) technical terms (if not defined) dizzying transitions and animations colours that clash or are hard to distinguish A supporting document Is some essential information just impossible to sum up in few words? Then why not use a supporting document? A separate document can be a good way to communicate all the important information without cluttering up your PowerPoint presentation. It can be a particularly good idea if you’re presenting a budget, detailing recommendations or developing course notes. If the context allows, you’ll want to wait until the end of the presentation before sending out a supporting document, though. Otherwise your audience will read it instead of listening to you. Your turn! With such a pared-down PowerPoint, you may feel a little exposed. Your audience will have eyes—and especially ears—for you only! While all this attention can make some people more confident, it may leave others feeling more nervous. No matter how you respond, it’s always a good idea to practise beforehand, if possible in front of someone who’ll be able to give you feedback. Have you tried some of these tips or used a few of your own? Did they make a difference to your audience? Please leave me a comment and tell me about it! Sources View sources Canada School of Public Service. Building Your Presentation (TRN104) (online course for public servants only). “10 conseils pour votre présentation PowerPoint” (in French only). (2020, February 28). Le Parisien. Schmaltz, Rodney M., and Richard Enström. (2014, October 8). “Death to weak PowerPoint: Strategies to create effective visual presentations.” Frontiers in Psychology. Translated by Nicholas Vaughan, Language Portal of CanadaSource: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 2,758
The ISO plain language standard: For most languages and cultures, and for all sectors
An English blog post about the ISO plain language standard.As a language professional, you know how important it is to write in plain language. You might even be required to use plain language. But does everyone mean the same thing when they use that term? What are the different focuses of plain language? You’ve probably seen how people focus on different aspects when talking about plain language. You might have been caught in the middle of people’s disagreements about what makes a document plain. For example, people will often focus on one or more of these items: short words no jargon passive voice readability scores (see my blog post: Readability formulas, programs and tools: Do they work for plain language? (opens in new tab)) Too often people talking about plain language ignore the importance of good headings, design, graphics and the order in which a writer presents ideas to their readers. Language professionals have not had a universally agreed-upon standard for creating plain language documents or for judging what is plain. This has made it difficult for people writing and designing documents to assess the quality of their processes or products. The plain language standard (opens in new tab) developed through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) changes all of this by providing a clear understanding of what plain language is and how you can achieve it. How was the standard created? The standard is based on an internationally agreed-upon definition of plain language. The definition that appears in the plain language standard is as follows: communication in which wording, structure and design are so clear that intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information. The standard was developed by an international committee of plain language experts. It’s based on empirical evidence, and it was created using ISO’s consensus model (opens in new tab) (for a definition of “consensus,” see section 3.2). Each of these factors led to a standard that is accepted around the world. For the first time, we have a standard that tells people what plain language is and how to create plain language documents. Is it language neutral? The standard is language neutral. The principles and techniques in it are not related to any particular language. Instead, these four principles in the standard give details on what methods can be used to write a plain language document: Readers get what they need (relevant) Readers can easily find what they need (findable) Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable) Readers can easily use the information (usable) The experts who wrote the standard come from 25 countries. Between them, those experts speak 19 languages and work in a wide range of roles and organizations. The experts worked hard to make sure every sentence in the standard works in their language. Because of this, the standard can be adopted in most, if not all, languages and cultures, and all sectors. It’s versatile and easy to use. Is it a style guide? It’s important to note that the standard is not a style guide. It won’t tell you what words to use or anything else that might be in your organization’s guidance documents. It complements existing guides and practices. The standard is a valuable addition to language professionals’ tool kits. How do you get a copy? ISO standards have to be purchased. The Standards Council of Canada provides reasons to explain why ISO standards are not free (opens in new tab), including the offsetting of costs and the maintaining of neutral standards. You can buy a copy of the standard through a country’s standard-setting body, or you can buy it directly from the ISO website (opens in new tab). If you are buying it for a Canadian workplace or school, there may be licensing arrangements that you can enter into. You can contact the Standards Council of Canada to find out more about the copyright on ISO standards (opens in new tab). You can be at the forefront of this change, along with other plain language practitioners. Join us in using and promoting the standard.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 2,525
Using verbs with flair!
An English blog post about dull verbs and how to replace them in your writing.Can you solve this riddle? “I can express an action, an event or a state of being. What am I?” You guessed it! I’m a verb: an essential part of a sentence! “Conjugated,” “irregular,” “transitive,” “intransitive,” “reflexive,” “auxiliary,” “attributive” and “impersonal” are all terms that people use to describe types of verbs and verb groups. But let’s put grammar aside and consider dull, weak verbs for a moment. Spectacularly dull verbs The sky, a person’s complexion, colours can appear dull or lacklustre. According to Antidote’s English dictionary, “dull” refers to something that isn’t interesting or exciting. A dull verb is a catch-all that is dull because it’s overused. I remember one of my high school teachers going over the three verbs that people use for just about anything: “to have,” “to be” and “to do.” But they aren’t the only dull verbs out there! Here are a few others: to come to go to make to hold to put to get to move Elimination of dull verbs: a slam dunk? Should we banish all dull verbs from our writing to make it more lively and exciting? Of course not! Besides, that would be impossible. However, there are many advantages to replacing some weak verbs with stronger ones. More specific meanings When you have more than one verb to choose from, it’s better to choose the most specific one. Compare these two sentences: She put sauce on her noodles. She heaped sauce onto her noodles. To heap one thing onto another means to lay large amounts of something on something else. “Heap” has a more specific meaning than “put” does. Greater effect Imagine you’re in a theatre. An actor stands on stage performing a role. The actor’s performance is dull; the voice intonation, flat. Lines are simply being recited. A text with dull verbs is like that actor’s performance: the words aren’t wrong, but they don’t convey any enthusiasm or conviction either. Instead of writing “The hotel is beside Lake Louise,” you could rephrase the sentence to give it some depth. For example, you could say “The hotel overlooks Lake Louise.” This version makes it easier for the reader to visualize the magnificent view from the hotel. Concise writing Many dull verbs require direct objects. However, by replacing dull verbs with more concise and precise ones, you eliminate the need for a direct object and shorten your sentence. For example, “to have a chat with someone” can become “to chat with someone.” Instead of saying “I’ll make a stop at their place,” why not say “I’ll stop by their place”? Instead of writing “to have trouble doing something,” you can use the verbs “to struggle” or “to toil,” depending on the context. A good impression Overusing dull verbs takes away from the text and will bore the reader. Enhance your writing by choosing more specific verbs (for example: “this person exudes energy,” instead of “this person has a lot of energy”), or liven up your texts by using action verbs (for example: “she’s whipping up a dessert,” instead of “she’s making a dessert”). Sometimes, you’ll have to reword your sentences. Compare the following examples. An example of a sentence with a weak verb, and its revised version Dull version Revised version She is not happy with the way things have gone and wants to leave. Unhappy with the turn of events, she decides to leave. No more boring texts Once you’ve written your text, set it aside and let the ideas settle. Fresh eyes will help you spot dull verbs. As with most things, remember to practise moderation! Instead of crossing out every dull verb, try changing a few of them. To find alternatives, you can look for inspiration in thesauruses, dictionaries and books on difficult points of English. Replacing dull verbs requires real mental gymnastics. However, the more you practise, the better and faster you’ll be able to identify and replace these dull verbs. You might even find that reading more helps. After all, as writers know, reading is a great way to improve your writing. No matter what method you choose, though, your style will improve with practice for everyone’s reading pleasure. Adapted by Nicholas Vaughan, Language Portal of CanadaSource: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 1,906
Plain language: It’s not just for children
An English blog post about using plain language in writing to help readers understand a text easily and quickly.Everyone seems to struggle to implement the concept of using plain language in their writing. So what does plain language really mean? It’s not, as some seem to think, writing so children can understand the words. We’re writing for adults (usually well-educated adults) who are very busy and who have to deal with many issues over the course of their day. The ease with which they read your text helps them to make decisions more quickly and easily. The goal of plain language is to enable the reader to read your text once and immediately understand it, so they can then complete an associated task. No one reads at work for fun! Everyone has a purpose in reading: a decision to make or an action to take. Your text is there to guide them; so the more quickly and easily they can understand exactly what you’ve written, the more quickly and easily they can make a decision or take action. Word length One of the key factors in readability is the use of shorter words. Did you know that 98 of the 100 most common words in the English language have five or fewer letters? Yes! And those other two words are “because” and “people.” These 100 words are common because people know exactly what they mean. No one has to think about what they might mean. Shorter words help readers understand your key points and the implications of your key points quickly. Let’s look at an example: “onomatopoeia.” That’s a word that resembles the sound it makes. Think “meow” or “whoosh.” It might sound very impressive to use the word “onomatopoeia,” but it won’t impress a reader who doesn’t know what it means. Just use the word that resembles the sound. Consider a word that you’ve perhaps used repeatedly: “endeavour.” It means “try.” Granted, “try” isn’t as flashy as “endeavour,” and “try” certainly doesn’t roll off your tongue the way “endeavour” does. For readers, that doesn’t matter. What’s important to them is that they immediately know what you’re telling them. Comprehension with speed matters to readers. Verbs, verbs, verbs! A second key factor in readability is the use of active voice verbs. Your sentences are clearer when you use active voice verbs and you stay away from passive voice. Active voice verbs clearly indicate who is performing the action in the sentence, making those sentences easier to read and faster to understand. Further, translators find sentences with active voice verbs much easier to translate accurately than sentences with passive voice verbs. A third key factor in readability is the use of dynamic and precise verbs. If you’re serious about wanting the reader to actually read your whole document, you have to give them a reason to. Make it interesting, not dry! Use verbs that evoke images. The more precise you can be with your verbs, the more engaging and clearer your writing is. Yes, you can obfuscate. (Do you like that verb? It means “to hide or confuse or cover up.”) But that won’t get you what you need. Readers are pretty smart; they usually have a fairly good sense about text that’s hiding something, and they aren’t impressed by that text. Verbs with clear meanings make your text easier to understand. Sentence length While there are about 10 other key factors in readability, I’ll leave you with just one more: Keep your sentences under 25 words each, and vary the length of sentences in a paragraph. The longer the sentence is, the harder it is for the reader to go from the capital letter to the period and retain the important parts. Shorter is clearer. Long sentences can lose the reader, because they’re not easily readable. In this post, we’ve discussed plain language and why it’s important. We’ve also discussed four ways to increase the readability of your text. Use them and let us know what kind of feedback you receive!Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 1,882
More about plain language
An English blog post about additional ways to use plain language in writing to help readers understand a text easily and quickly.In my previous blog post Plain language: It’s not just for children (opens in new tab), I talked about shorter words, active voice verbs, precise verbs, and sentence length. Let’s look now at a few other factors that help your reader understand exactly what you’re telling them the first time they read your text. Clarity I know you’ve heard “Be clear and concise” many times, as though those two items go hand in hand. They don’t. Being clear matters far more than being concise. It helps no one if what you write is so short that they don’t understand it. You might need to add a few words, a phrase or even a sentence to make your point clear. Do it! That saves your reader from confusion and misunderstanding and saves you from responding to queries about clarity. Verbs, not nouns Many of the multi-syllabic nouns that writers love to use end in “–ment,” “–tion” or “–ance.” The problem with those nouns is that you usually use a very weak verb with them. Change those nouns into verbs for a more powerful, clearer sentence. Take this example: “The company has the intention to begin its participation in an employee benefit plan on April 1.” In this sentence, you have a weak verb: “has.” You also have “intention” and “participation,” which are long, abstract nouns. Now consider this revised wording: “The company intends to participate in an employee benefit plan starting April 1.” You now have two strong verbs: “intends” and “participate.” The second version of the sentence is more action-oriented and shorter than the first version. Because it’s clearer, shorter and more action-oriented, it’s immediately faster to understand and more interesting for the reader. This increases the likelihood that your reader will actually read all, or at least more, of what you wrote. Verbs are the power words in sentences. They propel a reader through the sentence, through the paragraph, through the document. Use them to best effect. Noun strings You can further improve your writing and help your reader understand faster by eliminating long strings of nouns and adjectives. Writers who are very knowledgeable about a particular field or topic are often guilty of using noun strings. If their readers are also very knowledgeable, that can be acceptable. However, when your reader is not an expert like you, it’s imperative to break apart the noun string, so they immediately understand your message. Use prepositions and possessives to make your sentences more readable. Who’s guilty of writing something like “multi-jurisdictional stakeholder engagement strategy meeting”? That phrase has 4 words that act as adjectives to 1 noun (4:1 ratio); and, if you change “multi-jurisdictional” to “multiple jurisdictions,” the ratio is now 5:1. This is a great way to confuse and lose your reader: they don’t understand what you’re saying. Try something like “meeting to engage stakeholders from many jurisdictions.” Notice the differences: Adding a preposition makes the meaning clear Using “engage” provides a dynamic verb Changing from “multi-jurisdictional” to “many jurisdictions” speeds comprehension The best practice is a maximum of 3 words that act as adjectives to 1 noun (a 3:1 ratio), but be careful! Even that length can be confusing to a non-technical reader. For example, consider the phrase “confusing regulation revisions.” That’s short, but what does that really mean? Is the meaning “revisions to a confusing regulation”? Or is it “confusing revisions to a regulation”? Break apart confusing noun strings by adding prepositions and possessives. Help your reader to understand what you’re saying the first time they read the phrase. Fluff’n’fill Yet another way to improve the clarity of your message is to eliminate what I call “fluff’n’fill”: phrases that pump up a sentence, making it look more substantial while contributing nothing to its meaning. Fluff’n’fill phrases have no value, yet the reader has to wade through them to get to the meat of the sentence. Some examples of phrases to avoid include: on the grounds that (instead, use “because”) during the time of (simply use “during”) at this point in time (try using “now”) in the absence of (“without”) in view of the fact that (“because”) You probably have some favourite fluff’n’fill phrases peppered throughout your texts; get rid of them. Carefully edit your writing to pare down the useless words and stay focused on your key message. In this post, we’ve reviewed the importance of being clear. Then we explored the weakness of using lengthy nouns as compared to the strength of using verbs to increase a sentence’s impact. Further, we clarified the confusing nature of noun strings and how to eliminate confusion. Last, we discussed ways to replace unnecessary phrases with focused words. Add these tips to your writing arsenal, along with the tips in my previous post, and you’re well on your way to becoming a writer whose documents people welcome.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 1,286
Obscurité totale
An English blog post about the importance of plain language in government communications.“You have a writing assignment due for next week.” There was a collective moan of disappointment across my fifth grade classroom, but my mind was already racing through possible topics. I loved writing assignments! Our French teacher, Mr. Ouellette, wanted us to elevate and hone our writing skills. He directed us to go above and beyond and replace plain words we used every day with more worldly ones. He wrote a few examples on the board—the rarer the word, the better. I gathered my French dictionary and my dictionary of antonyms and synonyms. I sharpened my pencil and got to work with my reference material sprawled across the kitchen table. I confidently handed in my assignment. A few weeks later, Mr. Ouellette announced that he had reviewed our assignments and that there was one in particular he wanted to read to the class. He put on his glasses, cleared his throat, and started to read. I instantly recognized my writing. I was flattered that he thought my work was good enough to share with the class; but at the same time, I’m an introvert, and I could feel my face turning crimson red. It only got worse. Amongst the many synonyms I’d looked up was the term obscurité totale (total darkness or complete obscurity), which I’d inserted somewhere in my paper. I remember that term for two reasons: my teacher put a lot of emphasis on it, and it also gave birth to my new nickname. From that day up until I graduated high school, humorous classmates would periodically call me “Obscurité totale”! My introduction to plain language Fast-forward many decades: I began my career at Service Canada as a benefits officer. I witnessed first-hand how many of my clients felt intimidated and confused by governmental correspondence, and I often found myself explaining processes, forms, letters and legislation in plain language. I’m now part of the Content Chapter for the Service Experience Delivery and Design (SEDD) workstream within the Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme. I’m learning techniques on how to review and create online content for the public. The use of lengthy, sophisticated, rare words is not only frowned upon but downright condemned. I'm sure my Grade 5 teacher would be disappointed. The importance of plain language and how I use it According to the International Dyslexia Association (opens in new tab), 15% to 20% of the population has a language-based learning disability. According to the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (opens in new tab), nearly half of adult Canadians have literacy challenges. In fact, many Canadians struggle with completing ordinary tasks such as filling out forms or reading a newspaper article. The lowest-scoring groups include not only new Canadians with a native language other than English or French but also English and French speakers born in Canada! This is why public-facing content must be at a reading level of Grade 8 or lower. That’s where my team comes in. As SEDD creates and improves digital products to better serve Canadians, one of my team’s mandates is to review and write content in plain language. To prevent readers from feeling overwhelmed, we make critical information accessible and easy to read for everyone. We do this by: using common and well-known terms using words with two syllables or less writing shorter sentences and paragraphs eliminating acronyms, initialisms, jargon, idioms and expressions using bullet points to break up blocks of words and sentences In addition to using these techniques, we use readability tools to evaluate English and French content. Finally, we keep the tone informal and informative but also professional. It’s a balancing act that’s worth every effort. How do we initiate lasting change within an organization as large and diverse as ours? We create legislation. The summary of the Accessible Canada Act (opens in new tab) describes the Act’s purpose, which is to make Canada a barrier-free country by January 1, 2040. And one of the principles on which the Act rests is that “everyone must be able to participate fully and equally in society.” The future is looking bright! From obscure to plain and simple As for me, I still use a synonym dictionary, except it’s now online. Instead of taking simple words and replacing them with more lengthy, complex ones, like I did back in my Grade 5 class, I take those lengthy, complex words and search for shorter, more common words to replace them with. The power of language cannot be underestimated, and I’m sure Mr. Ouellette would appreciate that the time and place for big, obscure words is not in documents intended for the public.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
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Let’s talk noun strings!
An English blog post about noun stringsI’m a French-to-English translator by trade, so I’ve spent years working on improving my grammar and style in my native language. I’m still learning constantly, because to translate well is to write well! One of the most difficult things about translating from French is making the English sound like English. It’s easy to stick too closely to the French and end up with a noun-heavy translation. This is because, unlike English, which tends to use more verbs, French favours the use of nouns. Let me illustrate: French: Il a fait la longueur du fleuve Fraser à la nage. English: He swam the length of the Fraser River. French: La motion du gouvernement sur l'évaluation des amendements du Sénat est équilibrée. English: The government motion on assessing the Senate amendments is balanced. As we can see from the above examples, one way a translator can render French nouns in English is by using verbs or verb forms. However, that’s not always possible. Another way to make the English more idiomatic is to use something called noun strings. Let’s take a closer look at the second example and identify the series of French nouns: motion du gouvernement amendements du Sénat “Motion du gouvernement” is translated by “government motion” and “amendements du Sénat” is rendered by “Senate amendments.” Both “government motion” and “Senate amendments” are examples of noun strings. What is a noun string? A noun string is formed when several nouns are stacked one after the other and function as a whole. In a noun string, all the nouns except the last one act as modifiers: for example, “government motion” (where the noun “government” modifies the noun “motion”). Often, noun strings may contain adjectives as well as nouns: for example, “Olympic sports guide” (where the adjective “Olympic” modifies the noun “sports,” and together they form a noun phrase that modifies the noun “guide”). English loves noun strings. They’re part of the idiom of the language. Two- or three-word strings are common and easy to understand. However, strings of four or more words can be much more difficult to process. For example, “federal public service senior management” is a five-word string of nouns and adjectives that readers may find a bit challenging! When you have a very long string like this one, you may have to break it up with prepositions. So “federal public service senior management” can be reworded much more effectively as “senior management within the federal public service.” What happens when noun strings creep into English translations? Noun strings can weigh down a text, making it difficult for readers to understand. When you have to read a sentence several times to understand the meaning, it’s a sign that your translation needs to be reworked. Here’s an example from a recent translation by my colleagues at the Language Portal: La plume d’or du Blogue Nos langues And here’s some background for you: the “Blogue Nos Langues” is the title of the blog, and “La plume d’or” is the title of an initiative. Initially, my co-workers translated with a noun string: The Our Languages Blog Golden Quill This translation is quite a mouthful! Also, the reader has to read until the end of the noun string to get to the important information: the Golden Quill. Recognizing the problem, the team came up with a more reader-friendly solution that doesn’t rely on noun strings: The Golden Quill: An Initiative of the Our Languages Blog Knowing that the Golden Quill was an “initiative,” my colleagues were able to incorporate the additional context into their translation. Here are some more examples of long noun strings and how to get around them: French: Nous avons lancé un programme de repas santé à l’école afin d’améliorer les choix alimentaires des parents et des enfants. English with strings: We’ve launched a school-based healthy lunch program to improve parents’ and kids’ food choices. Improved English: We’ve launched a lunch program in schools to help parents and kids make healthier food choices. In this example, I’ve broken up the first noun string by adding a preposition (“in”) and moving the idea of “healthy” to the end of the sentence. French: Nous avons récemment publié le plan de gestion des risques pour la sécurité des déchets des centrales nucléaires. English with strings: We recently published the nuclear power plant waste security risk management plan. Improved English: We recently published a plan to manage the security risks associated with nuclear power plant waste. To get rid of the eight-word noun string, I broke it into two shorter and easier-to-understand strings: “security risks” and “nuclear power plant waste.” (Note: Although “nuclear power plant waste” is a four-word string, it’s easy to understand because “nuclear power plant” is a familiar phrase that functions as a single unit of meaning. So the reader doesn’t have to think about “nuclear power plant” and figure out the relationships between the words.) What about you? Do you have any examples of noun strings to share? Comment below with your best brain twister, and I’ll try to unravel it!Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
Number of views: 499
Yes, you can be gender-inclusive and use plain language!
An English blog post about how to write for diverse audiences, using plain language and inclusive writing principlesEarly in my career, I taught in an adult literacy centre. I still remember one encounter that particularly struck me: one with an elderly, somewhat shy man. On his first visit to the centre, he whispered to me that he hadn't learned to read and write when he was young. I showed him letters on a piece of cardstock, and he was able to name them. I showed him combinations of letters, and he could pronounce them. I asked him to read words and then short sentences, and he succeeded. “You can read!” I said proudly. He paused, smiled, and replied, “Maybe… but I don't understand.” This man is far from the only one in this situation: 48% of adults in Canada—that’s almost half the population—have a reading level no higher than Grade 8, which corresponds to the second year of high school in Quebec. Think about it: when our message is too complicated, it’s difficult for nearly half our population to understand what we’re trying to say. We exclude a very large segment of society, and our democracy suffers as a result. Similarly, the words and phrases we choose can create a sense of exclusion when it comes to gender. For example, as the mother of a transgender teenager, I see the extent to which the use of the pronoun “she” brings my daughter profound joy every day, the feeling that she can be herself. My amazing daughter was, and continues to be, the inspiration behind my collaboration with the Interdepartmental Working Group on Inclusive Writing, which I co-chaired. The collaborative efforts of the Working Group, which included over 35 federal, provincial and territorial departments and organizations, culminated in the creation of the Guidelines for Inclusive Writing in the fall of 2022. Recently, I was fortunate to meet Chris Coulter, Senior Communications Advisor at Transport Canada, and Asha St-Hilaire, Senior Strategic Communications Advisor at Shared Services Canada. Chris and Asha are active members of the Plain Language Community of Practice. Together, we worked to dispel a myth! Yes, you can be gender-inclusive and apply plain language principles in your writing. And here are five tips to help you do just that! 1. Use common words, not jargon Don’t you just love it when presenters use acronyms and technical words that hardly anyone understands? Frustrating, right? Imagine what it might be like for the general population reading, watching, or listening to overly complicated information. Enough said! However, when it comes to gender identities, it might be difficult to avoid abbreviations such as “2SLGBTQIA+” or new words. While gender diversity is not new, the expression of these diverse identities is still in its early stages. New words and acronyms have emerged to name these identities, and they’ll likely continue to evolve over time. Why not use the opportunity to educate people by defining acronyms and explaining these new words? The word “Internet” didn’t exist when I started my career. Today, we all know its meaning and use it daily. The more we talk about gender identities, using the right words, the more we become accustomed to them. As we become more and more used to seeing, hearing, and using these words, the more our understanding of them grows. 2. Address your reader directly Addressing the reader is an effective plain language and gender-inclusive technique we often use in government communications. “You” is a pronoun that includes all genders and, in most cases, reduces the length of your sentences. It helps the audience see themselves in the text and relate to what you’re saying. Here’s a quick example: instead of writing “The tenant must keep his apartment clean and tidy,” address the reader and write “You must keep your apartment clean and tidy.” 3. Use the active voice Sentences written in the active voice are usually clearer and more effective than sentences written in the passive voice. The passive voice makes your reader work too hard to understand who is doing what. In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action: for example, “I love gender-inclusive writing.” That doesn’t mean we should always avoid the passive voice. The passive voice can come in handy as a gender-inclusive technique. For example, instead of writing “The supervisor must give feedback to his employees monthly,” you could use the passive and write “Supervisors’ feedback must be given to employees monthly.” However, the sentence isn’t as easy to understand as in the active voice. There are plenty of gender-inclusive techniques that can help you avoid the passive voice. In the example above, we could have written the following: “Supervisors must give their employees feedback monthly.” You just need to pluralize the noun. Simple, isn’t it? 4. Use shorter words and sentences, and omit unnecessary words Long words and long sentences make information more difficult to read and remember. As government communicators, no doubt you’ve read plenty of long sentences that are difficult to understand and made you furrow your brow. Cut long sentences and create short sentences. Simplify the terminology by using more common synonyms. Omitting unnecessary words is another useful technique. In the example we used in the section on the active voice, we could easily delete the pronoun: “Supervisors must give employees feedback monthly.” The shorter a sentence, the easier it is to read. 5. Choose verbs over nouns, and use lists Nothing’s better than a simple sentence that uses verbs instead of a long sentence with too many nouns, don’t you agree? Here’s an example of a long sentence: ECC is as efficient as it can be within the environment it works in and is constantly working on improvements, automation, and efficiencies. And here’s the plain language version that also uses a list: Our ECC team is as efficient as they can be within their current environment. They always look for ways to: be more efficient improve service find automated solutions Using the imperative is an extremely efficient trick when you want to avoid using a gender-specific pronoun. Instead of writing “The visitor should always keep his dog on leash,” you could write “Always keep your dog on leash.” This technique works especially well when you make a request or give an instruction, an order, or a warning. In conclusion, yes, you can be gender-inclusive and use plain language simultaneously. And these are just a few of the many techniques that can help you. Want to learn more? Check out the Guidelines for Inclusive Writing (opens in new tab) and the Inclusionary (opens in new tab) on the Language Portal of Canada.Source: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
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