Aims
The movement focuses attention on the information needs and the reading abilities of the reader and opposes writer-based prose, which is the tendency to use long sentences, jargon, and a formal style as a way to acquire authority, power, and credibility.
William Lutz, an American linguist specialising in doublespeak and the use of plain language, asserts that
"language is power, period. The lesson of Nineteen Eighty-Four is that those who rule the language, rule... The language of the lawyers, of the politicians, of the intelligentsia, is supposed to make feel inferior."
The Plain Language Association International gives the following example :
| “ | Before:
If you fail to comply with your duty of disclosure and we would not have entered into the contract on any terms if the failure had not occurred, we may void the contract within three years of entering into it. If your non- disclosure is fraudulent, we may void the contract at any time. Where we are entitled to void a contract of life insurance we may, within three years of entering into it, elect not to void it but to reduce the sum that you have been insured for in accordance with a formula that takes into account the premium that would have been payable if you had disclosed all relevant matters to us. After: If you fail to disclose any relevant matter and we would not offer you insurance if this matter were known, we may within three years (1) void the contract or (2) reduce the sum for which you have been insured. If your nondisclosure is fraudulent, we may void the contract at any time. |
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Read more about this topic: Plain Language Movement
Famous quotes containing the word aims:
“We are often reminded that if there were bestowed on us the wealth of Crsus, our aims must still be the same, and our means essentially the same.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It appears that ordinary men take wives because possession is not possible without marriage, and that ordinary women accept husbands because marriage is not possible without possession; with totally differing aims the method is the same on both sides.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Nature seems to have treasured up the depth of our mind talents and abilities that we are not aware of; it is the privilege of the passions alone to bring them to light, and to direct us sometimes to surer and more excellent aims than conscious effort could.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)