Inglese - How to write clearly

Directorate-General for Translation European Commission: How to write clearly

This booklet is intended for all writers of English at the European Commission. Whether your job is drafting or translating, here are some hints – not rules – that will help you to write clearly and make sure your message ends up in your readers’ brains, not in their bins.

• Put the reader first - page 2
• Use verbs, not nouns - page 3
• Concrete, not abstract - page 4
• Active, not passive - page 5
• Whodunnit? Name the agent - page 6
• Making sense – managing stress - page 7
• KISS: Keep It Short… - page 8
• … and Simple - page 9
• False friends … - page 10
• … and other pitfalls - page 11
• References - page 12

Le secret d’ennuyer est … de tout dire.
The secret of being a bore … is to tell everything.
Voltaire

1. Put the reader first

There are three groups of people likely to read Commission documents:

• EU insiders (colleagues in the Commission or other institutions)
• Outside specialists
• The general public

The third group is by far the largest and most important. As more Commission documents are made accessible to the general public, criticism of FOG will increase.

Always bear in mind the people you're writing for: not your committee, your boss, or the reviser of your translations, but the end users. They are in a hurry. Don't overestimate their knowledge, interest or patience.

Whatever the type of document - legislation, a technical report, minutes, a press release or speech - you can enhance its impact by writing clearly. Try to see your subject matter from your readers' point of view; try to involve them ("you" is an under-used word in Commission documents); and try not to bore them.

You can avoid irritating half your readers by replacing gender-specific words (replace "layman" by "lay person"; "salesgirl" by "sales assistant"; "workman" by "worker"). Avoid "he, she/ his, her" by using "they/ their" instead.

2. Use verbs, not nouns

One simple step to clearer English is to change:

• by the introduction of by introducing
• for the allocation of for allocating
• of the provision of of providing

What are we doing here? Turning a noun back into a verb. English prefers verbs to nouns. Many words ending in "-ion" are simply verbs in disguise. They are called "nominalisations". Look at these:

• Submit an application for apply for
• Carry out an evaluation of evaluate
• Implement an investigation of investigate

And there are others which don't end in "-ion":

• Conduct a review of review
• Perform an assessment of assess
• Effect a renewal of renew

So we can improve an unclear text by turning some nouns back into verbs:

The committee came to an agreement to the effect that a study should be carried out by the consultants into the feasibility of the provision of national funding.

The committee agreed that the consultants should study the feasibility of providing national funding.

Sabotage! You can take advantage of this if you want. If the consultants' report is too candid about the non-feasibility of providing national funding, just effect the nominalisation of all their hard-hitting verbs and the result will be sufficiently soporific to send your readers to sleep.

3. Concrete, not abstract

English is a notoriously blunt language. Too much abstract language (FOG) may make your reader suspect that something real and unpalatable is being wrapped up in verbiage.

In general, if you have a choice between an abstract word and a more concrete one that means: