Plain Language
Definition
Writing that the intended reader can understand on first reading, without special training. Plain-language guidelines favour short sentences, active voice, everyday vocabulary, defined terms, and logical visual structure. The goal is not simplicity for its own sake but communication that serves its purpose.
- Goal
- First-reading comprehension without special training
- Favoured features
- Short sentences, active voice, defined terms
- Applies to
- Reports, jury instructions, legal and expert writing
- Not the same as
- Oversimplification that loses necessary precision
Common questions
How does plain-language writing affect the reliability of expert testimony?+
A report or explanation a jury or judge cannot follow risks being misunderstood or dismissed regardless of its technical soundness, so plain-language drafting is treated as part of making expert evidence usable rather than as a stylistic preference.
Does plain language mean removing technical terms entirely?+
No. Plain-language guidance calls for defining necessary technical terms clearly on first use rather than avoiding them altogether, since some terms carry precise meaning that a simpler substitute would lose.
Related terms
- Archaism
- Words and phrases that were standard in earlier English but have since fallen out of common use: 'hereinafter', 'aforesaid', 'witnesseth', 'whereas'. They...
- Deliberate Vagueness
- Intentional use of imprecise language to leave interpretive flexibility or to allow political compromise. Terms like 'reasonable', 'material', 'promptly', and 'substantial' are...
- Idiolect
- The language variety specific to an individual, comprising their characteristic vocabulary, syntactic preferences, spelling habits, punctuation patterns, and discourse-level style. Authorship attribution...
- Nominalisation
- The conversion of a verb or adjective into a noun form (e.g. 'make a determination' instead of 'determine'; 'give consideration to' instead...
- Passive Voice
- A syntactic construction in which the grammatical subject receives the action rather than performs it ('a notice shall be given' rather than...