Writing in Plain English
For Writing, Common Sense Has Made a Comeback
Writing in Plain Language
Connie Balcher Inukai
Have you ever signed something without even reading it? Consider the following agreement:
Terms and Conditions
Now you have the opportunity to end paper clutter and organize your financial records. With eDelivery, you can receive certain documents online in lieu of bulky copies by mail. And you can activate this option today, by agreeing to the Consent to Electronic Delivery below.
The agreement below supplements any existing client agreement(s) you may have with us, and it enables you to give blanket authorization to suppress hard-copy delivery of most personal documents relating to your Morgan Stanley account(s). This includes your monthly statements, trade confirmations, Corporate Action Credit Advices and all documents that may be added to eDelivery in the future, including performance reports, prospectuses, and trade confirmations that are accompanied by a prospectus.
As you read through the agreement, you should be aware that:
You may reverse your decision at any time, by updating your eDelivery Settings through ClientServ or by contacting your Financial Advisor.
Your authorization will extend to yourself, as the accountholder, as well as to any accounts where you are the authorized designee for the accounts assigned. You can contact your Financial Advisor if you need to make adjustments to Statement Linking.
Interested parties authorized to receive duplicate paper copies of your documents will continue to receive them as currently designated. We anticipate providing third party access to eDelivery in the future. There may be an additional charge for this in the future.
Consent to Electronic Delivery
As beneficial owner or authorized third party, by clicking on the “I agree” button, you consent to receive your account statements, trade confirmations, Corporate Action Credit Advices and other documents electronically by accessing them on the Morgan Stanley ClientServ Website. You will receive your statements, trade confirmations, Corporate Action Credit Advices and other documents in electronic form rather than physical delivery. If you would like to receive physical delivery of your documents or modify your eDelivery enrollment, you may update your eDelivery Settings on ClientServ. You may also revoke or modify your enrollment by calling Customer Service at555-5555 your Financial Advisor.
You will be notified by e-mail to the electronic address provided by you that a new statement, trade confirmation, Corporate Action Credit Advices, or other documents has been posted on our secure Website.
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You agree to notify Morgan Stanley promptly of any change in your e-mail address by either:
Returning to the eDelivery Settings page on ClientServ
Contacting your Financial Advisor
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You will go through the same 2-step verification process as for initial enrollment in eDelivery.
Investments and services are offered through Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, member SIPC. is a service mark and ClientServ is a registered service mark of Morgan Stanley.
(1) It is too long.
(2) It is too difficult to understand.
(3) Both of the above.
While most businesses and government do not intentionally try to take advantage of us, consumers usually sign agreements in good faith and hope not to get caught with fine-print details that are written in not-so-plain language.
Why Is Our Writing So Confusing?
At one extreme are the people who remember from college days that assignments must have a 500-word (or greater) minimum and therefore fluff up their writing to meet the word count requirements. At the other end, we have the technology that forces us to be succinct with short emails and even shorter text messages. Standards of effective writing have unsurprisingly crumbled.
Government and business have gotten a wake-up call. Adding to the predicament of ambiguous writing is the changing world of communication in which writing reaches audiences across the globe. Consider the frustration of someone from a non-English- speaking country reading and trying to understand what a wake-up call is.
What Are the Costs of Confusing Writing?
A report by the National Commission on Writing estimates that remedying deficiencies in writing costs American corporations as much as $3.1 billion annually” (College Entrance Examination Board).
An article about the Cost of Poor Writing in the Workplace, published in July 2005 in Business Week, quantified the cost of poor writing in three areas: loss of time, loss of business, and loss of people (Pope).
When Did the Idea of Plain Language Begin?
The notion that writing in plain language so that people can easily understand what is read is not quite a revolutionary idea.
• In 1906, H.W. Fowler wrote The King’s English, where he suggested that “Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavor, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid” (Fowler). The book was published in 1926 as A Dictionary of Modern English Usage and has remained a staple for writing in plain English.
• William Strunk wrote The Elements of Style in 1918 as an attempt to give his students at Cornell the principal requirements of plain English. Professors and instructors since that time have been asking students to use simple English style and to abandon attempts at flowery prose, which is fine in literature, but not necessary in other forms of writing (Strunk).
• In 1995, a group of federal employees began meeting to try to spread the use of plain language in the government. They, The Plain Language Action Network (PLAIN), advocate “Improving Communication from the Federal Government to the Public.” While there had been earlier efforts within the US government to spread the use of plain language, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the movement started to find support (www.plainlanguage.gov). One of the main supporters was then Vice-President Al Gore, who has a knack for enlightening the public about common sense issues, such as documents that are written clearly so that people can easily understand what was written!
Common sense has made a comeback. Easy-to-understand language is coming back into the forefront.
• Initial attempts at writing in Plain English began with the Securities and Exchange Commission, recommended by Chairman Arthur Leavitt and endorsed by Warren Buffet, to help consumers read prospectuses that were sent to them.
• Other agencies have followed, and now even lawyers are being asked to write legal documents that their clients can understand.
Recent government directives include the following:
On April 14, 2008, The House overwhelmingly approved bill HR3548 that would force the government to use plain English in its public reports, letters and documents. “This week, millions of Americans are finishing a confusing and oftentimes frustrating annual ritual: filing their federal tax return,” said Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, the bill’s sponsor. “The Plain Language Act requires a simple change to business-as-usual that’ll make a big difference for anyone who’s ever … received a government document” (Carlstrom).
A similar bill in the Senate, S 2291, passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee last week. It now heads to the full Senate for a vote (Carlstrom).
Take this direct quote from a government document to taxpayers:
“The amount of expenses reimbursed to a claimant shall be reduced by any amount that the claimant receives from a collateral source. In cases in which a claimant receives reimbursement under this provision for expenses that also will or may be reimbursed from another source, the claimant shall subrogate the United States to the claim for payment from the collateral source up to the amount for which the claimant was reimbursed under this provision.”
And what does all this mean? Simply that
— If you get a payment from another source, the government will reduce its payment to you by the amount you get from that source.
— If you already got payments from the government and from another source for the same expenses, you must pay back what the government paid you (Cheek).
Difficult, obscure writing like this is expensive, time-consuming, and annoying. It puts citizens at risk and makes it difficult for federal agencies to fulfill their missions effectively and efficiently. It discourages people from complying with requirements or applying for benefits. The owner of a small business in Tulsa, Okla., asked 13 clients about their responses to difficult government communications. Of the 13, 10 said they might never respond (Cheek).
Federal employees are beginning to appreciate that the plain language is becoming even more important in the current days of information moving onto the web, of many citizens becoming older, and of people being so busy that they have little time to untangle gobbledygook.
PLAIN believes the public deserves to understand what its government is doing for them and expects of them. Whether or not there is a government-wide mandate to use plain language as government leaders come and go, the initiative has taken hold. The public is beginning to see the difference plain, clear writing can make. They are starting to expect no less from their government (Locke).
Quotes from government leaders endorsing plain language:
• “Clear writing from your government is a civil right.” (Former Vice President Al Gore, 1998)
• “The information we at the Department of Health and Human Services provide can literally make the difference between life and death for our fellow Americans.” (HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, 2002)
The Challenge: How Do You Write In Plain Language?
Written material is in plain language if your audience can:
• Find what they need
• Understand what they find
• Use what they find to meet their needs
There are many writing techniques that can help you achieve this goal. Among the most common are:
• Logical organization with the reader in mind
• “You” and other pronouns
• Active voice
• Short sentences
• Common, everyday words
• Easy-to-read design features
No one technique defines plain language. Rather, plain language is defined by results—it is easy to read, understand, and use (www.plainlanguage.gov).