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UID:20261014T203156CEST-1289vosSoZ@https://www.sense-online.nl/
DTSTAMP:20261014T183156Z
DESCRIPTION:Applying plain language principles to creating accessible\, rea
 der-friendly texts\nJohn Linnegar\, Belgium\n‘The message is important\, n
 ot the fancy language wrapped around it.’ (George Orwell)\nIt’s astonishin
 g how may writers feel they need to ‘dress up’ their writing to the extent
  that they lose their natural (aka plain) voice completely! Their reasons 
 are no doubt many: from wanting to impress to needing to sound important o
 r authoritative – and sometimes even because their boss or professor ‘writ
 es like that\, so it must be good’! But in this day and age we should rath
 er be ‘dressing down’ writing to make it more accessible and flow better. 
 Where writers themselves are incapable of doing so\, the task usually fall
 s to us wordsmiths to dress (not dumb!) writing down. \nWe need to make au
 thors’ words clear and straightforward\, using only as many words as are n
 ecessary. Plain Language helps us to do so by dispensing with the ‘fancy l
 anguage wrapped around their words’: obscurity\, inflated vocabulary and c
 onvoluted sentence constructions. Applying Plain Language principles syste
 matically\, our aim is to render the authors’ messages readily understood 
 at first reading. \nBy the end of this workshop you will be able\, with co
 nfidence\, to:\n\nconvert long\, complex sentences into shorter compound o
 r simple ones\; \nreplace\, where possible\, passive voice (O-V-S) constru
 ctions with active ones (S-V-O)\; \nremove embedded clauses from complex s
 entences\; \nreplace ‘difficult’ polysyllabic words and jargon with more e
 veryday\, accessible synonyms (e.g. ‘remuneration’ with ‘pay’ or ‘wage’)\;
  \nmake impenetrable noun strings accessible by inserting prepositions and
  articles into them\; \nsupplant nounisms (nominalisations) with healthier
  vigorous verb equivalents (e.g. ‘invitation’ with ‘invite’)\; \ndispense 
 with archaisms such as ‘aforesaid’\, ‘herein’\, ‘thereby’\, ‘whereafter’\;
  \nfind ways to introduce useful visual elements (e.g. lists). \n\nFundame
 ntally\, we wordsmiths will be asking – and answering – the questions ‘Who
  is the audience and what are their needs?’ In so doing\, we’ll be using t
 he approach our writers should have adopted in the first place: a reader-c
 entredness. \nIn this 3.5-hour workshop\, you’ll have an opportunity to pu
 t these principles into practice.\nAbout the presenter\n \nAn author and a
  passionate copy-editor with some 40+ years’ of manuscript improvement beh
 ind him\, John Linnegar is a former teacher of English at secondary school
  and undergraduate levels. His specialty as an editor is law. In 2009 he p
 ublished a book on common errors committed by writers in English in South 
 Africa (NB Publishers\, reprinted 2013)\; in 2012 he co-authored Text Edit
 ing: A Handbook for Students and Practitioners (UA Press) and in 2019\, to
 gether with Ken McGillivray\, wrote and published grammar\, punctuation an
 d all that jazz … (MLA Publishers). He contributes regular articles on the
  usage and abusage of the English language to professional bodies. https:/
 /www.sense-online.nl/events/workshops-events/event/521-applying-plain-lang
 uage-principles-to-creating-accessible-reader-friendly-texts
DTSTART:20201105T123000Z
DTEND:20201105T163000Z
LOCATION:Zoom online meeting ()
SUMMARY:Applying plain language principles to creating accessible\, reader-
 friendly texts
URL:https://www.sense-online.nl/events/workshops-events/event/521-applying-
 plain-language-principles-to-creating-accessible-reader-friendly-texts
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