Wednesday, March 12, 2008

In-Class Assignment on Plain English

In-Class Assignment on Plain English

Lindsey Burns
March 12, 2008

2. Read what is Plain English carefully and quickly. Try to focus on the following aspects of your reading:

a) Write a short reflection on how you think what you read on plain English will help you write effective technical documents in the future.
How I think what I read on plain English will help me write effective technical documents in the future by not trying to complicate my documents with big words or elaborate sentences. It is also faster to read, write, and I can get my message across to the reader a lot clearer, easier, and a friendlier way. Basically to avoid confusion.

b) Then write a short paragraph as your practice of using plain English. Be sure you will create or imagine a rhetorical context in which you need to use plain English to communicate your idea/message effectively.

Keep sentences short, use active verbs, good use of passives, using the pronouns you and me, appropriate words for the reader, not being afraid to give instructions, avoid nominalization, and to remember to mix writing long sentences with short ones. Basically plain English helped me written with the reader in mind and with the right tone, that is clear and concise. To also make sure I include the agent (which is the person,, group, or thing that is doing the action), noun or object (what the action is doing or done to), and a verb (the action word in the sentence).
I also learned that using an

- Action verb the order in which it appears in a sentence is the agent, verb, then
object.
- Using a passive verb, the order is switched; object, verb, then agent. And to use
words was and by.

And the uses of active and passive sentences.

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