Advocates Of The Plain Writing Act Prod Federal Agencies To Keep It Simple | nola.com

The article begins:

Federal agencies must report their progress this week in complying with the Plain Writing Act, a new decree that government officials communicate more conversationally with the public.

Speaking plainly, they ain't there yet. ...

"People complain about government red tape and getting government out of your hair," said Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, House sponsor of the Plain Writing Act. "If every one of these forms was written in plain language, the number of contacts to federal agencies would plummet." He's started a "Stop B.S." (for "Bureaucrat Speak") campaign soliciting examples of badly written public documents.

For more online resources about concise writing and plain language, check out these free websites of mine:

• Garbl's Concise Writing Guide
• Garbl's Plain English Writing Guide
• Garbl's Fat-Free Writing Links.