Most organisations have an idea of how they want to be portrayed to clients or the public. They will have a brand and know what their values are.
With many people all creating writing on behalf of an organisation, including freelance copywriters or editors, it would be difficult to be consistent across all communications without a reference tool. Creating and using a writing style guide makes an organisation look professional, ensures clear communication, and creates a cohesive brand. A client may not consciously recognise that there is consistency in the writing style choices, but they will notice if there is not. ![]() Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 1: What is plain English? Part 2: Why you should use plain English in your business. Plain English writing means uses writing techniques and layout design to make your message clear to the reader. It is user-friendly writing. It's not as easy as it sounds to write in plain English. And there are no rules on how to write in plain English – just guidelines. The guidelines are there to help you, but different contexts or readers mean that the guidelines must be interpreted correctly for your purpose. There are two stages to writing a document in plain English: Stage 1: Planning the structure and flow of the document. Stage 2: Writing the sentences using plain English techniques. ![]() Photo by Andrew Pons on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 1: What is plain English? Part 3: How to write in plain English We are used to seeing plain English in government publications and information. Think of all the information we receive daily now around the Covid-19 pandemic. It is clear and easy to follow. Many countries have laws that require plain English to be used in government publications. In June 1998, a memorandum was issued in the US that required government departments and agencies to use plain language in all government documents. The UK and Australia have similar laws. We're a little behind in New Zealand, but the Plain Language Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2021. On the New Zealand Legislation website, the explanatory note says that the bill “promotes the use of plain English in official documents and websites. Comprehensible information from government organisations is a basic democratic right. Plain English must become the standard for all official public and private communication in New Zealand.” ![]() Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 2: Why you should use plain English in your business. Part 3: How to write in plain English. Plain English, or plain language, is a way of writing and using layout design to make your message as easy to understand as possible. It's user-friendly writing. Plain English can
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Marja StackMarja Stack is an editor and plain language consultant based in New Zealand. She is the owner of Clearlingo Editing and Proofreading, which caters to all writers of non-fiction books, business publications and cookbooks. For more information or enquiries on how she can help you make your writing shine, please see her website. Categories
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- What is plain English? - Why you should use plain English - How to write in plain English New Zealand English Series - NZE: How to use a semicolon - NZE: The 'singular they' - NZE: How to use italics - NZE: How to write numbers - NZE: How to write abbreviations - NZE: How to punctuate dialogue - NZE: hyphens, en dashes and em dashes - NZE: How to write times and dates - NZE: Possessives - NZE: Is our spelling different? - NZE: Burned vs Burnt - NZE: Using Māori words in English text - NZE: -ise vs -ize endings - NZE: Single or double quote marks - NZE: Punctuation inside or outside quotation marks? The Editing Process - How to write a non-fiction book that sells - How to write a book to promote your business - Copyright and Permissions - How much does editing cost? - How to self-publish your book in New Zealand - When is my book ready for publishing? - Types of editing - 5 things to tell your editor - The revision and editing process - What are beta readers? - What to expect when you get your manuscript back - How to order the pages of a book - Fact checking fiction writing - Formatting your manuscript for submission - How long does it take to edit a book? General Editing - Why I belong to editing associations - How to write recipes for cookbooks and blogs - The basics of writing a cookbook Technical - How to use Tracked Changes in Word - How to use basic Word Styles - How to fix common formatting errors in Word |