how to write clearly in english

7/28/2019 How to write clearly in English

1/16

1

European Commission

How to write

clearly

EN


2/16

2

European Commission sta have to write many dierent types o documents. Whatever the type legislation,a technical report, minutes, a press release or speech a clear document will be more eective, and more

easily and quickly understood. This guide will help you to write clearly whether you are using your own

language or one o the other ocial languages, all o which are also working languages o the Commission

according to Council Regulation No 1/1958 (still valid today!)

These are hints, not rules, and when applying them you should take account o your target readers and the

purpose o your document.

Three good reasons to write clearly are:

toworkmoreeectivelytogether

toreduceunnecessarycorrespondence tobuildgoodwill.

Hint 1:Think before you write............................................................................................................................ page 3

Hint 2: Focus on the reader be direct and interesting ............................................................................. page 4

Hint 3: Get your document into shape ............................................................................................................ page 5

Hint 4: KISS: Keep It Short and Simple ............................................................................................................... page 6

Hint 5: Make sense structure your sentences ............................................................................................. page 7

Hint 6: Cut out excess nouns verb orms are livelier ............ ........... ............ ............ ........... ............ ............ page 8

Hint 7: Be concrete, not abstract ....................................................................................................................... page 9

Hint 8: Prefer active verbs to passive and name the agent ............................................................... page 10

Hint 9: Beware of false friends, jargon and abbreviations....................................................................page 11

Hint 10: Revise and check...................................................................................................................................page 14

Online EU drafting aids ......................................................................................................................................page 15


3/16

3

1. Think beore you write

Clear writing starts with and depends on clear think-

ing. Ask yoursel:

Who will be reading the document?

Three main groups o people read European Commis-

sion documents:

EUinsiderscolleaguesintheEuropeanCommis-

sion or other institutions

outsidespecialists thegeneral publicwhich is by farthelargest

group.

Most European Commission documents are now on

the internet and available to everyone. Everything we

write and publish as part o our work or the European

Commission inevitably aects the public image o the

EU.SeeHint2fortipsonreaderfocus.

What are you trying to achieve?

What is the purpose o your document? Ater reading

it, what will your readers have to do?

makeadecision?

handleacertainsituation?

solveaparticularproblem?

changetheirattitudetowardssomething?

What points must

the document cover?

Decideonyourmessage

Make a list or bubble diagram (see illustration)

containing all the points you expect to make, in no

particular order.

Crossouttheirrelevantpoints.

Linktheremainingpointsintorelatedgroups.

Fill anygaps in your knowledge:make anote of

acts you will need to check and/or experts you willneed to consult.

This approach applies to practically all non-literary

texts: memos, reports, letters,user guides, etc. For

ormal documents such as legislation, specic drat-

ing rules must be ollowed.

An alternative is the 7 questions approach.

This is a structured method o covering relevant in-

ormation:

WHAT? My essential message

WHO? Persons concerned

WHEN?Days,hours,timelines,deadlines

WHERE? Places

HOW? Circumstances, explanations

WHY? Causes and/or objective

HOW MUCH? Calculable and measurable data

abbreviat

ions

abstract

jargon

long

passive


4/16

4

Be direct and interesting

Always consider the people youre really writing or:

not just your boss, or the reviser o your translations,

buttheendusers.Likeyou,theyreinahurry.Whoare

they, what do they already know, and what might you

need to explain?

Try to see your subject rom the point o view o your

readers:

Involve them by addressing them directly (youis an under-used word in European Commission

documents).

Imagine which questions they might ask, and

make sure the document answers them. Maybe

evenusethesequestionsassub-headings.Forex-

ample: What changes will this new policy make?

Why is this policy needed? Who will be aected?

What do we expect to achieve?.

Interest them. Give them only the inormation

they actually need. Leaveout asmany details of

European Commission procedures and interinstitu-

tional ormalities as you can. These are meaninglessto most readers and simply reinorce the Commis-

sions image as a bureaucratic and distant institu-

tion. I they are really essential, briefy say why.

2. Focus on the reader

Now you can make your outline.


5/16

5

Two common problems at the European Commission:

1. Recycling an earlier text without adapting it properlyOlder models may be unclearly written and may not refect new circumstances

and new drating practices. Take care to make all the necessary adaptations.

2. Cutting and pastingYou may have to use passages rom a variety o documents to assemble a new

text. Beware o inconsistent terminology, repetition or omission: these can

undermine the internal logic and clarity o the end result.

3. Get your document into shape

When you start

Ifyouroutline includes asummary, begin with

that: you may nd it is enough! Put it at the begin-

ning because that is the rst (and sometimes the

only) part that people will read.

Payparticularattentiontolinksthatwillhelpread-

ers to ollow your logic and reasoning. Choose

headings and other signposts that will enable

them to nd key inormation to save you repeat-ingitthroughoutthedocument.Useinormative

headings and sub-headings to highlight the most

important points o the document. A heading such

as Mergers need to be monitored more careully is

more inormative than Monitoring mergers.

Considerhowbesttomakeyourpointsandkeep

your document reader-riendly: could you use

icons, graphs, or tables instead o text? Do

you need a glossary or a list o denitions?

Afterthebeginning,thenextmostfrequentlyread

part is the conclusion. A reader may skip every-

thing in between to get to the conclusion. Make it

clear, concise and to the point.

Show your readers the structure of longer docu-

ments by including a clear table o contents.

As you write

Followourhintsbelow

ConsultEUdraftingaids(seelastpage)

Keep cutting! Be tough ask i each sec-

tion and each word is really necessary.

Cut out superfuous words, but make sure the mes-

sage is still clear:

The deadline to be observed or

the submission o applications is

31 March 2010.

The deadline or submitting applications is

31 March 2010

Application deadline: 31 March 2010

Ater youve fnished

SeeHint10foradviceonrevisingandchecking.


6/16

6

Short ...

The value o a document does not increase the longer

it gets. Your readers will not respect you more be-

cause you have written 20 pages instead o 10, espe-

cially when they realise that you could have written

what you wanted to say in 10. They may well resent

you or taking more o their time than necessary.

Somewaystocutoutunnecessarywordsinclude:

Not stating theobvious.Trustyourreaders com-mon sense.

Notclutteringyourdocumentwithredundantex-

pressions like as is well known, it is generally ac-

cepted that, in my personal opinion, and so on

and so orth, both rom the point o view o A and

rom the point o view o B.

Not repeating yourself.When referring to, say, a

committee with a long name, write out the ull

name once only: This question was put to theCommitteeontheProcurementofLanguageStyle

Guides. The Committee said that ....

Shorter documents and shorter sentences tend to

have more impact.

As a guide:

1 document = 15 pages at the most

1 sentence = 20 words on average(but sprinkle

in a ew short sentences!)

Unnecessarily long sentences are a

serious obstacle to clarity in Euro-

pean Commission documents. Try to

break them up into shorter sentences.

But remember to include link words

(but, so, however) so the coherence

doesnt get lost in the process.

... and Simple:

Usesimplewordswherepossible.Simple language

will not make you seem less learned or elegant: it will

make you more credible.

in view o the act that as

a certain number o somethe majority o most

pursuant to under

within the ramework o under

accordingly, consequently so

or the purpose o to

in the event o i

i this is not the case i not

i this is the case i so

concerning, regarding, relating to on

with reerence to, with regard to about

4. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple


7/16

7

Simple, uncluttered style also means:

... avoiding ambiguity

I you use the same word to reer to dierent things,

you could conuse your reader:

You must hand in your application

by Tuesday. You may also submit an

application or this deadline to be

postponed. Your application ... (what are wetalking about now?)

You must hand in your application by

Tuesday. You may also ask or the deadline

to be postponed. Your application ...

... not changing words just or styleYou may think you can make your document less

boring by using dierent words to reer to the same

thing. Again, though, you could conuse your reader:

You must hand in your application by

Tuesday. The committee may turn down

your request... (i.e. your application or is it?).

You must hand in your application byTuesday. The committee may turn it down

...

... using the positive orm, not the negative

It is not uncommon or applications to be

rejected, so do not complain unless you

are sure you have not completed yours

incorrectly.

It is quite common or applications to be

rejected, so complain only iyou are sure

you have completed yours correctly.

You may have to write (or improve) a text containing a

mass o acts and ideas. Here are some ways o untan-

gling the inormation so that readers will understand

each sentence straight away.

Name the agents o each action

(see Hint 8) and put the actions in the order

in which they occur.

ItsdecisiononallocationofEUassistancewill be taken subsequent to receipt o

all project applications at the Award

Committees meeting.

When all applicantshave submittedtheir project applications, 1

the Award Committeewill meet 2

to decide 3

howmuchEUaiditwill grantto

each one. 4

Dont bury important inormation in the

middle o the sentence.

As or reducing roaming charges, the

Commission outlined several proposals.

The Commission outlined several proposals

or reducing roaming charges.

The smoking in restaurants ban now seemslikely to be implemented.

Smokinginrestaurantsisnowlikelytobe

banned.

Try to give your sentences strong endings

thats the bit readers will remember.

Complete institutional reorm is advocated

by the report in most cases.

In most cases, the report advocates

complete institutional reorm.

5. Make sense structure your sentences


8/16

6. Cut out excess nouns verb forms are livelier

One simple way to write more clearly is to change ...

this ... to this:

by the destruction o by destroying

or the maximisation o or maximising

o the introduction o o introducing

By making this change, we are simply turning a nounback into a verb. Verbs are more direct and less ab-

stract than nouns. Many nouns ending in -ion are

simply verbs in disguise. They oten occur in phrases

like those below, where verbs would be clearer:

carry out an evaluation o evaluate

hold an investigation o investigate

give consideration to consider

There are other nouns that dont end in -ion butwhich are also verbs in disguise:

conduct a review o review

perorm an assessment o assess

eect a renewal o renew

Sowecanmakeadocumentclearerbyturningsomenouns back into verbs:

The practice o growing perennials instead

o annual crops can bring about an

improvement o soil quality by eecting an

increase in soil cover.

Growing perennials instead o annual crops

can improve soil quality by increasing soil

cover.

8


9/16

9

7. Be concrete, not abstract

Concrete messages are clear abstract language

can be vague and o-putting. Too much abstract

language might even lead your reader to think either

that you dont know what you are writing about or

that your motives or writing are suspect.

Unlessyouhaveagoodreason,ifyoucanusea con-crete word instead o a more abstract word that means

the same, choose the concrete word. Your message

will be more direct and thereore more powerul.

Sometimes, instead

of this ...:

you could try this:

eliminate cut out

achieve an objective meet a target

employment opportunities jobs

negative evolution downturn

remunerated employment paid work

investing in human capital * - (workorce) training

- improving

(workers) skills

- training and

education

* As this example shows, the problem is oten pinning

down your exact meaning.

TIP: In Word, highlight and right-click on a word and

selectSynonyms,nearthebottomofthemenuthat

appears, to nd the word you are really looking or.

The list o synonyms will contain both abstract and

concrete words. Try to choose a concrete word in-

steadofavaguerall-purposeone.Forexample,the

word identiy is perectly acceptable, but some-times a clearer word is better:

to identiy innovations to spot innovations

to identiy the participants to name the

participants

to identiy the meaning to see / show

/ pinpoint the

meaning


10/16

10

8. Preer active verbs to passive...

Another easy step to clear writing is to use verbs in

the active voice (the car hit a tree) rather than the

passive (a tree was hit by the car). Compare these:

New guidelines have been laid down by

the President in the hope that the length

ofdocumentssubmittedbyDGswill be

restricted to 15 pages.

The President has laid down new

guidelinesinthehopethatDGswill restrict

the length o documents to 15 pages.

Look how we can make a sentence clearer by cutting outpassives...:

unclear:

A recommendation was made by the

European Parliament that consideration

begivenbytheMemberStatestoa

simplication o the procedure.

a bit better:

The European Parliament made a

recommendation thattheMemberStates

give consideration to a simplication o the

procedure.

and fnally by using verbs instead o abstract nouns:

much better:

The European Parliament recommended

thattheMemberStatesconsidersimpliying the procedure.

and name the agent

I you change passive verb orms into active ones,

your writing will become clearer because you will be

orced to name the agent the person, organisation

or thing that is carrying out the action.

Its easy to identiy the agent here ...

This project was rejected atCommission

level.

The Commission rejected this project.

... but impossible here:

It is considered that tobacco advertising should be

bannedintheEU.

Who considers? The writer, the Commission, the public,the medical proession?

RememberthatEUdocumentshavetobetranslated

into several languages. I your original document is

unclear, you may end up with non-matching transla-

tions, as each translator tries to guess what you might

have meant and comes up with a dierent solution.

But you dont have to avoid passives at all

costs. They can be useul, or example when theres

no need to say who is responsible or the action be-

cause its obvious (All sta are encouraged to write

clearly).


11/16

11

9. Beware o alse riends, jargon and abbreviations

Avoid false friends

False riends (or aux amis) are pairs o words in twolanguages that look similar, but dier in meaning.

In a multilingual environment like the European Com-

mission, we oten mix up our languages. Borrowing

betweenFrenchandEnglishiscommon.Forinstance,

to control in English normally means to command/

direct or to restrict/limit. It does not mean simply to

check/supervise like contrler inFrench. Using thewrongwordcanalienatereaders,makingtheEUin-

stitutions look like a closed club that is out o touch

with the real world. In the worst case, it can lead to

misunderstandings and diplomatic incidents (or

example,ifyoujustwanttosaythatLuxembourgis

small,butyouwritethatLuxembourgisnotanim -

portant country).

French False riend Why is it wrong? Whats the correct word?

actuel actual actual means real current, topical

adquat adequate adequate means sucient suitable

assister assist at assist means help. attend, participate in

attribuer attribute to attribute to means consider to bedue to/characteristic o

allocate to, assign to

complter complete complete means nish supplement

dlai delay a delay means a postponement orhold-up(= retardinFrench)

deadline, time limit

laborer elaborate (verb) to elaborate means to go intodetail

drat, develop, produce

ventuel eventual eventual means ultimate any

prvu oreseen oreseen means predicted provided or, planned

important important important is right i you meansignicant; but not i you mean>

> large

matriel material material means matter,

inormation

supplies, equipment

opportunit opportunity opportunity means chance advisability

perspectives perspectives perspective means standpoint prospects, outlook

respecter respect to respect means to value orhonour someone or something

comply with (rules), meet (a

deadline)

sensible sensible sensible means reasonable sensitive


12/16

12

Avoid or explain jargon

Jargon is vocabulary used by any group o insiders or

specialists to communicate with each other, and is ac-

ceptable in documents which are only read by that

group.

However, outsiders (especially the general public)

will have to work harder than they need to or want

towhenreadingjargon.Somereadersmayevenstop

reading so make sure that any document you want

outsiders to read is as jargon-ree as possible.

AndifyouDOhavetousejargontermsindocuments

or the general public, explain them when you rst

use them, or add a glossary, a hyperlink or a reerence

to one o the websites indicated at the bottom o this

page.

This non-exhaustive table contains a number o terms

commonlyusedintheEUinstitutions:

Jargon term Suggested denition

acceding country country about to join the EUacquis (communautaire) body o EU law

candidate country country still negotiating to join the EU

cohesion approach aimed at reducing social and economic disparities within the EU

comitology procedure under which the Commission consults committees o experts

Community method method developed or taking decisions in the EU, where the Commission,Parliament and Council work together

enlargement expansion o the EU to include new members

mainstreaming taking into account in all EU policies

proportionality principle that a level o government must not take any action that exceeds thatnecessary to carry out its assigned tasks

subsidiarity principle that, wherever possible, decisions must be taken at the level ogovernment closest to citizens

Clear explanations o much jargon can be ound in:

thePlainLanguageGuidetoEurojargonsectionon

the Europa website

(http://europa.eu/abc/eurojargon/index_en.htm).

Fordenitionsofmoretechnicalandlegaltermsaris-

inginanEUcontext,seetheonlineEuropaGlossary

(http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_en.htm).


13/16

13

Take care with abbreviations

Too many unamiliar abbreviations can make a docu-

ment incomprehensible and send your reader to

sleep:

(ERDF+EAGGF+CAP=ZZZ).

I the meaning o an abbreviation might not be clear

to your reader, you should:

writethemoutinfulliftheexpressiononlyoccurs

once or twice in the document; or

spellthemoutwhenyourstusetheminadocu-

ment, ollowed by the abbreviation in brackets,

and then use the abbreviation in the rest o the

document; and/or

attachalistofabbreviationsorahyperlinktoshow

what they stand or.

The Main Acronyms and Abbreviations section o

theInterinstitutionalStyleGuide (http://publications.

europa.eu/code/en/en-5000400.htm) denes many

o the acronyms and abbreviations used in European

Commission documents.

As always, consider your readers needs:

Somereaderswillbeirritatedifcommonabbrevia-

tions are spelled out.

Writingmarketing authorisationholder onevery

other line instead o MAH will make the document

much longer.

Remember that abbreviations and acronyms can

mean dierent things in dierent contexts.

Forexample:

ESA stands or EuropeanSpaceAgency

EuratomSupplyAgency

EuropeanSystemofAccounts

EndangeredSpeciesAct

EnvironmentallySensitiveAreaEasternandSouthernAfrica

ElectronStimulatedAdsorption

and several other alternatives.

Source:http://iate.europa.eu

ESA

ESA

ESA

ESA

ESA

ESA

ESA

ESA


14/16

14

10. Revise and cheque check

Usespellingandgrammarcheckers,butbeaware

that they dont pick up all mistakes.

Re-readyourdocumentcritically,puttingyourself

in the readers shoes. Are the sentences and para-

graphsclearlylinked?Dotheyfollowlogicallyfrom

each other? There will always be something you

can improve or simpliy.

Askcolleagues tocomment,includingsomewho

havent been consulted earlier.

Listentotheirsuggestionscarefully.

Follow those which improve brevity, clarity and

reader-riendliness.

Need more help?

Even when you have nished your document and

made it as clear as possible by ollowing the tips given

above you may eel that your writing could still be

improved. Perhaps you are not sure o the right verb

or preposition to use. Or some sentences may still be

longer and more awkward than you would like.

Youcan contacttheDirectorate-GeneralforTransla-

tion(DGT)andaskforyourdocumenttobeedited.

There are two services, depending on the nature o

your document:

Web pages: i.e. the main pages o a website in

html ormat.

To have web pages edited, enter a Poetry request:

code WEB (notyourDGname),productREV.Forad-vice, contact DGT-D-2-EN.

Formoreinformationonwebediting:http://www.cc.cec/translation/acilities/products/

web/tutorial/index_en.htm

Other documents:

(in English or French)SendthemtotheEditing

Unit.Ifyouareusingthisserviceforthersttimeor

need advice, you can email DGT-EDIT, outlining

your requirements.

More details at:

http://www.cc.cec/translation/acilities/products/

editing_en.htm

(in another EU ofcial language) You can ask

or linguistic revision o important documents by a

native speaker o any ocial language. Enter a Po-

etry request and ask or the product REV.


15/16

15

Online EU drating aids

Detailedinformationonin-houseconventionsfor

English spelling, punctuation and usage is in the

EnglishStyleGuideproducedbytheTranslationDG:

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pd

Clear writing guides and style guides or several

other ocial languages are also on the Translation

DGwebsite:http://ec.europa.eu/translation/

language_aids

Inormation on ocial publications in all ocial

languagesisintheInterinstitutionalStyleGuide

produced by the Publications Oce :

http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/

en-000100.htm

Guidance on drating Community legislation in all

ocial languages is in the Joint Practical Guide:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/index.htm

Foradviceonwritingfortheweb,seethe

Inormation Providers Guide: http://ec.europa.eu/

ipg/content/tips/index_en.htm


16/16

16

Acknowledgements

This guide draws on sources including:

The Oxord Guide to Plain EnglishbyMartinCutts,Oxford,UnitedKingdomcrire pour tre Lu, Ministre de la Communaut ranaise, Belgium30 Regole per Scrivere Testi Amministrativi Chiari,UniversitdiPadova,ItalyBrgernahe Verwaltungssprache, Bundesverwaltungsamt, GermanyKlarsprk lnar sig, Regeringskansliet, Justitiedepartementet,SwedenKnnetnk tekstisi, tulkataanko puheenvuorosi?Kotimaistenkieltentutkimuskeskus,FinlandWriting or Translation TranslationCentrefortheBodiesoftheEuropeanUnion

The OECD Style Guide, 2nd Edition OECD, Paris http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/8/39/40500006.pd

IllustrationsbyZetaField,DGTranslation,EuropeanCommission.

Thisguideisavailableinall23ociallanguagesoftheEuropeanUnion.

You can nd the online version at:

http://ec.europa.eu/translation

PublicationsOfceGraphicDesignService

how to write clearly in english

Documents