"Cover"--"Half Title"--"Title" -- "Copyright" -- "Contents" -- "Foreword" -- "Acknowledgments" -- "Introduction" -- "Part I: Getting Started" -- "1. Knowing Your Readers" -- "How Many Readers?" -- "Who Are They?" -- "What Information Do They Need?" -- "How Will They Use Your Document?" -- "2. Organizing Your Document" -- "What Is the Main Message?" -- "What Can You Leave Out?" -- "Does the Document Need Headers?" -- "Does the Document Need a Summary?" -- "Are There Ways to Make the Document Livelier?" -- "Part II: Writing Clearly" -- "3. Writing Simple Sentences" -- "Writing Short Sentences" -- "Removing Extra Words" -- "Avoiding Clusters of Nouns" -- "Exercises" -- "4. Writing Active Sentences" -- "Avoiding the Passive Voice" -- "Turning Nouns Back into Verbs" -- "Exercises" -- "5. Using Simple Words and Avoiding Jargon" -- "Recognizing Jargon" -- "Avoiding Acronyms" -- "Finding the Simpler Word" -- "Exercises" -- "6. Explaining Technical Information" -- "Explaining Processes From the Beginning" -- "Highlighting the Main Point" -- "Using Specific Examples" -- "Exercises" -- "7. Using Lists" -- "Using Bullets" -- "Writing Policies and Conditions" -- "Exercises" -- "Exercise Key" -- "References and Bibliography

In this volume, the author draws from more than a decade of editing experience to explain how to craft clear, understandable, and highly readable planning documents. The author suggests ways to overcome planners' most common writing foibles: acronymns, jargon, and overuse of the passive voice. And the author provides handy lists to transform mushy nouns into powerful verbs, pare down bloated sentences, and translate ""bureaucratese"" into everyday language. The author even includes practice exercises designed to help you recognize and overcome bad writing habits. But even the best writing skills won't help if your document is organized poorly and aimed at the wrong audience.The author also explains why it's essential to know who your readers are before you start writing and how to organize your work so that it will be easy to understand and use."

Plain English is the art of writing clearly, concisely, and in a way that precisely communicates your message to your intended audience. This book offers 25 practical guidelines helping you to improve your vocabulary, style, grammar, and layout to achieve clear writing. It gives expert advice on all aspects of the writing process: from avoiding jargon and legalese, to organizing written information in print and online. It also shows you how it's done with hundreds of real examples, including 'before' and 'after' versions. All this is presented in an authoritative and engaging way. Completely revised and updated, this essential reference work is now even more useful: the word lists have been expanded; a new list of clichéd and troublesome words to avoid has been added; and examples of real-life stories have been replaced with more recent ones. An improved design gives the book a fresh feel.

This book shows you how to write for customers and clients in language that’s easy to understand. It is a thorough companion to the writing process, with comprehensive guidance and advice on understanding your readers, planning and creating your text, and presenting your words in a good design.The contributor list reads like a who’s who of plain language experts. Plain Language in Plain English is a valuable resource for governments, businesses, service providers, and professionals in any field to improve their communication.From organizational guidelines, literacy awareness, and reader expectations, to effective speaking strategies for presentations, Plain Language in Plain English, is a comprehensive tool to have in your “communication toolbox.â€

Plain English is an essential tool for effective communication. Information transmitted in letters, documents, reports, contracts, and forms is clearer and more understandable when presented in straightforward terms. The Oxford Guide to Plain English provides authoritative guidance on how towrite plain English using easy-to-follow guidelines which cover straightforward language, sentence length, active and passive verbs, punctuation, grammar, planning, and good organization.This handy guide will be invaluable to writers of all levels. It provides essential guidelines that will allow readers to develop their writing style, grammar, and punctuation. The book also offers help in understanding official jargon and legalese giving the plain English alternatives.This guide gives hundreds of real examples and shows 'before and after' versions of texts of different kinds which will help readers to look critically at their own writing. Helpfully organized into 21 short chapters, each covering a different aspect of writing. Clearly laid out, and easy to use,the Oxford Guide to Plain English is the best guide to writing clear and helpful documents.

If you're tired of making sweaters with sleeves that are the wrong length, necklines that droop, armholes that are too tight, and an overall look that's not quite right, then let Seater Design in Plain English come to your rescue. In clear, straightforward terms, Maggie Righettie shares her knitting know-how and good fashion sense so that, no matter what your knitting level, you can overcome the fear of failure, avoid costly mistakes, adapt already-existing patterns, and plan and create sweaters that really fit and look terrific-sweaters that will be worn for many years to come. Topics and techniques include: -Understanding the nature of yarn and pattern stitches -Choosing the most flattering color and design for the wearer -Taking accurate body measurements -Estimating the amount of yarn you'll need -How to tell whether or not a sweater will look good on you-before you start to knit -How to alter printed patterns so they really fit -How to understand the mathematics of gauge and pattern design -Plus start-to-finish instructions for thirteen classic sweaters Each technique is illustrated with clear diagrams, sketches, or photographs. Complete with conversion charts and a personal-measurements record-keeping section, Sweater Design in Plain English takes the guesswork out of every creative knitting effort.

"An invaluable tool to help you collect the information your attorney needs." —Michael Cragun, Utah State Tax Commissioner An Accessible Guide to Estate Planning With Estate Planning (in Plain English)®, readers will learn to comprehend the legal jargon and navigate the complex rules involved in preparing one’s estate. The authors provide clear information and cite actual cases to help readers approach the process with the confidence and knowledge they need to make the best decisions for their heirs. Chapters discuss important topics such as: Estate plans, wills, and a variety of trusts Guardians, powers of attorney, advance directives, and other essential documents Life insurance Digital assets Gifts Tax considerations Avoiding probate Identifying and caring for estate property Settling business assets Finding a lawyer An invaluable reference for those preparing their estates and for their families, Estate Planning (in Plain English)®will enable readers to take the necessary steps to preserve their legacies.

“This easy-to-follow guide is useful both as a general course of instruction and as a targeted aid in solving particular legal writing problems.” —Harvard Law Review Clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful—all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. For more than twenty years, Bryan A. Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English has helped address this problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. The leading guide to clear writing in the field, this indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process that will appeal to other professionals: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills. Accessible and witty, Legal Writing in Plain English draws on real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through decades of teaching. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting, and the book’s principles are reinforced by sets of basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises in each section. In this new edition, Garner preserves the successful structure of the original while adjusting the content to make it even more classroom-friendly. He includes case examples from the past decade and addresses the widespread use of legal documents in electronic formats. His book remains the standard guide for producing the jargon-free language that clients demand and courts reward. “Those who are willing to approach the book systematically and to complete the exercises will see dramatic improvements in their writing.” —Law Library Journal

Planning for your family's future made easy! If you’re like most people, you want to be sure that, once you’ve passed on, no more of your property and money will be lost to the government than is absolutely necessary. You want to know that you’ll be leaving your heirs your assets and not your debts. You want to be absolutely certain that your will is ship-shape, your insurance policies are structured properly, and that every conceivable hole in your estate plan has been filled. And most of all, you’d like to do all of this without driving yourself crazy trying to make sense of the complicated jargon, jumble of paperwork, and welter of state and federal laws involved in the estate planning process. Written by two estate planning pros, this simple, easy-to-use guide takes the pain out of planning for your ultimate financial future. In plain English, the authors walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to: Put your estate into order Minimize estate taxes Write a proper will Deal with probate Set up trusts Make sure your insurance policies are structured properly Plan for special situations, like becoming incompetent and pet care Craft a solid estate plan and keep it up-to-date Don’t leave the final disposition of your estate up to chance and the whims of bureaucrats. Estate Planning For Dummies gives you the complete lowdown on: Figuring out what you're really worth Mastering the basics of wills and probate Using will substitutes and dodging probate taxes Setting up protective trusts, charitable trusts, living trusts and more Making sense of state and federal inheritance taxes Avoiding the generation skipping transfer tax Minimizing all your estate-related taxes Estate planning for family businesses Creating a comprehensive estate plan Straightforward, reader-friendly, easy-to-use, Estate Planning For Dummies is the ultimate guide to planning your family’s future.