{"id":806,"date":"2020-08-23T11:44:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T15:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/?p=806"},"modified":"2021-04-02T12:40:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T16:40:11","slug":"plain-doesnt-have-to-mean-simplistic-or-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/23\/plain-doesnt-have-to-mean-simplistic-or-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Plain doesn&#8217;t have to mean simplistic or short."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/plain_language.png\" alt=\"A confused doodle reads out loud from the label of a pill bottle: \u201cTake 2  pills 4 times a day.\u201d In the next pane, the same doodle reads  instructions off the pill bottle: \u201cEvery day, take: 2 pills in the  morning, 2 pills at 12 p.m. (noon), 2 pills in the evening, 2 pills at  bedtime.\u201d The doodle exclaims, \u201cNow I get it!\u201d\" class=\"wp-image-807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/plain_language.png 700w, https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/plain_language-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/plain_language-125x78.png 125w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>One type of stylistic writing is what&#8217;s called <em>plain language<\/em>. Perhaps despite its name, it means to take something and, where needed, rephrase it in such a way that it&#8217;s more easily understood  by the greatest number of people\u2014all without changing the essential meaning of what&#8217;s being communicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This often means reducing the the number of words in a useful way, but it doesn&#8217;t have to. Sometimes, the word count can actually increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/wehearthealthliteracy\/to-be-clear-use-all-the-words-you-need-26ab469f38f6\" target=\"_blank\">Health Literacy Headquarters<\/a> discusses this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>When writing about health in plain language, the fact is that sometimes  you need a lot of words to tell your readers what they need to know. And  while you may feel like this is at odds with your clear communication  instincts, it really isn\u2019t!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>In general, it\u2019s best to fight the urge to use a more complex phrase just to lower your word count.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><p><ul><li>You may have swelling at the injection site.<li>You may have swelling in the place where you got the shot.<\/ul><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, the second version is more immediately understandable to a larger number of people than the first, even though it uses more words. Only if the audience of the writing were medical professionals, or if the document were a scientific article, might <em>injection site<\/em> be more appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca\/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&amp;lettr=chap_catlog&amp;info0=13\" target=\"_blank\">Public Works and Government Services Canada<\/a> also explains this concept:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The purpose of a plain-language approach in written communication is to  convey information easily and unambiguously. It should not be confused  with an oversimplified, condescending style. Rather, by choosing  straightforward vocabulary and sentence structures and by organizing and  presenting your material clearly and logically, you can save the reader  time and effort and ensure that your message will be clearly  understood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>The following sentence becomes much more transparent if the two verb-noun phrases are replaced with verbs:<\/p><p><strong>not<\/strong><\/p><p><ul><li>The recommendation of the committee favoured continuation of the applied research.<\/ul><\/p><p><strong>but<\/strong><\/p><p><ul><li>The committee recommended that the applied research continue.<\/ul><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One type of stylistic writing is what&#8217;s called plain language. Perhaps despite its name, it means to take something and, where needed, rephrase it in &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","archive-loop-container"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledandcomposed.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}