Write using plain English (plain language)

Learn about writing in plain English - the writing style you should use on our websites to make content quick and easy to understand.

What plain English is

Plain English is direct, clear, everyday language. It makes text easier for everyone to understand.

Features of plain English

Short sentences and paragraphs
Simple, short, everyday words
Avoids jargon unless the audience understands it
Explains technical terms or acronyms
Clear sections of text with enough spacing
Clear headings and bulleted lists

People with at least some secondary education can understand text written in plain English. That's around an age 11 to 14 year old reading ability.

Tips for writing in plain English

Help people quickly get to what matters most about your message. Keep it simple using these tips.

Use:

headings to break up text - it should still make sense with the headings removed
short paragraphs that cover one topic - no more than 5 sentences each
short sentences that average 15 to 20 words - break up sentences longer than 25 words or use bullet points
bulleted and numbered lists - aim for 6 to 7 points per list, try to break up longer lists into different sections
short or easy words with fewer syllables - use 'like' not 'such as', ‘about’ not ‘approximately’

Avoid:

unexplained technical terms or abbreviations - explain them the first time you use them
jargon (technical or professional language) unless needed for your specific audience
starting a sentence with a numeral - restructure it if needed
words that appear on GOV.UK words to avoid list

Experts prefer plain English

Experts who have a higher reading level prefer plain English too. It allows them to understand complex information quicker.

GOV.UK explains this in 'Writing well for specialists'

User experience experts Nielson Norman Group also explain how plain English helps specialist readers in this 3 minute video [YouTube]

Plain English and easy read language

Plain English and easy read language are sometimes confused for each other. They are both writing styles designed to make standard written text easier to understand.

Easy read language is different from plain English because it's specifically for people with learning difficulties and disabilities.

People with at least some primary school level education should be able to understand text written in easy read language. That's around an age 7 to 9 year old reading ability.

Easy read language is normally used with a specially designed format that incorporates images alongside simple sentences.

Since the visual presentation must be fixed, easy read documents are almost always presented as PDF documents for these readers.

For our websites, you should focus on writing most service content in at least plain English.

Measuring readability

Readability tools can help you understand how easy your text is to read. This can help you think about ways to improve your writing.

While useful, different tools can give different or sometimes confusing results. This can depend on how the scores are calculated and how you use them. Do not rely on these tools to know if your content is easy to read for your specific audience.

Always test your content with real users too.

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score

The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score is a tool used to measure how easy a piece of text is to read. The higher the score, the easier the text is to understand.

This is what the score ranges mean:

Above 90 - Very easy to read (easy read language)
80 to 90 - Easy to read
70 to 80 - Fairly easy to read
60 to 70 - Easily understood (plain English)
50 to 60 - Fairly difficult to read
30 to 50 - Difficult to read
0 to 30 - Extremely difficult to read (academic or technical writing)

Aim for a Reading Ease score of 60 or above in your writing.

A key part of this score is the amount of syllables per word in the text. Syllables are the individual units of sound that make up a word. For example, water has two syllables and door has one syllable.

You do not need to factor in the complexity of proper names or titles in your score. For example, if you were writing to families of children with special educational needs and disabilities, or SEND.

The words 'educational' and 'disabilities' would lower your score because they have five syllables each. You would expect families to know what these words mean. So, you do not factor them into your overall score.

In this example about a cat sitting on a mat, notice how the Reading Ease score goes up the simpler the language becomes. The breed of cat 'Abyssinian' (a proper noun) is needed, so exclude it from the score.

An Abyssinian feline situated itself upon the burgundy doormat. (Score 18.9 - Extremely difficult to read)
An Abyssinian feline sat upon the burgundy doormat. (Score 54.7 - Fairly difficult to read)
An Abyssinian feline sat on the burgundy doormat. (Score 66.7 - Easily understood - plain English)
An Abyssinian cat sat upon the dark red doormat. (Score 92.9 - Easy to read/Easy Read language)
An Abyssinian cat sat on the dark red mat. (Score 100 - Very easy to read/Easy Read language)

Microsoft Word: Readability statistics scorecard

Microsoft Word has a Reading Ease score included in its readability statistics scorecard.

If you have not used the checker before, you may need to turn it on in Word using these steps:

Go to 'File', then 'Options'.
Select 'Proofing'.
Under 'When correcting spelling and grammar in Word', make sure to select the 'Check grammar with spelling' check box.
Select 'Show readability statistics'.

To run the checker, go to 'Review', then 'Editor.' Under 'Insights', select 'Document stats'.

Aim for a Reading Ease score of 60 or above.

You can also use a web-based tool like this Flesch Kincaid Calculator (Good Calculators)