Writing in plain English

North West Medicines Information Centre

Plain English?

A singular specimen of the scientific class aves contained within the boundaries of the upper prehensile is equivalently valuable as a doubled inventory of that item located in a low-spreading thicket.

Becomes

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!

Aim and learning outcomes Aim

To change the way you write - starting today!

Learning Outcomes

• To understand why it’s important to use plain English

• To know some principles of plain English

• To understand what makes some writing hard to read and know how to make it easier to read

• To be able to write in plain English

What is plain English?

Plain English isn’t

• ‘cat sat on the mat’ writing – anything can be written in plain English without being patronising or over simple

• Reducing the length or changing the meaning of your message

• Banning new or long words, or using perfect grammar

• Easy

What are the advantages of plain English?

• It is faster to write

• It is faster to read

• You get your message across more often, more easily and in a friendlier way

If you spend more than an hour a day writing, you are (to an extent) a professional writer.

You need to get it right!

Keep your sentences short

Clear writing should have an average sentence length of 15 to 20 words

• Vary sentence length – be punchy

• Stick to one main idea in each sentence, plus maybe one other related point

• Break up long sentences into smaller ones

Keep your sentences short

I do not seem to have received the information required from you to set up your budget scheme and I now enclose the relevant form and ask that you fill it in and return it.

Becomes

I do not seem to have received the information required to set up your budget scheme. I enclose the relevant form. Please fill it in and return it.

Be active

Active verbs • Make writing livelier and more personal

• Doer first, verb second, thing last

• ‘The boss slammed the door’

Passive verbs • Make writing duller and more difficult to understand

• ‘The door was slammed by the boss’

Be active

• The matter will be considered by us shortly Becomes We will consider the matter shortly

• The riot was stopped by the police Becomes The police stopped the riot

• Peter was crushed by the tree Becomes The tree crushed Peter

• The side effects of gabapentin can be managed by gradual dose titration Becomes Gradual dose titration can minimise the side effects of gabapentin

Doer, verb, thing – in that order

The mysterious case of the missing ‘doer’

‘Doers’ are often left out

• 35 sites were visited in three weeks. Procedures were being properly followed at the sites visited.

So who was visiting the sites? Changing to an active verb reveals the ‘doer’ and sharpens up dull, unclear sentences. Mystery solved!

• We visited 35 sites in three weeks. At the sites we visited, we found staff were following procedures properly.

Be active

Spotting passives

• Passive verbs almost always have one of the following words added on (be, being, am, are, is, was, were, will be)

• Passive verbs have a past participle (ask – asked; claim – claimed; write – written)

• Care should be taken when opening the ampoule.

• The treatment plan will be agreed next week.

Be active Passive verbs can be useful……

• To make something less hostile – ‘the antibiotic was not given’ (passive) is softer than ‘you did not give the antibiotic’ (active)

• To avoid taking the blame – ‘a mistake was made’ (passive) rather than ‘we made a mistake’ (active)

• When you don’t know who or what the doer is – ‘the patient was advised to avoid nuts’

• If it simply sounds better

..…but aim to make 80-90% of your verbs active

Be active

From the DVLA

The tax disc was sent to you at the address on your application form but it was returned by the Post Office as undeliverable mail.

Becomes

We sent you the tax disc at the address on your application form but the Post Office returned it as undeliverable mail.

Talk to your reader

• Write with your reader in mind

• If you want them to read it, give them a piece of writing that is lively and readable

• Imagine you are presenting your enquiry/report to your reader yourself

• Use language they will understand

Talk to your reader

Reports are often written using passive verbs as this allows the writer to remain anonymous, e.g. ‘It was found that’ and ‘It is recommended that’.

Why? Because the writer is writing on behalf of an organisation.

• Let the reader know there is a person there!

• It’s not just friendlier – its usually easier to understand, e.g. ‘I found that’ and ‘We recommend that’.

Talk to your reader

Understandable words

• Say exactly what you mean – use the simplest words

• Don’t use jargon unless you’re writing for someone who uses the same jargon

• Use everyday English whenever you can

• Write to communicate – NOT to impress!

Words to avoid

Use the alternatives in brackets

• additional (extra) • advise (tell) • commence (start) • complete (fill in) • comply with (keep to) • consequently (so) • ensure (make sure) • forward (send) • in accordance with (under, keeping to)

• in excess of (more than)

• in respect of (for)

• in the event of (if)

• on request (if you ask)

• particulars (details)

• per annum (a year)

• persons (people)

• prior to (before)

• regarding (about)

• whilst (while)

Nominalisation – Eh!

A nominalisation is a type of abstract noun – the name of something which isn’t a physical object but a process, technique or emotion.

Formed from verbs; used instead of verbs – but dull and heavy-going.

• Complete – completion

• Introduce – introduction

• Investigate – investigation

We had a discussion about the matter. Becomes We discussed the matter. The decision was taken by the Infection Control Team to restrict the use of ceftriaxone. Becomes The Infection Control Team decided to restrict use of ceftriaxone.

The implementation of the policy has been done by the rheumatologists. Becomes The rheumatologists implemented the policy.

The report made reference to drug shortages. Becomes The report was about drug shortages.

Nominalisation

Nominalisation

From a surveyor’s report

We can solve the problem by removal of the plaster to a height of one metre, the insertion of a new damp-proof course and the introduction of suitable floor joists.

Becomes

We can solve the problem by removing plaster to a height of one metre and putting in a new damp-proof course and suitable floor joists.

Other points to consider

• Cut out useless words.

• Sound positive.

• Don’t be afraid to give instructions.

• Use lists.

• You can start a sentence with ‘and’, ‘because’, ‘but’, ‘so’, ‘however’ and ‘or’.

• You can repeat a word in a sentence if you can’t find a better one.

Lists

There are two main types.

• A continuous sentence with several listed points picked out at the beginning, middle or end.

• A list of several points with an introductory statement (like this list).

Bullets are better than numbers or letters as they draw attention to the points without giving you extra information to take in.

Lists

With a list that is part of a continuous sentence, put commas after each point and start each with a lower case letter. Make sure each point follows logically from the introduction.

If you can prove that you:

• were somewhere else at the time,

• were not related to Mary, and

• are over 21,

then you should be alright.

Make your writing easier to read

You will have noticed that some writing is very difficult to read and some is quite easy, even if you know the subject of both quite well.

• What makes some writing harder to read than others?

• What is it about the language that makes it so hard?

• Is it the way the text is set out?

Make your writing easier to read

TEXT A

The language you use to:

• train someone to do a task,

• assess someone’s competence in a task,

shouldn’t be harder than the language they need to do that task at work.

Make your writing easier to read

TEXT B

THE LANGUAGE UTILISED IN VOCATIONAL

TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT SHOULD

NOT BE OF A HIGHER DEGREE OF

DIFFICULTY THAN THAT REQUIRED FOR

IDENTICAL WORKSITE TASK COMPLETION.

Make your writing easier to read

Have a go!

1. Which one is harder to read and understand – text A or text B?

2. Why is it harder?

Make your writing easier to read

Poor layout

• All capital letters

• All bold font

• Sentences are all centred

• The text is one long sentence

Make your writing easier to read

Poor language

• Long, uncommon words used - required (needed), utilised (used)

• Language is impersonal – nominalisation!

• Lots of nouns – worksite task completion

• Nouns used where verbs or adjectives would be better – degree of difficulty (two nouns) vs. harder (adjective)

• Lots of passive verbs

Make your writing easier to read

Improve the layout

• Use upper and lower case together – beginnings and shapes

• Break up the text – take a break

• Use bullet points – highlight importance

• Use lots of white space – not overwhelming

Make your writing easier to read

Improve the language

• Use everyday, common words

• Use personal language – involve the reader

• Use verbs instead of nouns

• Use prepositions – ‘task at work’ is better than a string of nouns (worksite task completion)

• Use adjectives – ‘harder’ rather than ‘degree of difficulty’ (two nouns)

Check your own work Have a go!

Read through your own piece of work

(or the first page of the BDA bisphosphonate fact file if you’ve not bought your own work).

Look at:

• Word choice, e.g. active or passive verbs, too many words, nominalisations, plain English equivalents,

• Sentence length – use Gunning Fog test,

• Layout – think space, lists, justification, etc.

• Use everyday English wherever possible

• Avoid jargon

• Keep your sentence length down to an average of 15-20 words

• Try to stick to one main idea in a sentence

• Use active verbs as much as possible

• Be concise

• Imagine talking to your reader – write personally, be sincere and in the right tone of voice

In summary

And layout your writing carefully….

• Lots of white space

• Bullet points

• Headings and sub-headings

• Boxes for important information

• Font and font size

• Consistency

• Avoid underlining

• Use capitals and lower case, not just capitals

• Justify text on left hand side only

Useful resources

Plain English Campaign www.plainenglish.co.uk

• How to write in plain English

• How to write reports in plain English

• How to write medical information in plain English

• The A to Z of alternative words

Plain Language Commission www.clearest.co.uk

Plain Language Association InterNational http://plainlanguagenetwork.org/

• A volunteer non-profit organisation of plain-language advocates, professionals, and organizations committed to plain language. PLAIN has an email discussion group you can join.

Useful resources

Health Literacy Group www.healthliteracy.org.uk/

• Funded by the Department of Health and the Department for Innovations, Universities and Skills. The group is keen to link with others with an interest in health literacy, in the UK and abroad.

European Commission How to write clearly

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/clear_writing/how_to_write_clearly_en.pdf

• This booklet supports the EC’s Clear Writing campaign and contains many before-and-after examples.

Useful resources

Improvement and Development Agency www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=1536729

• This resource looks at writing plain English, especially for people working in local government.

Simplification Centre www.simplificationcentre.org.uk/

A new centre, based at the University of Reading.

Health Literacy and Plain Language Resource Guide http://healthliteracyinnovations.com/information/RGdownload

• Health Literacy Innovations, a US-based company that ‘creates innovative tools to enhance health literacy’ has produced this comprehensive guide to available resources on health literacy.

Useful resources

British National Corpus (BNC) www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

• A corpus is a collection of samples of written and spoken language. Type in the word or phrase you’re interested in, and you’ll get a list of instances headed by a note of the total frequency of the word or phrase – useful for deciding which word or phrase is more familiar and so better to use in your document.

Twurdy www.twurdy.com/ • Twurdy is an internet search engine that colour-codes its results in line with

their readability. Its goal is to provide web searchers with information that is most appropriate for them.

Useful resources

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children NHS Trust www.gosh.nhs.uk/gosh_families/information_sheets/research_information/research_information_staff.html

Royal College of Anaesthetists Raising the standard: Information for patients www.rcoa.ac.uk/index.asp?PageID=126

And many more ……………………..

And finally………

A headline in the

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy 2010; 2(9): 261.

CHMP recommends rosiglitazone suspension