Over the last two decades, a ‘culture of clarity’ has been gaining ground in many large organisations around the English-speaking world. In the United Kingdom, government departments, banks, insurance companies, local councils and others have come to realise that communicating clearly with customers is essential. Instead of writing to impress or confuse, they are now writing to inform and explain. They are using plain English to do this.

The results have been remarkable:

•    When BT produced a clearer bill in plain English it received around 25% fewer enquiries each quarter. Customers also paid their bills more promptly, improving cash flow and reducing the cost of collecting overdue bills. Before the change, BT had been receiving a million calls a year.

•    Before the Royal Mail redesigned its redirection of mail form it had an 87% error rate when customers filled it in. The company was spending over £10,000 a week to deal with complaints and reprocess the incorrect forms. The new form reduced the error rate dramatically, so that Royal Mail saved £500,000 in the next nine months.  (Source: Writing for dollars  Professor Joseph Kimble)

There is another benefit in using plain English.  Not only is it easier to read, it’s easier to write.  This is good news for anyone learning English who wants to work in, or deal with, an English-speaking organisation.  Until a few years ago, a student would have had to learn an entire vocabulary of obscure ‘business English’.  These days, business English is much more like its everyday, spoken counterpart.  Busy managers welcome clear, concise and straightforward reports and emails that simply ‘tell it how it is’.

That’s why the Word Centre’s interactive CD-ROM course Writing plain English encourages students to ‘keep it simple’.  By learning how to use everyday language, short sentences and a direct style students will soon master modern business English.

The course covers:

 what do we mean by plain English?
 the mistakes writers make
 the main plain English techniques
 using everyday words
 keeping your sentences short and effective
 using ‘bullet lists’
 making your writing ‘human’
 writing ‘actively’
 punctuating properly
 grammar tips
 writing letters and reports.

For more information go to Word Centre