Iain Broome

At some point, I will stop saying thank you for sharing Plain English Weekly, but today is not that day. There are 422 of you receiving this! Thank you for sharing!

Look out for a very short survey in an upcoming edition of this newsletter. I'd love to know what sort of content you might find useful next. A podcast? An online course? Live and recorded webinars? The world is our plain English oyster.

Don't forget you can just reply to this email and share your thoughts, suggestions and exciting secrets too.

That's it. Enjoy the links...

Iain

Grammar Rules: The Ultimate Guide

Grammarly is a useful tool that checks your writing for bad spells and stuff. But the company blog is also a content treasure trove of handy information, including this giant guide to pretty much every word-related term or phrase you can think of. Punctuation. Syntax. It's got the lot.

South Tyneside Council's super-simple plain English guide

Many local council's in the UK will now include a web page that explains their policy on clear language. This example from South Tyneside is deliciously concise and provides a near-perfect introduction to the world of plain English.

Guidelines for age-inclusive communication [PDF 165KB]

Apologies for linking straight to a PDF, but I can't find the content on an actual web page. The good news is these guidelines from Changing the Narrative give you some great tips for writing about age and for older people.

How to write about actions and their effects

First of all, you should read Adobe's guidelines on inclusive language. And then in the page on writing with visuals, you'll find a short table that shows some examples of how to write actions. Things like, 'Enter email' instead of 'Type email address', as the user may not be typing if they are using a screen reader.

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Toot toot! We have made it to 300+ subscribers and we're only on issue five of Plain English Weekly. Thank you so much for sharing it with your pals!

This week, I'm a world away from my usual content design work. Instead, I'm producing the official podcast for the Trans Pyrenees ultra-distance cycling race. It's quite the change of scenery from word-wrangling!

After that, whisper it quietly (the very best way to whisper), I might be looking for my next freelance content gig. I very much enjoy receiving emails about exciting projects, so do get in touch if you fancy a chit chat.

Finally, before I get the heck out of your way, what are you up to? I'd love to know more about what you do and why you're into plain English.

Feel free to reply to this email!

Iain

Making the case for clear language

This is super stuff from Nia Campbell at Content Design London. It's full of useful distinctions and information and a follow up to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) launching its first plain language standard. 

The bit about whether we should use the term 'plain' or 'clear' language caught my eye! I fussed for ages over whether I should call this newsletter Clear Language Weekly. In the end, I went for Plain English Weekly instead because I felt it was the more recognised phrase. People know it as a thing.

But as you may have spotted, I do generally prefer 'clear language' when I talk about the practical act of – you know – writing clearly.

How to use the active or passive voice

Guess what my 11-year-old twins are doing for their homework this week? They had to go through this ace web page all about the active and passive voice. It includes examples, videos and quizzes. I very much of approve of clear language in schools, though it would be great to see more about how it benefits people.

Mailchimp's guide to writing for accessibility

Writing clearly is just one part of making sure web pages are accessible to as many people as possible. Mailchimp's internal guides are always a handy reference tool and this one on accessible content is a good place to start.

5 easy ways to shorten your sentences

When I run plain English workshops, people often find it more difficult to shorten sentences than they first expect. There's a real knack to it. It takes practice. But the tips in this Outwrite blog post will help you get started.

Want to Create Inclusive UX Content? Avoid These Words

Lots of useful advice in this blog post by Chinwe Uzegbu, published on UX Planet. These are the small details that make a significant difference if you want to write in a way that does not exclude or alienate people.

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Well that was a lovely week in the world of Plain English Weekly. We've gone from 100 to 250+ subscribers in no time at all. Thank you to everyone who shared it with their internet pals. Much appreciated!

I'm not going to faff around for too long here, as it's my twin boys' birthday today and there are important things to do. Needless to say, enjoy the links below and again, feel free to forward this on or post it to your socials.

Go find something useful...

Iain

PS Here is my LinkedIn profile and freelance website if you want to learn more about me and whatever the heck it is I do.

What Passive Voice Is and When to Use It

'Prefer the active voice' is one the principles of writing in plain English. The way I approach this in workshops is to first help people understand the difference between active and passive voice. You know you've got it when you can be on passive voice alert without it feeling like a chore.

If you can easily spot the passive voice, you're in a pretty good position to make a decision about whether it should be active instead. In most cases, active is your best option. But not always, as this Grammarly blog post points out.

Check out the accompanying video too. It's pretty good, though I reckon it makes things a bit more complicated than they need to be!

Accounts Acing Alt Text on Social Media

Adding alt text to an image is a way of describing its content and meaning in an alternative format. Enjoy these examples from Holly Tuke, who has gathered a collection of organisations and individuals doing alt text well on social media.

Here's a good introduction to alt text on GOV.UK.

How to use readable, accessible emojis

Love 'em or hate 'em, it's fair to say emojis are now part of many people's everyday communication. If you find yourself popping the odd emoji into your copy, make sure you are doing it in the best possible way.

Tools for content strategists and designers

Lauren Pope is a content strategist who shares an ace newsletter for content folk. She's also very kindly put together this marvellous list of apps and other tools that will help you do your very bestest content work.

Templates: collection of content production templates for Airtable

Do you know Airtable? It's basically sexy spreadsheets that you can also turn into apps. It can do lots of things, but I've used it mostly for planning projects and even the odd prototype. These templates are a good introduction and could be a great addition to your content toolkit.

New reader?

Join a growing community of 250+ plain language champs and start getting advice and resources that help you write clearer, more accessible content.

We're on issue three of Plain English Weekly already and there are now almost exactly 100 of you fine people subscribed. Thank you, thank you!

I promise I won't bang on about it every week, but the best way for this newsletter to grow is if you share it with other likeminded souls. If you get chance, please forward the emails and send people to the website to subscribe. I will happily give you three invisible biscuits in return. Imagine!

On to this week's links...

Iain

Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts

One web page (and associated video) full of useful advice, information and practical things you can do to improve your writing. The thrust of the piece shows why the people who might typically argue against clear language are, in fact, wrong. You can use this to persuade the doubters you find in your own work.

How to design a style guide that people actually use

Some useful insight here from Angela Moore writing on the excellent Scroll blog. If you've ever needed a style guide or you have one and no one uses it, this is a really good place to start.

Allow me to share a tip of my own. It sounds silly, but there is one style guide of mine that got used the most. I knew it would make a huge impact if everyone embraced it, but there was low digital maturity in the team. So I printed hard copies out and put them on everyone's desks.

It worked because they could see it right there in front of them and watch each other use it as a reference document. Within a few months, they were adding new stuff to the guide themselves and gradually we all moved to the digital version, which was collectively kept up to date. Win!

GOV.UK style guide - A to Z

Of course, if you don't have a style guide for your organisation, you can always borrow some good advice from elsewhere. My freelance work is currently in the public sector on projects in local and national government, so the GOV.UK style guide is more or less my best pal at this point.

Noun vs Verb: What’s the Difference?

If you don't mind me saying so, I am pretty good at writing in clear language. But can I remember all the different types of verb, noun and any other linguistic reference without checking Google? Nope. Nope I can't.

Book: Content Design by Sarah Winters

If plain English is part of your role as a content designer, chances are this book needs no introduction. It's the authority on content design and sits on my desk next to me every day. If you write web content of any kind, I recommend you get a copy for your desk too.

"Being clear in your language is the fastest route to making someone else understand what you are trying to communicate. Nothing else."
Sarah Winters, Content Design

New reader?

Join a growing community of 100ish plain language champs and start getting advice and resources that help you write clearer, more accessible content.