Useful links and resources

On this page you will find information, links, downloads, readability tests and further reading to help you make your English plainer. You can browse through the page or jump to what you are looking for by clicking on the relevant link in this list:

• Plain English organisations
• Plain English in councils
• Readability tests
• Further reading on plain English and the use of language

If you know of something you think we should add to this page, please email webmaster@idea.gov.uk with 'Plain English' in the subject line.

Plain English organisations

The Plain English Campaign

The Plain English Campaign works with thousands of organisations to make sure their public information is as clear as possible. Its website offers free guides and software, including an A-Z of alternative words and a 'Drivel Defence' tool.

Free guides and software – on the Plain English Campaign website

The Plain Language Commission

The Plain Language Commission provides training in writing skills to organisations. Its website offers books and some free booklets about plain English.

Books and booklets available from the Plain Language Commission – on their website

Plain English in councils

Derby City Council

To read an example of a plain English guide used in a local authority, see Derby City Council's guide:

Derby City Council plain English guide (PDF, 32 pages, 516KB)

These documents show how Derby promoted plain English internally:

Derby City Council plain English – employee handbook. (PDF, 61 pages, 549KB)

Derby City Council good service guide (PDF, 28 pages, 5051KB)

North Lincolnshire Council

North Lincolnshire Council has produced a style guide, which it is happy to share with "anyone who wants to write in plain English". The guide includes advice for council employees when writing for the public.

Information about this style guide – on North Lincolnshire Council's website

North Lincolnshire also developed a written communications protocol in 2006. This covers all written communications by staff for both internal and external audiences.

Information about this written communications protocol – on North Lincolnshire Council's website

Rushcliffe Borough Council

Rushcliffe Borough Council has produced a guide to web writing that covers structure, layout, typography and usability among other things:

Rushcliffe Borough Council's guide to writing for the web (PDF, 7 pages, 164KB)

These guidelines explain what plain English is and offer help with how to use it:

Writing made easier – Rushcliffe (PDF, 15 pages, 134KB)

Salford City Council

These pages are intended as a resource for officers of Salford City Council – anyone planning, writing or maintaining web pages, whether from a managerial or technical viewpoint – but they may also be of use and interest to other organisations.

Salford City Council's web content publishing guidelines – on Salford City Council's website

Salford sets a standard for the web

Readability tests

Readability tests use characteristics – such as average sentence and word length – to generate a score on how easy a piece of writing is to read. However, you should bear in mind that they do not take actual meaning into account, and so are not 100 per cent reliable.

More about readability tests – on Wikipedia

The Readability Project leaflet

The Readability Project has revised and updated the leaflet about readability originally published by the Basic Skills Agency. This leaflet gives advice on how to write and present written material so that is easy to read. It is now available as a free download from the NIACE website. The leaflet includes a simple formula for calculating a "readability level", and an online calculator based on this formula – created in conjunction with Nottingham University – has now been included on the NIACE website.

Find out more and download the leaflet – on the NIACE website

The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores

These provide another measure to assess the reading ease and grade of your writing. You can use Microsoft Word to automatically calculate your document’s Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores by following these instructions.

• Open your document in Microsoft Word.
• Go to Tools > Options.
• Under Spelling and Grammar, tick 'Show readability statistics'.
• Click Okay.
• Go to Tools > Spelling and Grammar.
• Tick the 'Check grammar' box.
• Check the spelling and grammar of your document.
• When you have finished, your readability statistics will show automatically.

The Standard Measurement of Gobbledegook or the 'SMOG Ready Reckoner'

You can use this test to measure the readability level of your writing, by following the instructions below. The lower the readability level, the easier something is to read and understand. Most people will be able to understand a document with a readability level below 10.

• Select text to be assessed for its readability level.
• Count 10 sentences. 
• Count number of words which have three or more syllables.
• Multiply this number by 3.
• Find the number closest to your answer: 1    4    9    16    25    36    49    64    81    100    121    144    169
• Find the square root of this number: 1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     11     12     13
• Add eight to this number.
• You now have your readability score.

The Gunning Fog Index

This test was invented by an American, Robert Gunning, to measure how readable a piece of writing might be. It gives the number of years of education that the reader needs to understand the document. The test works on the basis that shorter, well-written sentences achieve a better score than long sentences in complicated language.

More about the Gunning Fog test – on the Wikipedia website

Further reading on plain English and the use of language

George Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language – on the website of Mount Holyoke College