Plain Style

Introduction

If you believe that a toothpick should be called a toothpick, and not a wood interdental stimulator, and if you would rather read We think than It is at this point in time the opinion of the committee that, then you are three-quarters of the way to writing simply, and the advice you find here will help.

Everyone agrees that simple, straightforward writing saves time, wins customers, and prevents expensive misunderstandings. Complicated writing does the opposite—and while the stuff of business, science, and regulation isn’t simple, writing should be. E = MC², for example, expresses a mind-boggling concept in a breathtakingly simple way. Too often, however, business writing races in the other direction. When the writer means We must ...