Plain Language Homepage

Services

Clients

Guide

Resources

Links

Less is more.

Welcome to our plain language website.

Why use plain language?
0nly a tiny fraction of the 290,000 adult Manitobans between 16 and 64, who read with less than grade 8 skills, attend literacy upgrading programs.

To accommodate this large segment of the province’s population, it is most effective for organizations to write in Plain Language so that target audiences can understand their messages.

Let’s state some truths about Plain Language:

• Plain language is good style. Plain language is not “dumbing down” the message: it is making the message clear and understandable by more readers. If you use our services, we teach you to write well for your audience.
• Second, there is no single plain language. There are levels of plain language appropriate for your audience and purpose. All plain language has this in common: it is as simple and clear as the concepts allow. Plain Language at a reading level higher than grade 10 excludes thousands of potential readers.
• There will be some adults who will not be able to read even the simplest documents. However, if you write in plain language, you will reach more people than you will if you don’t.

Enjoy the site.

• Look for the principles of plain language under Guide.
• To see what we offer, click on Services.
• Look at “before and after” examples under Resources.
• Check out other interesting sites under Links.