Federal Plain Language Guidelines

Download the Word or PDF version of the full Guidelines.

1. Thinking about your audience
• Identify your audience and write to them
• Address separate audiences separately
2. Organizing your document
• Organize to meet your audience's needs
• Address one person, not a group
• Use lots of useful headings
• Write short sections
3. Writing your document
1. Words
1. verbs
• Use active voice
• Use the simplest form of a verb
• Don't turn verbs into nouns
• Use "must" to convey requirements
• Use contractions when appropriate
2. nouns and pronouns
• Avoid noun strings
• Use "you" and other pronouns to speak directly to readers
• Minimize abbreviations
3. other word issues
• Use short, simple words
• Omit unnecessary words
• Dealing with definitions
• Use the same term consistently for a specific thought or object
• Avoid legal, foreign, and technical jargon
• Don't use slashes
2. Sentences
• Write short sentences
• Keep subject, verb, and object close together
• Avoid double negatives and exceptions to exceptions
• Place the main idea before exceptions and conditions
• Place words carefully
3. Paragraphs
• Have a topic sentence
• Use transition words
• Write short paragraphs
• Include only one issue in each paragraph
4. Other aids to clarity
• Use examples
• Use vertical lists
• Use tables to make complex material easier to understand
• Consider using illustrations
• Use emphasis to highlight important concepts
• Minimize cross-references
• Design for ease of reading
4. Testing your Document