Content treasure trove

The ultimate grammar guide, writing for older people, a super-simple guide to plain English, and how to write about actions.

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That's it. Enjoy the links...

Iain

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I run plain English training workshops with all sorts of teams in various organisations. Email iain@verymeta.com if you'd like to know more about how they work.

Grammar Rules: The Ultimate Guide

Grammarly is a useful tool that checks your writing for bad spells and stuff. But the company blog is also a content treasure trove of handy information, including this giant guide to pretty much every word-related term or phrase you can think of. Punctuation. Syntax. It's got the lot.


South Tyneside Council's super-simple plain English guide

Many local council's in the UK will now include a web page that explains their policy on clear language. This example from South Tyneside is deliciously concise and provides a near-perfect introduction to the world of plain English.


Guidelines for age-inclusive communication [PDF 165KB]

Apologies for linking straight to a PDF, but I can't find the content on an actual web page. The good news is these guidelines from Changing the Narrative give you some great tips for writing about age and for older people.


How to write about actions and their effects

First of all, you should read Adobe's guidelines on inclusive language. And then in the page on writing with visuals, you'll find a short table that shows some examples of how to write actions. Things like, 'Enter email' instead of 'Type email address', as the user may not be typing if they are using a screen reader.


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