News from the Center for Plain Language
Read today’s press release from the Center for Plain language about report cards for federal agencies one year after the Plain Writing Act regulations went into effect.
Similar Posts
Improve your reader’s efficiency — and win their gratitude — with bottom line placement
I’m reorganizing some materials published earlier on Pros Write. And I’m starting with bottom line placement because no guidance for writing successfully at work is more important. If you want to win readers’ gratitude. . . If you want them to see you as competent and respectful. . . Then state your bottom line message…
Friday fun with word frequencies
Calling all word nerds! For some Friday fun, try the Macmillan Red Words Game, which tests your awareness of English word frequency. It’s not as easy as you might think. After a couple of tries, my highest score was 195. Can you beat it? Along the same lines, Roberto Trotta has written an interesting book. From the…
Why do people write like zombies at work?
My colleague, Burcu, sent me the link to this recent Forbes piece by Liz Ryan on why people writing things like as per my message and it has come to my attention. It’s a good read so I tweeted about it. If you missed it, here's a good explanation from @forbes for why people write zombie…
Amateurs don’t know they don’t know
I’ve been struggling to understand why teaching undergraduate students to write for the workplace is so difficult since around 1988. Quite a while back, I recognized that students have to clear a psychological hurdle to succeed. I just couldn’t figure out what to call that hurdle. Until now. In a 1999 article in the Journal…
To better understand . . . Or to understand better?
Has anyone given you grief over splitting an infinitive in your writing? If so, they would claim “to better understand” is wrong because the adverb better appears between to and the verb understand. The “rule” to avoid splitting infinitives originated in the 18th century due to a faulty comparison of English with Latin. (For more…
The sorry state of language education
Please tell me you had a teacher talk about homophones at least once during your educational experience. This story from the Salt Lake Tribune a few days ago depresses me on many levels. In short, an English language teacher was fired for using the word, “homophonic.” Like I’m watching a car crash . . . I haven’t been…