Plain English (sometimes referred to more broadly as plain language) is a generic term for communication in English that emphasizes clarity, brevity, and the avoidance of technical language—particularly in relation to official government or business communication.
The goal is to write in a way that is easily understood by the target audience: clear and straightforward, appropriate to their reading skills and knowledge, free of wordiness, cliché and needless jargon. It often involves using native Germanic words instead of those derived from Latin and Greek (see linguistic purism in English).
Famous quotes containing the words plain and/or english:
“Take back the beauty and wit you bestow upon me; leave me my own mediocrity of agreeableness and genius, but leave me also my sincerity, my constancy, and my plain dealing; ‘tis all I have to recommend me to the esteem either of others or myself.”
—Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)
“Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)