Plain English is writing that the intended reader can understand the first time they read it, using everyday words, short sentences and a clear structure. It is not dumbing down: it means removing the effort the reader would otherwise have to spend working out what the writer meant.
How plain English works
Plain English is a set of habits rather than a single rule:
- Use the everyday word: “buy” rather than “purchase”, “help” rather than “facilitate”, “about” rather than “in relation to”.
- Keep most sentences short, with one idea in each.
- Prefer the active voice: “we will send your refund” rather than “your refund will be sent”.
- Address the reader as “you” and put the information they need first.
- Explain any technical term the reader genuinely needs, or link to a definition.
- Use headings, lists and tables so people can find their part.
In the UK, the idea is closely associated with the Plain English Campaign, which has promoted clear public information since the late 1970s and awards its Crystal Mark to documents it has reviewed. The GOV.UK style guide, used across central government websites, applies the same principles to the web and is free to read. Both are useful references for any business.
Readability scores such as Flesch Reading Ease estimate how hard a text is from sentence and word length. They are a rough guide, useful for spotting a page that has drifted into jargon, but a text can score well and still be unclear.
Why it matters
People read web pages in a hurry, often on a phone, and leave when a page makes them work. Clear writing keeps them reading, answers their questions and makes it easier to enquire or buy. It also helps search engines and AI tools understand what a page is about, because the answer is stated directly rather than wrapped in qualifications.
Plain English is also an inclusion issue. Many adults in the UK find dense text difficult, including people with dyslexia, people with cognitive impairments, people reading in a second language and anyone who is tired or stressed. Clear writing supports accessibility in the way the WCAG guidelines encourage.
In some cases it is a legal expectation. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, written terms in consumer contracts must be transparent, meaning in plain and intelligible language and legible. Firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority must meet the consumer understanding outcome of the Consumer Duty, which requires communications customers can understand.
Common mistakes
- Writing for colleagues instead of customers, so internal terms and acronyms appear on public pages.
- Long sentences stacked with clauses and qualifications, especially on service and legal pages.
- Treating plain English as informal or chatty. Clear writing can be formal and precise.
- Chasing a readability score by chopping sentences until the text reads like a list of fragments.
- Leaving terms and conditions, privacy notices and error messages out of the effort, because “that is legal”.
How to act on it
Start with your most-visited pages and the ones that lead to enquiries. Read each one aloud. Wherever you stumble, a reader will too. Replace formal words with everyday ones, split long sentences and move the answer to the top.
Run text through a tool such as the readability checker to find the densest passages, then fix them by hand. Better still, ask a customer to read a key page and tell you in their own words what it says.
Write the principles into your style guide so everyone who writes for the business follows them. Clear, plain writing is part of every page I produce through the content SEO service.