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In Britain the Plain English Campaign promotes the use of appropriate
language, paricularly in official documents. They agree that this does not
always mean using the simplest possible words. "We define plain English as
something that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the
first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout
as well as language."
At one time the campaign did use the Fog Index, but they don't any more:
"The FOG index was a very rough measure of 'readability' used in Plain
English Campaign's first report, 'Small Print', in the early 1980s. We do
not recommend it, or any other mathematical formula for measuring
readability. You cannot give a document a score for plain English - either
it is crystal-clear or it isn't. There is no substitute for testing a
document on real people."
I know there are similar campigns in other counries. Has anyone ever had to
write documents that meet "plain English", rather than "Simplified English"
standards? (In Britain the campaign awards a "Crystal Mark" to approved
documents.)
David Farbey mailto:david -dot- farbey -at- lazysoft -dot- com
Technical Writer
Lazy Software Ltd., UK http://www.lazysoft.com
Phone: 01628-642314
-----Original Message-----
From: Hart, Geoff [mailto:Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]
Sent: 31 May 2002 15:05
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Fog Index, take II
Sue Ahrenhold admonishes: <<Oh, come on, everybody!>>
Simplistic indices get me far more steamed than they perhaps merit, but I
don't like people getting the impression that they're worth using. Much bad
writing results therefrom, and don't we have enough problems already getting
respect for our profession?
<<All I got from the site was a reminder to Keep It Simple.>>
Which is good advice, provided that you don't use the Fog Index to define
simplicity.
<<Don't use a long word when a short one will do.>>
A textbook case of oversimplifying. The correct statement is "Use the right
word for your audience." For a technical audience, the shorter word is
usually the wrong one. Even for a general audience, the shorter word isn't
always better.
<<Short sentences are easier to understand than long ones.>>
Another case of oversimplifying. The correct statement is "Use the right
sentence length; don't artificially shorten a sentence, nor allow a sentence
to grow so long it collapses under its own weight."
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