Plain english writing is different from other forms of writing because the whole goal of plain english is to save time for the reader, have an emphasis on clarity and to make sure you communicate clearly with your reader in a way that they will be able to easily understand on their first read without having to read it multiple times or look up words that you used to understand them, the goal of clear and concise communication is also what makes it different from other forms of writing, while some writing may have different goals and may use heavy or hard to understand words due to the content in the writing depending on what it is and who the audience may be, when you’re writing in plain english, you have to assume that your audience just wants the important and valuable information in a clear and easy to read form, for example, if you are writing an article or study about the science behind vaccines or medicine, you’re going to be writing it in a long form and quite complicated way due to what you are writing about and the audience that will consume the study will have an understanding of these long fancy words and will be willing to read long paragraphs about what you’re writing about because you are simply writing for a different type of audience in that scenario but if you are a doctor who runs a website or blog about your practice and how it could help patients (regular people) you’re going to have to write in a shorter, more concise way to communicate the value of the medicine to the regular person who will definitely be reading at a lower level than someone who is reading a study on the subject.
Ultimately the goal is what makes plain english so much different from other forms of writing, the goal is to communicate clearly and make it as easy as possible for the reader to find what they need and what will be of value to them without making them read through a bunch of text that they will have a hard time understanding, the key is knowing your audience and writing for that audience, that’s why plain english is so important when you’re writing for a business.
In class sources
Briscoe W8 Plain language writing w26 slide 17
Briscoe W8 Plain language writing quick recap slide 11
Briscoe W8 Plain language writing w26 Slide 19