The most important area we need to get right is the choice and use of words, so let’s look at this first.
Simple easy-to-understand words are usually the best. Aim to use short modern everyday words.
- Use the active voice - ‘damage is the buyer’s responsibility’ should be ‘the buyer is responsible for damage’.
- Personalise your wording - use ‘you must tax and insure the vehicle…’ rather than ‘the customer must tax and insure the vehicle…’
- Paragraph lengths should not be longer than 60 – 80 words.
- Sentence lengths are best at less than 20 words. If you are using Microsoft Word, you can quickly assess this with the built-in readability check (Consult the program's help menu, if in doubt).
- Avoid bureaucratic wording. Check that every word and phrase is really necessary. It should sound conversational.
- Avoid foreign words
- Avoid confusing words
- Avoid normalisations that’s where a noun is used in place of a verb eg. ‘the distribution of aid’ rather than ‘aid was distributed’. They usually end in -ment, or -tion such as 'management', 'introduction' but there are others such as 'avoidance'.
- Avoid acronyms and jargon. The ICO survey showed that 63% of people who replied wanted less jargon.
- Avoid the abstract and be precise. Vague words such as ‘short’ and ‘appropriate’ are open to misinterpretation and have caused many lost court cases.
- Avoid complex embedded subordinate clauses. Introducing linking words such as ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘and' and ‘but’ can lead to lengthy complex sentences. Break long sentences into several short ones.
- Avoid sentences with negatives or double negatives and exceptions to exceptions. Better still, always speak in the positive, as the word 'not’ is so easy to miss when the eye is scanning through text.
- Avoid legal phrasing. If the average reader doesn’t understand it, it shouldn’t be on the web.
Avoid legal phrasing. If the average reader doesn’t understand it , it shouldn’t be on the web.
Next: Setting the text out clearly
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