My/Pref/Writing/Use Plain language

• Plain language

  • What to assume about the reader

    • They are intelligent but may not share your domain expertise.
    • They should understand the message on the first read.
    • Simplicity never comes at the cost of being correct.
    • Introduce a technical term only when it buys precision, and explain it the first time you use it.

  • Tips

    • Optimize for great communication with plain language, never a readability formula (see arXiv/Article/25/08/Evaluating the Evaluators: Are readability metrics good measures of readability?).

  • How to write

    • Put the main point first.
    • Prefer common words or phrases over specialized ones; see My/Pref/Writing/Use the simpler word.
    • If two words together feel rare enough that a reader wonders whether you coined them on the spot, revise the phrase.
    • Use active voice; see My/Pref/Writing/Give every sentence a subject that can do its verb.
    • Spell out an acronym before you abbreviate it.
    • Order the information the way the reader needs it, not the way you discovered it.
    • Cut the reader's mental effort.

  • Why this matters

    • The common AI failure is writing as if every reader already owns decades of specialized vocabulary. Don't require background the reader may not have.
    • Writing "down" to people is not the aim. Removing needless jargon and assumed context is.