How to write clearly in English
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European Commission
How to write
clearly
EN
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European Commission sta have to write many dierent types o documents. Whatever the type legislation,a technical report, minutes, a press release or speech a clear document will be more eective, and more
easily and quickly understood. This guide will help you to write clearly whether you are using your own
language or one o the other ocial languages, all o which are also working languages o the Commission
according to Council Regulation No 1/1958 (still valid today!)
These are hints, not rules, and when applying them you should take account o your target readers and the
purpose o your document.
Three good reasons to write clearly are:
toworkmoreeectivelytogether
toreduceunnecessarycorrespondence tobuildgoodwill.
Hint 1:Think before you write............................................................................................................................ page 3
Hint 2: Focus on the reader be direct and interesting ............................................................................. page 4
Hint 3: Get your document into shape ............................................................................................................ page 5
Hint 4: KISS: Keep It Short and Simple ............................................................................................................... page 6
Hint 5: Make sense structure your sentences ............................................................................................. page 7
Hint 6: Cut out excess nouns verb orms are livelier ............ ........... ............ ............ ........... ............ ............ page 8
Hint 7: Be concrete, not abstract ....................................................................................................................... page 9
Hint 8: Prefer active verbs to passive and name the agent ............................................................... page 10
Hint 9: Beware of false friends, jargon and abbreviations....................................................................page 11
Hint 10: Revise and check...................................................................................................................................page 14
Online EU drafting aids ......................................................................................................................................page 15
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1. Think beore you write
Clear writing starts with and depends on clear think-
ing. Ask yoursel:
Who will be reading the document?
Three main groups o people read European Commis-
sion documents:
EUinsiderscolleaguesintheEuropeanCommis-
sion or other institutions
outsidespecialists thegeneral publicwhich is by farthelargest
group.
Most European Commission documents are now on
the internet and available to everyone. Everything we
write and publish as part o our work or the European
Commission inevitably aects the public image o the
EU.SeeHint2fortipsonreaderfocus.
What are you trying to achieve?
What is the purpose o your document? Ater reading
it, what will your readers have to do?
makeadecision?
handleacertainsituation?
solveaparticularproblem?
changetheirattitudetowardssomething?
What points must
the document cover?
Decideonyourmessage
Make a list or bubble diagram (see illustration)
containing all the points you expect to make, in no
particular order.
Crossouttheirrelevantpoints.
Linktheremainingpointsintorelatedgroups.
Fill anygaps in your knowledge:make anote of
acts you will need to check and/or experts you willneed to consult.
This approach applies to practically all non-literary
texts: memos, reports, letters,user guides, etc. For
ormal documents such as legislation, specic drat-
ing rules must be ollowed.
An alternative is the 7 questions approach.
This is a structured method o covering relevant in-
ormation:
WHAT? My essential message
WHO? Persons concerned
WHEN?Days,hours,timelines,deadlines
WHERE? Places
HOW? Circumstances, explanations
WHY? Causes and/or objective
HOW MUCH? Calculable and measurable data
abbreviat
ions
abstract
jargon
long
passive
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Be direct and interesting
Always consider the people youre really writing or:
not just your boss, or the reviser o your translations,
buttheendusers.Likeyou,theyreinahurry.Whoare
they, what do they already know, and what might you
need to explain?
Try to see your subject rom the point o view o your
readers:
Involve them by addressing them directly (youis an under-used word in European Commission
documents).
Imagine which questions they might ask, and
make sure the document answers them. Maybe
evenusethesequestionsassub-headings.Forex-
ample: What changes will this new policy make?
Why is this policy needed? Who will be aected?
What do we expect to achieve?.
Interest them. Give them only the inormation
they actually need. Leaveout asmany details of
European Commission procedures and interinstitu-
tional ormalities as you can. These are meaninglessto most readers and simply reinorce the Commis-
sions image as a bureaucratic and distant institu-
tion. I they are really essential, briefy say why.
2. Focus on the reader
Now you can make your outline.
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Two common problems at the European Commission:
1. Recycling an earlier text without adapting it properlyOlder models may be unclearly written and may not refect new circumstances
and new drating practices. Take care to make all the necessary adaptations.
2. Cutting and pastingYou may have to use passages rom a variety o documents to assemble a new
text. Beware o inconsistent terminology, repetition or omission: these can
undermine the internal logic and clarity o the end result.
3. Get your document into shape
When you start
Ifyouroutline includes asummary, begin with
that: you may nd it is enough! Put it at the begin-
ning because that is the rst (and sometimes the
only) part that people will read.
Payparticularattentiontolinksthatwillhelpread-
ers to ollow your logic and reasoning. Choose
headings and other signposts that will enable
them to nd key inormation to save you repeat-ingitthroughoutthedocument.Useinormative
headings and sub-headings to highlight the most
important points o the document. A heading such
as Mergers need to be monitored more careully is
more inormative than Monitoring mergers.
Considerhowbesttomakeyourpointsandkeep
your document reader-riendly: could you use
icons, graphs, or tables instead o text? Do
you need a glossary or a list o denitions?
Afterthebeginning,thenextmostfrequentlyread
part is the conclusion. A reader may skip every-
thing in between to get to the conclusion. Make it
clear, concise and to the point.
Show your readers the structure of longer docu-
ments by including a clear table o contents.
As you write
Followourhintsbelow
ConsultEUdraftingaids(seelastpage)
Keep cutting! Be tough ask i each sec-
tion and each word is really necessary.
Cut out superfuous words, but make sure the mes-
sage is still clear:
The deadline to be observed or
the submission o applications is
31 March 2010.
The deadline or submitting applications is
31 March 2010
Application deadline: 31 March 2010
Ater youve fnished
SeeHint10foradviceonrevisingandchecking.
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Short ...
The value o a document does not increase the longer
it gets. Your readers will not respect you more be-
cause you have written 20 pages instead o 10, espe-
cially when they realise that you could have written
what you wanted to say in 10. They may well resent
you or taking more o their time than necessary.
Somewaystocutoutunnecessarywordsinclude:
Not stating theobvious.Trustyourreaders com-mon sense.
Notclutteringyourdocumentwithredundantex-
pressions like as is well known, it is generally ac-
cepted that, in my personal opinion, and so on
and so orth, both rom the point o view o A and
rom the point o view o B.
Not repeating yourself.When referring to, say, a
committee with a long name, write out the ull
name once only: This question was put to theCommitteeontheProcurementofLanguageStyle
Guides. The Committee said that ....
Shorter documents and shorter sentences tend to
have more impact.
As a guide:
1 document = 15 pages at the most
1 sentence = 20 words on average(but sprinkle
in a ew short sentences!)
Unnecessarily long sentences are a
serious obstacle to clarity in Euro-
pean Commission documents. Try to
break them up into shorter sentences.
But remember to include link words
(but, so, however) so the coherence
doesnt get lost in the process.
... and Simple:
Usesimplewordswherepossible.Simple language
will not make you seem less learned or elegant: it will
make you more credible.
in view o the act that as
a certain number o somethe majority o most
pursuant to under
within the ramework o under
accordingly, consequently so
or the purpose o to
in the event o i
i this is not the case i not
i this is the case i so
concerning, regarding, relating to on
with reerence to, with regard to about
4. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple
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Simple, uncluttered style also means:
... avoiding ambiguity
I you use the same word to reer to dierent things,
you could conuse your reader:
You must hand in your application
by Tuesday. You may also submit an
application or this deadline to be
postponed. Your application ... (what are wetalking about now?)
You must hand in your application by
Tuesday. You may also ask or the deadline
to be postponed. Your application ...
... not changing words just or styleYou may think you can make your document less
boring by using dierent words to reer to the same
thing. Again, though, you could conuse your reader:
You must hand in your application by
Tuesday. The committee may turn down
your request... (i.e. your application or is it?).
You must hand in your application byTuesday. The committee may turn it down
...
... using the positive orm, not the negative
It is not uncommon or applications to be
rejected, so do not complain unless you
are sure you have not completed yours
incorrectly.
It is quite common or applications to be
rejected, so complain only iyou are sure
you have completed yours correctly.
You may have to write (or improve) a text containing a
mass o acts and ideas. Here are some ways o untan-
gling the inormation so that readers will understand
each sentence straight away.
Name the agents o each action
(see Hint 8) and put the actions in the order
in which they occur.
ItsdecisiononallocationofEUassistancewill be taken subsequent to receipt o
all project applications at the Award
Committees meeting.
When all applicantshave submittedtheir project applications, 1
the Award Committeewill meet 2
to decide 3
howmuchEUaiditwill grantto
each one. 4
Dont bury important inormation in the
middle o the sentence.
As or reducing roaming charges, the
Commission outlined several proposals.
The Commission outlined several proposals
or reducing roaming charges.
The smoking in restaurants ban now seemslikely to be implemented.
Smokinginrestaurantsisnowlikelytobe
banned.
Try to give your sentences strong endings
thats the bit readers will remember.
Complete institutional reorm is advocated
by the report in most cases.
In most cases, the report advocates
complete institutional reorm.
5. Make sense structure your sentences
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6. Cut out excess nouns verb forms are livelier
One simple way to write more clearly is to change ...
this ... to this:
by the destruction o by destroying
or the maximisation o or maximising
o the introduction o o introducing
By making this change, we are simply turning a nounback into a verb. Verbs are more direct and less ab-
stract than nouns. Many nouns ending in -ion are
simply verbs in disguise. They oten occur in phrases
like those below, where verbs would be clearer:
carry out an evaluation o evaluate
hold an investigation o investigate
give consideration to consider
There are other nouns that dont end in -ion butwhich are also verbs in disguise:
conduct a review o review
perorm an assessment o assess
eect a renewal o renew
Sowecanmakeadocumentclearerbyturningsomenouns back into verbs:
The practice o growing perennials instead
o annual crops can bring about an
improvement o soil quality by eecting an
increase in soil cover.
Growing perennials instead o annual crops
can improve soil quality by increasing soil
cover.
8
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7. Be concrete, not abstract
Concrete messages are clear abstract language
can be vague and o-putting. Too much abstract
language might even lead your reader to think either
that you dont know what you are writing about or
that your motives or writing are suspect.
Unlessyouhaveagoodreason,ifyoucanusea con-crete word instead o a more abstract word that means
the same, choose the concrete word. Your message
will be more direct and thereore more powerul.
Sometimes, instead
of this ...:
you could try this:
eliminate cut out
achieve an objective meet a target
employment opportunities jobs
negative evolution downturn
remunerated employment paid work
investing in human capital * - (workorce) training
- improving
(workers) skills
- training and
education
* As this example shows, the problem is oten pinning
down your exact meaning.
TIP: In Word, highlight and right-click on a word and
selectSynonyms,nearthebottomofthemenuthat
appears, to nd the word you are really looking or.
The list o synonyms will contain both abstract and
concrete words. Try to choose a concrete word in-
steadofavaguerall-purposeone.Forexample,the
word identiy is perectly acceptable, but some-times a clearer word is better:
to identiy innovations to spot innovations
to identiy the participants to name the
participants
to identiy the meaning to see / show
/ pinpoint the
meaning
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8. Preer active verbs to passive...
Another easy step to clear writing is to use verbs in
the active voice (the car hit a tree) rather than the
passive (a tree was hit by the car). Compare these:
New guidelines have been laid down by
the President in the hope that the length
ofdocumentssubmittedbyDGswill be
restricted to 15 pages.
The President has laid down new
guidelinesinthehopethatDGswill restrict
the length o documents to 15 pages.
Look how we can make a sentence clearer by cutting outpassives...:
unclear:
A recommendation was made by the
European Parliament that consideration
begivenbytheMemberStatestoa
simplication o the procedure.
a bit better:
The European Parliament made a
recommendation thattheMemberStates
give consideration to a simplication o the
procedure.
and fnally by using verbs instead o abstract nouns:
much better:
The European Parliament recommended
thattheMemberStatesconsidersimpliying the procedure.
and name the agent
I you change passive verb orms into active ones,
your writing will become clearer because you will be
orced to name the agent the person, organisation
or thing that is carrying out the action.
Its easy to identiy the agent here ...
This project was rejected atCommission
level.
The Commission rejected this project.
... but impossible here:
It is considered that tobacco advertising should be
bannedintheEU.
Who considers? The writer, the Commission, the public,the medical proession?
RememberthatEUdocumentshavetobetranslated
into several languages. I your original document is
unclear, you may end up with non-matching transla-
tions, as each translator tries to guess what you might
have meant and comes up with a dierent solution.
But you dont have to avoid passives at all
costs. They can be useul, or example when theres
no need to say who is responsible or the action be-
cause its obvious (All sta are encouraged to write
clearly).
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9. Beware o alse riends, jargon and abbreviations
Avoid false friends
False riends (or aux amis) are pairs o words in twolanguages that look similar, but dier in meaning.
In a multilingual environment like the European Com-
mission, we oten mix up our languages. Borrowing
betweenFrenchandEnglishiscommon.Forinstance,
to control in English normally means to command/
direct or to restrict/limit. It does not mean simply to
check/supervise like contrler inFrench. Using thewrongwordcanalienatereaders,makingtheEUin-
stitutions look like a closed club that is out o touch
with the real world. In the worst case, it can lead to
misunderstandings and diplomatic incidents (or
example,ifyoujustwanttosaythatLuxembourgis
small,butyouwritethatLuxembourgisnotanim -
portant country).
French False riend Why is it wrong? Whats the correct word?
actuel actual actual means real current, topical
adquat adequate adequate means sucient suitable
assister assist at assist means help. attend, participate in
attribuer attribute to attribute to means consider to bedue to/characteristic o
allocate to, assign to
complter complete complete means nish supplement
dlai delay a delay means a postponement orhold-up(= retardinFrench)
deadline, time limit
laborer elaborate (verb) to elaborate means to go intodetail
drat, develop, produce
ventuel eventual eventual means ultimate any
prvu oreseen oreseen means predicted provided or, planned
important important important is right i you meansignicant; but not i you mean>
> large
matriel material material means matter,
inormation
supplies, equipment
opportunit opportunity opportunity means chance advisability
perspectives perspectives perspective means standpoint prospects, outlook
respecter respect to respect means to value orhonour someone or something
comply with (rules), meet (a
deadline)
sensible sensible sensible means reasonable sensitive
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Avoid or explain jargon
Jargon is vocabulary used by any group o insiders or
specialists to communicate with each other, and is ac-
ceptable in documents which are only read by that
group.
However, outsiders (especially the general public)
will have to work harder than they need to or want
towhenreadingjargon.Somereadersmayevenstop
reading so make sure that any document you want
outsiders to read is as jargon-ree as possible.
AndifyouDOhavetousejargontermsindocuments
or the general public, explain them when you rst
use them, or add a glossary, a hyperlink or a reerence
to one o the websites indicated at the bottom o this
page.
This non-exhaustive table contains a number o terms
commonlyusedintheEUinstitutions:
Jargon term Suggested denition
acceding country country about to join the EUacquis (communautaire) body o EU law
candidate country country still negotiating to join the EU
cohesion approach aimed at reducing social and economic disparities within the EU
comitology procedure under which the Commission consults committees o experts
Community method method developed or taking decisions in the EU, where the Commission,Parliament and Council work together
enlargement expansion o the EU to include new members
mainstreaming taking into account in all EU policies
proportionality principle that a level o government must not take any action that exceeds thatnecessary to carry out its assigned tasks
subsidiarity principle that, wherever possible, decisions must be taken at the level ogovernment closest to citizens
Clear explanations o much jargon can be ound in:
thePlainLanguageGuidetoEurojargonsectionon
the Europa website
(http://europa.eu/abc/eurojargon/index_en.htm).
Fordenitionsofmoretechnicalandlegaltermsaris-
inginanEUcontext,seetheonlineEuropaGlossary
(http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_en.htm).
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Take care with abbreviations
Too many unamiliar abbreviations can make a docu-
ment incomprehensible and send your reader to
sleep:
(ERDF+EAGGF+CAP=ZZZ).
I the meaning o an abbreviation might not be clear
to your reader, you should:
writethemoutinfulliftheexpressiononlyoccurs
once or twice in the document; or
spellthemoutwhenyourstusetheminadocu-
ment, ollowed by the abbreviation in brackets,
and then use the abbreviation in the rest o the
document; and/or
attachalistofabbreviationsorahyperlinktoshow
what they stand or.
The Main Acronyms and Abbreviations section o
theInterinstitutionalStyleGuide (http://publications.
europa.eu/code/en/en-5000400.htm) denes many
o the acronyms and abbreviations used in European
Commission documents.
As always, consider your readers needs:
Somereaderswillbeirritatedifcommonabbrevia-
tions are spelled out.
Writingmarketing authorisationholder onevery
other line instead o MAH will make the document
much longer.
Remember that abbreviations and acronyms can
mean dierent things in dierent contexts.
Forexample:
ESA stands or EuropeanSpaceAgency
EuratomSupplyAgency
EuropeanSystemofAccounts
EndangeredSpeciesAct
EnvironmentallySensitiveAreaEasternandSouthernAfrica
ElectronStimulatedAdsorption
and several other alternatives.
Source:http://iate.europa.eu
ESA
ESA
ESA
ESA
ESA
ESA
ESA
ESA
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10. Revise and cheque check
Usespellingandgrammarcheckers,butbeaware
that they dont pick up all mistakes.
Re-readyourdocumentcritically,puttingyourself
in the readers shoes. Are the sentences and para-
graphsclearlylinked?Dotheyfollowlogicallyfrom
each other? There will always be something you
can improve or simpliy.
Askcolleagues tocomment,includingsomewho
havent been consulted earlier.
Listentotheirsuggestionscarefully.
Follow those which improve brevity, clarity and
reader-riendliness.
Need more help?
Even when you have nished your document and
made it as clear as possible by ollowing the tips given
above you may eel that your writing could still be
improved. Perhaps you are not sure o the right verb
or preposition to use. Or some sentences may still be
longer and more awkward than you would like.
Youcan contacttheDirectorate-GeneralforTransla-
tion(DGT)andaskforyourdocumenttobeedited.
There are two services, depending on the nature o
your document:
Web pages: i.e. the main pages o a website in
html ormat.
To have web pages edited, enter a Poetry request:
code WEB (notyourDGname),productREV.Forad-vice, contact DGT-D-2-EN.
Formoreinformationonwebediting:http://www.cc.cec/translation/acilities/products/
web/tutorial/index_en.htm
Other documents:
(in English or French)SendthemtotheEditing
Unit.Ifyouareusingthisserviceforthersttimeor
need advice, you can email DGT-EDIT, outlining
your requirements.
More details at:
http://www.cc.cec/translation/acilities/products/
editing_en.htm
(in another EU ofcial language) You can ask
or linguistic revision o important documents by a
native speaker o any ocial language. Enter a Po-
etry request and ask or the product REV.
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Online EU drating aids
Detailedinformationonin-houseconventionsfor
English spelling, punctuation and usage is in the
EnglishStyleGuideproducedbytheTranslationDG:
http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pd
Clear writing guides and style guides or several
other ocial languages are also on the Translation
DGwebsite:http://ec.europa.eu/translation/
language_aids
Inormation on ocial publications in all ocial
languagesisintheInterinstitutionalStyleGuide
produced by the Publications Oce :
http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/
en-000100.htm
Guidance on drating Community legislation in all
ocial languages is in the Joint Practical Guide:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/index.htm
Foradviceonwritingfortheweb,seethe
Inormation Providers Guide: http://ec.europa.eu/
ipg/content/tips/index_en.htm
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Acknowledgements
This guide draws on sources including:
The Oxord Guide to Plain EnglishbyMartinCutts,Oxford,UnitedKingdomcrire pour tre Lu, Ministre de la Communaut ranaise, Belgium30 Regole per Scrivere Testi Amministrativi Chiari,UniversitdiPadova,ItalyBrgernahe Verwaltungssprache, Bundesverwaltungsamt, GermanyKlarsprk lnar sig, Regeringskansliet, Justitiedepartementet,SwedenKnnetnk tekstisi, tulkataanko puheenvuorosi?Kotimaistenkieltentutkimuskeskus,FinlandWriting or Translation TranslationCentrefortheBodiesoftheEuropeanUnion
The OECD Style Guide, 2nd Edition OECD, Paris http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/8/39/40500006.pd
IllustrationsbyZetaField,DGTranslation,EuropeanCommission.
Thisguideisavailableinall23ociallanguagesoftheEuropeanUnion.
You can nd the online version at:
http://ec.europa.eu/translation
PublicationsOfceGraphicDesignService