简介
This guide begins with an introduction called, ‘So what’s plain English?’
The guide then looks at the main ways to make writing clearer.
- Keep your sentences short
- Prefer active verbs
- Use ‘you’ and ‘we’
- Use words that are appropriate for the reader
- Don’t be afraid to give instructions
- Avoid nominalisations
- Use lists where appropriate
The guide then looks at the difficult subject of apologising, and deals with some of the myths that can get in the way of clear communication.
The guide finishes with a summary and a list of words to avoid.
什么是简单英语
First let’s say what plain English isn’t and destroy some of the myths about it.
- It’s not ‘cat sat on the mat’ or ‘Janet and John’ writing. Almost anything - from leaflets and letters to legal documents - can be written in plain English without being patronising or oversimplified.
- It doesn’t mean reducing the length of your message or changing its meaning. Most of the UK’s biggest insurance companies produce policies that explain everything fully in plain English.
- It’s not about banning new words, killing off long words or promoting completely perfect grammar. Nor is it about letting grammar slip.
- It is not an amateur’s method of communication. Most forward-looking senior managers always write in plain English.
And finally, it is not as easy as we would like to think.
句子尽量短
Most experts would agree that clear writing should have an average sentence length of 15 to 20 words.
使用主动语态
Do you want your letters to sound active or passive - crisp and professional or stuffy and bureaucratic?
合适使用被动语态
There are times of course when it might be appropriate to use a passive.
- To make something less hostile - ‘this bill has not been paid’ (passive) is softer than ‘you have not paid this bill’ (active).
- To avoid taking the blame - ‘a mistake was made’ (passive) rather than ‘we made a mistake’ (active).
- When you don’t know who or what the doer is - ‘the England team has been picked’.
- If it simply sounds better.
使用你们和我们
Try to call the reader ‘you’, even if the reader is only one of many people you are talking about generally. If this feels wrong at first, remember that you wouldn’t use words like ‘the applicant’ and ‘the supplier’ if you were speaking to somebody sitting across a desk from you.
使用适合读者的字词
When you are talking to your reader, say exactly what you mean, using the simplest words that fit. This does not necessarily mean only using simple words - just words that the reader will understand.
At the end of this guide there is a list of a few of the words that we suggest you avoid. But for most words you will have to decide yourself whether they are suitable.
Jargon is a type of language that is only understood by a particular group of people. You can use jargon when writing to people who will understand the terms and phrases. It can be a useful form of shorthand. But try to avoid using specialist jargon on the general public.
So in general, keep to everyday English whenever possible. And again, imagine talking to your reader across a table.
不用担心使用祈使句
Sit!
Brush your teeth.
Please send it to me.
These are all commands - officially called imperatives. They are the fastest and most direct way of giving someone instructions.
However, if we asked a hardened bureaucrat to write these expressions, we would end up with something like the following.
避免使用名词
A nominalisation is a type of abstract noun. (Is that plain English?) In other words, it is the name of something that isn’t a physical object, such as a process, technique or emotion.
Nominalisations are formed from verbs.
参考链接
- How to write in plain English,by plainenglish.
- 英语中表达并列，and前加不加逗号？,by zhihu.
- 英文中关于逗号使用方法,by 桃子爱不完.
- 状语,by wikipedia.
- 英语动名词作定语的用法形式有哪些,by 大山教育.
- 考研英语：英语语法中只有三大从句,by yanzhaowang.
- 过去分词在句子中做状语的用法总结,by 古月月.
- 现在分词在句子中作状语的用法,by 古月月.
- 副词修饰动词时在英语句子中不同的位置,by yufa.
- 定语,by wikipedia.
- English learning,by 一飞同学.
- 表语,by wikipedia.
