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What is clear language?

  • An approach to communication
  • An attitude that
    • respects the reader
    • responds to the reader’s needs
  • A process; not a set of rules.

Why use clear language?

  • Unclear messages waste time and cause confusion.
  • Because respect for the reader is so important to clear language, the idea that we might be “dumbing down” a text does not fit at all with this approach.
  • Readers have different reading skills.
  • Understanding is a right!

The goal that matters most is in the results we get: did our readers understand what we wanted to communicate?

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