---
title: "Tools to help with writing"
subtitle: "Simple language"
author: "Dominik Lukeš"
outline_version: 2
auto_title_slide: false
auto_thanks_slide: false
---

## Tools to help with writing Simple language
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-001} {title}

![Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence badge.](assets/media/img-84294b65bbfc0cd6.png)

## Slide 2
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-002} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Metaphor Hacker blog post “The complexities of simple: what simple language proponents should know about linguistics (updated)”, with its table of contents.](assets/media/img-caf21ae559c8fa76.png)

[http://metaphorhacker.net/2012/09/the-complexities-of-simple-what-simple-language-proponents-should-know-about-linguistics](http://metaphorhacker.net/2012/09/the-complexities-of-simple-what-simple-language-proponents-should-know-about-linguistics)

## Slide 3
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-003} {notitle}

- Why?
  - Speed of reading
  - Accessibility
  - International impact

![The slide's original page: a circle labelled “Why?” with an arc of three labelled icons: a running figure for Speed of reading, a wheelchair user for Accessibility and a globe for International impact.](assets/pages/page-03.png)

## Slide 4
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-004} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a Boomerang blog post with four bars showing email response rates by reading level: 46% for emails written at a kindergarten reading level, 53% at a 3rd grade level, 45% at a high school level and 39% at a college reading level.](assets/media/img-c03af31f50f8c370.png)

[http://blog.boomerangapp.com/2016/02/7-tips-for-getting-more-responses-to-your-emails-with-data](http://blog.boomerangapp.com/2016/02/7-tips-for-getting-more-responses-to-your-emails-with-data)

## What makes language simple?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-005}

## No perfect communication
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-006}

## Even with arrows
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-007}

## Which way will the lift go?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-008}

![Photograph of two lift buttons: a green button with an upward arrow above a red button with a downward arrow.](assets/media/img-242f21f1ab235d40.jpg)

![Photograph of a metal lift panel with a lit red button above the label “VJÍŽDÍ” and two buttons labelled “PŘIVOLÁVAČ” and “ODESÍLAČ”.](assets/media/img-fb23b0e78bae47fe.jpeg)

## Which way will you turn the wheel of your car?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-009}

![Photograph of a road with white lettering and a line painted on the tarmac.](assets/media/img-3582d899cd774241.jpeg)

## Which way will you turn your wheel now?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-010}

![Photograph of a road with white lettering and a line painted on the tarmac.](assets/media/img-3582d899cd774241.jpeg)

## What makes text easy to read?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-011}

## Slide 12
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-012} {notitle}

- How?
  - Formatting
  - Structure
  - Language

![The slide's original page: a circle labelled “How?” with an arc of three labelled icons: a typewriter for Formatting, a puzzle piece for Structure and speech bubbles for Language.](assets/pages/page-12.png)

## I wanted to write you a short letter
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-013}

## I wanted to write you a short letter but I didn’t have time.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-014}

## I wanted to write you a short letter but I didn’t have time. So I wrote you a **long one instead**.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-015}

## … or Franklin or Pascal or Locke or somebody else.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-016}

![Black-and-white portrait photograph of Mark Twain, an older man with white hair and a moustache, wearing a suit.](assets/media/img-e8e74f228763c962.jpeg)

> I wanted to write you a short letter but I didn’t have time. So I wrote you a **long one instead**.
>
> Mark Twain

## Simple and **clear writing is not natural**. It is **harder and more time consuming** than complicated writing.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-017}

## Bad advice
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-018}

## Slide 19
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-019} {notitle}

- Avoid passives
- Be informal / write conversationally
- Avoid redundancy
- Avoid jargon - Use simple words
- Use short 'English' words
- Write short texts

![The slide's original page: six dark blue bars listing the pieces of advice, each with a small cartoon face icon at its left.](assets/pages/page-19.png)

## Don’t avoid passives too much
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-020}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| The School was founded in 1996. | They founded the School in 1996. |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-20.png)

## Don’t be too informal
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-021}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| You must confirm your attendance. | Why don’t you let us know that you’re coming. |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-21.png)

## Redundancy can reduce errors
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-022}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| next Tuesday (24 Dec) | next  Tuesday |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-22.png)

## Redundancy can aid comprehension
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-023}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, 24 Dec | 24/12 |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-23.png)

## Simple words don’t always make things clear
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-024}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| Attendance will be taken. | We will check who showed up. |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-24.png)

## Short English words don’t always make things better.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-025}

|  |  |
|---|---|
| We will provide accommodation. | We will put you up. / We will find you a place to stay. |

![The slide's original page: two grey boxes side by side with a dark blue plus sign above the left box and a dark blue minus bar above the right box.](assets/pages/page-25.png)

## Which is simpler?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-026}

- get
- acquire

![The slide's original page: two large arrows pointing at each other, a purple one labelled “get” from the left and a red one labelled “acquire” from the right.](assets/pages/page-26.png)

## Slide 27
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-027} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Editor Settings dialog of a word processor listing checks under Clarity and Conciseness, Formal Language, Inclusive Language and Punctuation Conventions; the Complex Words check is ticked and outlined in red.](assets/media/img-40683089fe399cbe.png)

## Slide 28
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-028} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the sentence “We may want to acquire a better solution.” with a suggestion menu headed “Consider using a simple word” offering “buy” and “get”, and an “Ignore Once” option.](assets/media/img-598ec5cbad3d821b.png)

![Screenshot of the Editor Settings dialog of a word processor listing checks under Clarity and Conciseness, Formal Language, Inclusive Language and Punctuation Conventions; the Complex Words check is ticked and outlined in red.](assets/media/img-40683089fe399cbe.png)

## Slide 29
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-029} {notitle}

![Screenshot of an online dictionary entry for “acquire”, with two numbered senses, a phrase and the word's origin.](assets/media/img-89f2739aee8746b5.png)

![Screenshot of a long online dictionary entry for “get” with many numbered senses and example phrases.](assets/media/img-05040e2461f5504e.png)

## Slide 30
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-030} {notitle}

![Screenshot of an online dictionary entry for “acquire”, with two numbered senses, a phrase and the word's origin.](assets/media/img-89f2739aee8746b5.png)

![Screenshot of the whole online dictionary entry for “get”, shrunk into a narrow strip to show how long it is.](assets/media/img-9cd3a718cc872676.png)

## Slide 31
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-031} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the translations of “get” into French: a numbered list of fifteen verbs, from “obtenir” to “faire blesser”.](assets/media/img-2f5b58f9b0a09095.png)

![Screenshot of the translations of “acquire” into French: four verbs, “acquérir”, “obtenir”, “prendre” and “gagner”.](assets/media/img-dec04f88dfcc131c.png)

## Slide 32
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-032} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the translations of “acquire” into Russian: a numbered list of eight verbs.](assets/media/img-c0dabcc8861c9534.png)

![Screenshot of the translations of “get” into Russian, a very long numbered list shrunk into a narrow strip.](assets/media/img-8b6cc0789a53fa29.png)

![Small screenshot of the end of the list of Russian translations of “get”.](assets/media/img-db14d6dea9adb444.png)

## Slide 33
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-033} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the top of the web page “19 English Phrasal Verbs With Get”, with a green “Study” label and an introduction saying that phrasal verbs are commonly used by native speakers.](assets/media/img-5fffd3a6c1503989.png)

![Screenshot of the “What you will learn” list of the same page: the phrasal verbs from “Get across” to “Get up to”.](assets/media/img-dd3f6d5d1a29601c.png)

onlineteachersuk.com/phrasal-verbs-get

## Slide 34
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-034} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the top of the web page “19 English Phrasal Verbs With Get”, with a green “Study” label and an introduction saying that phrasal verbs are commonly used by native speakers.](assets/media/img-5fffd3a6c1503989.png)

![Screenshot of the “What you will learn” list of the same page: the phrasal verbs from “Get across” to “Get up to”.](assets/media/img-dd3f6d5d1a29601c.png)

![Screenshot of the entry “11. Get on” with six numbered senses, a to f, each with an example sentence.](assets/media/img-14c7ba0f2d937ad5.png)

onlineteachersuk.com/phrasal-verbs-get

## **Non-native speakers** will **not** always find **short and easy words** as easy to understand as you think.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-035}

## Good advice
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-036}

## Slide 37
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-037} {notitle}

- Formatting
  - Space
  - Structure
  - Guides / Graphics
- Structure
  - Important first, background last
  - Clear outline
  - Shorter sentences
- Language
  - Limit politeness
  - Avoid embedding and clusters
  - Don't take out too much
- Tools
  - Test readability
  - Listen to what you wrote
  - Get help with editing

![The slide's original page: four grey columns headed Formatting, Structure, Language and Tools, each holding three dark blue boxes with the items listed above.](assets/pages/page-37.png)

## Who does it well?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-038}

## Slide 39
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-039} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the GOV.UK page “Housing Benefit” with its contents list, an “Eligibility” section and a list of related content.](assets/media/img-5aa466cdcff4d161.png)

## Slide 40
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-040} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a web page for the Oxford Diploma in Organisational Leadership, with a photograph of people working around a table and details of the start date, duration, time commitment, location and cost.](assets/media/img-553901a97576bf8f.png)

## Slide 41
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-041} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a web page, “Class profile (2018)”, with five statistics (class size, average age, nationalities, employment sectors and female students) and a quotation praising the Oxford Diploma in Organisational Leadership.](assets/media/img-4aab233263c08cee.png)

## Making things more readable with formatting
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-042}

## Slide 43
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-043} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a long page headed “History - Original”: a dense history of Saïd Business School in unbroken paragraphs.](assets/media/img-5b45b76d2f4d7a1f.png)

## Chunking makes texts more readable
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-044}

![The slide's original page: two pages of the same history text side by side. On the left the unbroken “History - Original” page; on the right “History – Step 1”, the same text split into short paragraphs under headings such as Founding, Early history and School of Management Studies.](assets/pages/page-44.png)

## Word Navigation feature is great for outlines
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-045}

![Screenshot of Microsoft Word with the View tab's Navigation Pane option marked and a navigation pane listing the headings of a document titled “History – Step 1”.](assets/media/img-643dcdf9ad92cc1d.png)

## Make sure you use headings
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-046}

![Screenshot of Microsoft Word showing the document “History – Step 1” with its headings, the Navigation pane at the left and the Styles pane at the right with Heading 1 to Heading 5 and Title.](assets/media/img-ff6f48ba9a2e720e.png)

## Mindmaps help with chunking, structure, outline
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-047}

![Screenshot of a mind map with “Writing simple language” in the centre and branches including Tools, Spoken vs written language, Style / Genre, Bad advice and People support.](assets/media/img-d2c5edafba4c5071.png)

## Slide 48
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-048} {notitle}

![The slide's original page: two versions of the history text side by side. On the left “History – Step 1” with headings and short paragraphs; on the right “History – Step 3”, with a timeline arrow across the top (dates 1965, 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2012 with short captions) above the same text.](assets/pages/page-48.png)

## Tips for more readable structure
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-049}

## Slide 50
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-050} {notitle}

- Structure
  - Important first, background last
  - Show outline
  - Shorter sentences

![The slide's original page: a circle labelled “Structure” with an arc of three labelled icons: a target for Important first, background last; a balance for Show outline; and two figures, one small and one tall, for Shorter sentences.](assets/pages/page-50.png)

## Start with an outline
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-051}

![Screenshot of a Daily Mail article headed “British Steel could collapse TODAY: Firm is on brink of collapse with 25,000 jobs on the line as it struggles to secure government loan”, followed by three bullet points and a byline.](assets/media/img-4cb787abb00a3286.png)

[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html)

## First things first
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-052}

![Screenshot of a Daily Mail article headed “British Steel could collapse TODAY: Firm is on brink of collapse with 25,000 jobs on the line as it struggles to secure government loan”, followed by three bullet points and a byline.](assets/media/img-4cb787abb00a3286.png)

[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html)

## Background last
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-053}

[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7051713/British-Steel-brink-collapse-putting-25-000-jobs-risk.html)

![Screenshot of the later part of the same article: background about British Steel's forerunner, its privatisation in 1988 and its sale to Tata Steel.](assets/media/img-0d41905e25b96282.png)

## Short paragraphs can help you get away with more complicated sentences
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-054}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with the Daily Mail article text highlighted in yellow and red, and a panel counting adverbs, passive voice, phrases with simpler alternatives and hard-to-read sentences.](assets/media/img-82cb8cc56f480d62.png)

## F-shaped scanning pattern
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-055}

© Nielsen Norman Group 2017

![Heat map of eye-tracking over a web page in the F-shaped scanning pattern, with a red and yellow band across the top, a shorter band below and a vertical band down the left side. Credit: Nielsen Norman Group.](assets/media/img-d3b6692e58c191bd.png)

[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/)

## Slide 56
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-056} {notitle}

> “F-shaped scanning pattern is **bad for users and businesses**: it means that users may **skip important content** simply because it appears on the right side of the page.”
>
> — (Kara Pernice, 2017)

[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/)


## Slide 57
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-057} {notitle}

[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/)

![Screenshot of the article “The Best Antidotes to the F-Shaped Pattern” from Nielsen Norman Group, with eight numbered tips for formatting content.](assets/media/img-066d599efc5d7ff3.png)

(Kara Pernice, 2017)

## How to use Hemingway app to simplify language
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-058}

## Readability scores
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-059}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor's readability panel: a grade level marked “Poor”, with reading time, letters, characters, words, sentences and paragraphs counts.](assets/media/img-25a968c6ce5df5d6.png)

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor's coloured panels counting adverbs, uses of passive voice, phrases that have simpler alternatives, and hard and very hard to read sentences.](assets/media/img-1a65493ec6eb37ea.png)

## Check readability
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-060}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor in a browser with the “History – Original” text mostly highlighted in red and a high grade level with a “Poor” rating.](assets/media/img-26f3b24a1a44890d.png)

## Slide 61
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-061} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with a revised version of the same history text, much less highlighted, with a lower grade level.](assets/media/img-ec5b7c64fe70e885.png)

## Do experts pass the test?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-062}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with text from the Plain English Campaign's “About us” page, with passages highlighted in red and a panel of counts.](assets/media/img-a0a1e71caab60f71.png)

## **About us** by Plain English Campaign
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-063}

**plainenglish.co.uk/about-us.html**

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with text from the Plain English Campaign's “About us” page, with passages highlighted in red and a panel of counts.](assets/media/img-a0a1e71caab60f71.png)

## **Complexities of simple** by Dominik Lukeš
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-064}

**metaphorhacker.net**

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with a section of the blog post “Complexities of simple”, with passages highlighted in red, yellow and green.](assets/media/img-654e0df9c72a0b21.png)

## **Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts**
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-065}

by Hoa Loranger, 2017

[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/plain-language-experts/](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/plain-language-experts/)

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with the start of the article “Tips for Writing in Plain Language”, with passages highlighted and a panel of counts.](assets/media/img-9ea9a24ef856ab29.png)

## Tips for simpler language
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-066}

## Avoid too much politeness …
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-067}

Welcome to this site

We are very pleased to have the opportunity

## …but only in context
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-068}

![Screenshot of an email being written in Outlook with the subject line “slides” and a one-line message with no greeting asking for the slides as soon as possible.](assets/media/img-2f4f7ba79ee6f50d.png)

![Screenshot of an email being written in Outlook with a greeting, a polite request for the presentation slides and a sign-off.](assets/media/img-a7c9e34b462c9a91.png)

## Limit hedges and indirectness
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-069}

This is might be a useful tool

If it’s not too much trouble

## Strip out unnecessary language
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-070}

**Bad:** "You may like to register by clicking here."

**Good:** "Register here“

**Better:** Register

![Icon of a shopping basket, shown before the word Register.](assets/media/img-90b3ac0e78043f0a.png)

## Verbs over nouns
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-071}

**Less good:** “Your attendance is important."

**OK:** “It is important that you come.”

**OK:** “Please come. It is really important”

## Beware of noun clusters
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-072}

**Bad:** operations review evaluation task force

**Less bad:** task force for the evaluation of our operations review

**Better:** task force evaluating our review of operations

## Simple imperatives in lists of activities
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-073}

**Good:** '10:30 - Swim in the lake’

**Bad:**  '10:30 - Swimming in the lake’

**Good:**  'Achieve objectives’

**Bad:**  'To achieve objectives’

**Good:**  'Explain’

**Bad:**  'Explanation Of...'

## Limit complex embedding and if statements
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-074}

**Less good:** The man we met yesterday was a famous artist.

**OK:** We met a man yesterday. And he was famous artist.

**Good:** We met a famous artist yesterday.

## Don't strip out linking phrases
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-075}

**Good:** "John didn't eat because he didn't like soup."

**OK:** "John didn't like soup. So he didn't eat."

**Less good:** "John didn't eat. He didn't like soup."

## Think about when to use nouns vs pronouns
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-076}

Jane was late. She overslept, then she missed the bus. This is the fifth time in a month she did something like that. Her boss would be angry. So **Jane / she** thought of an excuse.

Colour in the source slide: in the last sentence “Jane” is green and “she” is red, both in bold type. The slide gives no key for the colours.

## Avoid too much repetition, but not all of it
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-077}

Jane was late. She overslept, then she missed the bus. This is the fifth time in a month she did something like that. Her boss would be angry. So **Jane / she** thought of an excuse.

Colour in the source slide: in the last sentence “Jane” is green and “she” is red, both in bold type. The slide gives no key for the colours.

## Readability
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-078}

## What is readability?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-079}

## What typical level of education is required to understand a text?
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-080}

## Aim for GCSE (or less)
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-081}

Grade 9 – 11

## **Note:** 14-year old reading level does not mean, 14-year old content.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-082}

## Measured by:
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-083}

- length of sentences
- length of words
- frequency of words

## But don’t game the readability scores.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-084}

## Slide 85
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-085} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the top of a Medium article, “Tips and Tools for Improving Your Content Readability Score”, by Blog Hands.](assets/media/img-5adcf6f5548ab250.png)

[https://medium.com/@bloghands/tips-and-tools-for-improving-your-content-readability-score-eed82e2ffa87](https://medium.com/@bloghands/tips-and-tools-for-improving-your-content-readability-score-eed82e2ffa87)

## Slide 86
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-086} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a section of the same article, “Readability Tips You Can Put Into Practice Now”, with the sub-headings Shorten your sentences, Shorten your words and Use fewer syllables.](assets/media/img-2ec0a8d1de412f9a.png)

## Slide 87
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-087} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with a long text on the left, mostly highlighted in red and yellow, with a high grade level and a red oval around a long sentence.](assets/media/img-a3c148de11db74e7.png)

![Screenshot of the Hemingway Editor with a shortened version of the same text on the right, much less highlighted, with a low grade level and a red oval around a sentence.](assets/media/img-01fff5e1e8a173e0.png)

## Readability tools
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-088}

## Slide 89
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-089} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Readable.io text analyser with a text pasted in, highlighted passages and a readability rating of “D” in a panel on the right.](assets/media/img-de9db3226b1c6740.png)

## Slide 90
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-090} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a Readable.io report with the rating “D” in an orange circle and tables of readability grade levels, text statistics and text quality.](assets/media/img-9e0edf071f20e599.png)

## Slide 91
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-091} {notitle}

![Screenshot of a Readable.io page, “Text Summarizer”, with its menus open: General Tools (Case Converter, Accent Remover, Text Summarizer, Keyword Density Analyzer, Gender Analyzer), Detectors (Buzzword Detector, Stop Word Detector, Hedge Word Detector) and Readability Algorithms.](assets/media/img-90109979b63ac362.png)

## Slide 92
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-092} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the “Buzzwords Detector” of Readable.io with a text in which buzzwords are underlined.](assets/media/img-396dee4af477d08d.png)

## Slide 93
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-093} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the results page of the textalyser.net text analyser: a table with the total word count, number of different words, complexity factor, readability (Gunning-Fog Index), sentence count and average sentence length.](assets/media/img-8053ce7ca02ac3df.png)

textalyser.net

## Slide 94
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-094} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the results page of the textalyser.net text analyser: a table with the total word count, number of different words, complexity factor, readability (Gunning-Fog Index), sentence count and average sentence length.](assets/media/img-8053ce7ca02ac3df.png)

![Screenshot of the textalyser.net frequency table, listing the most frequent words (language, simple, english, text, words, how, these, different, like, sentence) with occurrences, frequency and rank.](assets/media/img-bcf4e0858a5facc0.png)

textalyser.net

## Slide 95
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-095} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Readability Test Tool web page with a “Test by URL” form and a results box saying that the page has an average grade level of about 9 and should be easily understood by 14 to 15 year olds.](assets/media/img-bced2f1f5c1a25bc.png)

Don’t trust URL analysis

## Word choice
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-096}

## Slide 97
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-097} {notitle}

![Reduced view of the whole xkcd comic “Up Goer Five”: a tall blueprint of a rocket.](assets/media/img-e0b567ea7636fef0.png)

![The whole xkcd comic “Up Goer Five”, a tall blueprint of a rocket with labels written in simple words.](assets/media/img-7e0eb4092fc60489.png)

Up Goer Five by XKCD

CC BY NC https://xkcd.com/1133

## Slide 98
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-098} {notitle}

![Reduced view of the whole xkcd comic “Up Goer Five”: a tall blueprint of a rocket.](assets/media/img-e0b567ea7636fef0.png)

![Detail of the xkcd comic “Up Goer Five”: the rocket engines, labelled “Lots of fire comes out here” and “This end should point toward the ground if you want to go to space”.](assets/media/img-6fd54b96bbf68c80.png)

Up Goer Five by XKCD

CC BY NC https://xkcd.com/1133

## Slide 99
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-099} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Up-Goer Five Text Editor, with the text “I like bananas” and the message “Uh oh! You have used a non-permitted word (bananas)”.](assets/media/img-4d757a5baa0b076c.png)

## Slide 100
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-100} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the Up-Goer Five Text Editor, with the text “I like fruit that is yellow” and the message “Uh oh! You have used non-permitted words (fruit, yellow)”.](assets/media/img-d1ab5048e9b3f504.png)

## Slide 101
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-101} {notitle}

![Screenshot of the search page of iWeb: The 14 Billion Word Web Corpus, with the word “purpose” typed into the Word search box.](assets/media/img-a278a2ece3aa4b0f.png)

**corpus.byu.edu/iweb**

## **corpus.byu.edu/iweb**
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-102}

![Screenshot of the iWeb results for the word “purpose”: its frequency, topics, collocates, clusters and related words.](assets/media/img-93e6dd74cf9cd728.png)

## **corpus.byu.edu/iweb**
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-103}

![Screenshot of the iWeb key-word-in-context view for “purpose”: a long list of lines from web pages with the word highlighted.](assets/media/img-752e4f2fb99fc7ed.png)

## Grammar, spelling, style
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-104}

## Slide 105
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-105} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Set goals” dialog over a document, offering Intent, Audience, Style, Emotion and Domain settings.](assets/media/img-80ed31a37b176686.png)

## Slide 106
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-106} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Performance” panel over the document “Our history”: an overall score, word count, reading time and readability measures.](assets/media/img-260623d4c8ed35c9.png)

## Slide 107
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-107} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Conventions” panel suggesting the British spelling “organisations” for “organizations”.](assets/media/img-229d595352174e07.png)

![Green thumbs-up icon.](assets/media/img-1a1433a28578e20d.png)

## Slide 108
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-108} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Conciseness” panel suggesting “some” or “many” in place of “a number of”.](assets/media/img-9fdc7127c5559da6.png)

![Green thumbs-up icon.](assets/media/img-1a1433a28578e20d.png)

## Slide 109
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-109} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Punctuation” panel suggesting the removal of a comma after “Oxford”.](assets/media/img-5d1484b83329b7be.png)

![Green thumbs-up icon.](assets/media/img-1a1433a28578e20d.png)

## Slide 110
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-110} {notitle}

![The slide's original page: a Grammarly window with the document “Our history” on the left and a “Variety” panel open, suggesting “operate” as a synonym for the repeated word “work”. At the lower right of the page is a yellow hand icon turned sideways, its thumb pointing left, its fingers curled up and its cuff below; it is neither thumbs-up nor thumbs-down.](assets/pages/page-110.png)

## Slide 111
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-111} {notitle}

![The slide's original page: a Grammarly window with the document “Our history” on the left and a “Vocabulary” panel open, suggesting “sizeable” in place of “large”. At the lower right of the page is a yellow hand icon turned sideways, its thumb pointing left, its fingers curled up and its cuff below; it is neither thumbs-up nor thumbs-down.](assets/pages/page-111.png)

## Slide 112
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-112} {notitle}

![The slide's original page: a Grammarly window with the document “Our history” on the left and a “Spelling” panel open, suggesting “11-degree” in place of “11 degree”. At the lower right of the page is a red thumbs-down icon: a red hand with its thumb pointing down and its cuff on the right.](assets/pages/page-112.png)

## Slide 113
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-113} {notitle}

![The slide's original page: a Grammarly window with the document “Our history” on the left and a “Clarity” panel open, flagging “was constructed” as passive voice. At the lower right of the page is a red thumbs-down icon: a red hand with its thumb pointing down and its cuff on the right.](assets/pages/page-113.png)

## Slide 114
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-114} {notitle}

![Screenshot of Grammarly with a “Plagiarism” panel reporting that a high share of the text matches a page titled “Our history | Said Business School”.](assets/media/img-20b9be6baf37f2a5.png)

![Green thumbs-up icon.](assets/media/img-1a1433a28578e20d.png)

## Editing tools
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-115}

## Listen to what you wrote
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-116}

![The slide's original page: a Microsoft Word window with the Review tab open and the Read Aloud button highlighted above a paragraph of the history text. The slide holds a screen recording (video) of this feature, which this package does not carry.](assets/pages/page-116.png)

## Listen to what you wrote
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-117}

![Screenshot of Microsoft Word with the Read Aloud control selected and a speed and voice menu open (voice: Microsoft Hazel).](assets/media/img-b219d5cc7b9f7bd2.png)

## Readability in Word
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-118}

![Screenshot of the Word Options dialog, Proofing section, with the option “Show readability statistics” among the grammar settings.](assets/media/img-07a09babd49d53be.png)

## All spelling errors must be corrected or ignored
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-119}

![Screenshot of Microsoft Word with a Readability Statistics dialog open: counts of words, characters, paragraphs and sentences, averages per sentence and per word, and the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores.](assets/media/img-832730afda115a4b.png)

## Word online has different features
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-120}

![Screenshot of Word online with a Spelling & Grammar menu open: Spelling, Editor Settings, AutoCorrect Options and Set Proofing Language.](assets/media/img-275f85f90196cdb1.png)

## Word online has different features
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-121}

![Screenshot of the Editor Settings dialog of Word online, with the Clarity and Conciseness, Formal Language, Inclusive Language and Punctuation Conventions checks all ticked.](assets/media/img-c1e3c85c5222d15c.png)

## People over tools
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-122}

## Writing / editing buddies / beta readers
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-123}

- Agree set of principles
- Agree targets
- Use checklists
- Constructive Feedback rules

![The slide's original page: four dark blue panels side by side with a double-headed arrow beneath them. Each has an icon and a label: two figures dancing for Agree set of principles, a target for Agree targets, a checklist for Use checklists and a thumbs-up for Constructive Feedback rules.](assets/pages/page-123.png)

## Careful that you **don’t** end up speaking to an **internal audience** to tick boxes.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-124}

## Ask online for help
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-125}

![Screenshot of the Writing Stack Exchange home page, “Explore Our Questions”, with a list of questions and site statistics.](assets/media/img-b46389508f50677b.png)

## Be **careful** who you ask. **People who write well** often don’t know how they do it. And **beautiful prose** is not always easy to read.
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-126}

## Thank you
{id=pptx-59a24932b05e-127}

This presentation was created by Dominik Lukeš

and it is made available under

Creative Commons Attribution license

![Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence badge.](assets/media/img-84294b65bbfc0cd6.png)