Just Plain Fun: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plain Language

by Everett Kehew

Have you ever scanned a course syllabus at the beginning of the semester and immediately felt your spirits sink? No? Then you must not go to Humber Polytechnic!

In all seriousness, I think that most students tend to find one or two assignments on their syllabus that leave them feeling cold. For me, in my Writing Principles class, this was our plain language assignment.

What is plain language, you ask? To put it, well, plainly, it is a guiding principle that writers use when they write for general audiences. It is a set of guidelines that make writing easy for people to read and understand.

Before taking this class, I thought plain language was something that took all the fun out of writing. I love writing that is full of unnecessary descriptions and intricate sentences, delivered with a flourish. Why would I want to learn to write in a way that just felt boring?

Thankfully, our teacher helped me understand why plain language is not only important, but fun.

It’s important because, as writers, we want our messages to be as accessible as possible. The more people who can read and appreciate what we write, the better.

Some of the techniques we learned included using simple words, frontloading sentences to convey subject matter more directly, and breaking complex ideas into distinct sentences and paragraphs.

The best part? I found that my writing got better when I became conscious of these techniques. I was forced to think about why I included the words I did, and how I could say the same thing in a straightforward way. I treat it like a puzzle: how can I say this in the way that is easiest to understand?

I entered that class with all sorts of preconceptions, but I left convinced that writing with plain language can be enjoyable.