Before you start
Unit 1: What can make a text unclear?
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1 WHAT CAN MAKE A TEXT UNCLEAR? – INTRODUCTION
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1.1 IF PLAIN ENGLISH IS THE ANSWER, WHAT'S THE QUESTION?
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Exercise 1: If plain English is the answer, what's the question?
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Exercise 1: How did you get on?
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1.1 Study notes
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1.2 BACKGROUND AND RESOURCES
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Exercise 2: How is plain English relevant to your work?
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Exercise 2: How did you get on?
Unit 2: Guidelines and techniques
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2 GUIDELINES AND TECHNIQUES: INTRODUCTION
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2.1 KEEP SENTENCES TO A MANAGEABLE LENGTH
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Exercise 3: Splitting up a long sentence
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Exercise 3: How did you get on?
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Exercise 4: Using vertical lists
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Exercise 4: How did you get on?
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Exercise 5: Rewriting the text
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Exercise 5: How did you get on?
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2.2 EDIT FOR CONCISENESS AND DIRECTNESS
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Exercise 6: You and we
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Exercise 6: How did you get on?
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Exercise 7: Smothered verbs
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Exercise 7: How did you get on?
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Exercise 8: Noun strings
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Exercise 8: How did you get on?
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Exercise 9: Positive language
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Exercise 9: How did you get on?
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Exercise 10: Cut out unnecessary words
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Exercise 10: How did you get on?
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2.3 CHECK GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION, BUT PUT CLARITY FIRST
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Exercise 11: Choosing appropriate grammatical forms
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Exercise 11: How did you get on?
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Exercise 12: Changing passives to actives
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Exercise 12: How did you get on?
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Exercise 13: Using commas for greater clarity
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Exercise 13: How did you get on?
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Exercise 14: Using hyphens for greater clarity
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Exercise 14: How did you get on?
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2.4 USE WORDS THAT READERS KNOW
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Exercise 15: Translate the jargon
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Exercise 15: How did you get on?
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2.5 CHECK THAT THE LANGUAGE IS INCLUSIVE
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Exercise 16: Gender inclusivity
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Exercise 16: How did you get on?
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Exercise 17: Inclusivity general guidelines
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Exercise 17: How did you get on?
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2.6 MAKE SURE THE MATERIAL IS ORGANISED AND LAID OUT CLEARLY
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Exercise 18: Clear organisation within the text
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Exercise 18: How did you get on?
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Exercise 19: Giving advice on clear layout
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Exercise 19: How did you get on?
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Exercise 20: Good layout
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Exercise 20: How did you get on?
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2.7 FURTHER PLAIN-ENGLISH CONSIDERATIONS AND CHECKLIST
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Unit 2 quiz
Unit 3: Test your plain-English editing skills
Unit 4: Tools for plain-English editing
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4 TOOLS FOR PLAIN-ENGLISH EDITING: INTRODUCTION
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4.1 TOOLS IN MICROSOFT WORD
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Exercise 22: Using Word tools to spot problems
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Exercise 22: How did you get on?
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Exercise 23: Using Word tools to demonstrate improvements
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Exercise 23: How did you get on?
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Exercise 24: Words and phrases to highlight or replace
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4.2 PERFECTIT
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4.3 OTHER PROGRAMS DESIGNED TO HELP PEOPLE WRITE CLEARLY
Unit 5: Services and challenges
Course completion
