How to write reports in plain English. How to write reports in plain English

Transcription

1 How to write reports i plai Eglish How to write reports i plai Eglish Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

2 How to write reports i plai Eglish Itroductio Welcome to the plai Eglish report-writig course. All you eed is a pe, some paper, a little time ad the will to lear. There is o great mystery about writig clear, cocise ad effective reports. The writig skills you will lear i this book will work i all types of busiess writig - letters, leaflets, memos ad so o. What makes reports differet is the formal way they are orgaised, ad we ll be lookig at that. All the examples are geuie. The aswers to all the exercises are at the ed of the guide. At the ed of the course is a list of commo bureaucratic words with plai Eglish alteratives. Copyright Plai Eglish Campaig ows the copyright o this guide. You must ot copy it without gettig our permissio first. You ca dowload your ow copy from our website ( Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

3 How to write reports i plai Eglish So what s plai Eglish? First let s say what plai Eglish is t ad destroy some of the myths about it. It s ot cat sat o the mat or Peter ad Jae writig. Almost aythig - from leaflets ad letters to legal documets - ca be writte i plai Eglish without beig patroisig or over-simple. It does t mea reducig the legth or chagig the meaig of your message. Most of the UK s biggest isurace compaies produce policies that explai everythig fully i plai Eglish. It s ot about baig ew words, killig off log words or promotig completely perfect grammar. Nor is it about lettig grammar slip. It is ot a amateur s method of commuicatio. Most forward-lookig seior maagers always write i plai Eglish. Ad fially, it is ot as easy as we would like to thik. Sadly, thaks to the bureaucrats of public service idustries, local coucils, baks, buildig societies, isurace compaies ad govermet departmets, we have leared to accept a official style of writig that is iefficiet ad ofte ufriedly. But i the last few years, may of these offeders have started to put thigs right, either rewritig their documets clearly or traiig their staff i the art of plai Eglish or both. The advatages of plai Eglish are: it is faster to write; it is faster to read; ad you get your message across more ofte, more easily ad i a friedlier way. If you sped more tha a hour a day writig, you are (to a extet) a professioal writer. So it s vital that you get it right. Plai Eglish Campaig has led the way i the field of clear commuicatio. The Campaig edits ad desigs documets for the coutry s largest orgaisatios ad rus hudreds of traiig courses every year. Now Plai Eglish Campaig has used all their experiece to put together this teach-yourself course o writig reports i plai Eglish. So what is plai Eglish? It is a message, writte with the reader i mid ad with the right toe of voice, that is clear ad cocise. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

4 How to write reports i plai Eglish Keep your seteces short We re ot goig to joi i the argumet about what is a setece?. Just thik of it as a complete statemet that ca stad by itself. Most experts agree that clear writig should have a average setece legth of words. This does ot mea makig every setece the same legth. Be puchy. Vary your writig by mixig short seteces (like the last oe) with loger oes (like this oe), followig the basic priciple of stickig to oe mai idea i a setece, plus perhaps oe other related poit. You should soo be able to keep to the average setece legth - used by top jouralists ad authors - quite easily. At first you may still fid yourself writig the odd log setece, especially whe tryig to explai a complicated poit. But most log seteces ca be broke up i some way. Exercise Here are some examples. Split them where suitable by puttig i full stops. You may eed to put i or take out words so that the ew seteces will make sese. But do t chage aythig else. 1 From a formal report of a discipliary iterview I raised your difficulty about arrivig ready for work o time ad poited out that your maagers had doe their best to take accout of your travel problems ad you had agreed with them that the Gree Lae depot was the most coveiet place for you to work, however, your iitial improvemet was short-lived ad over the past two moths your puctuality has dropped to a totally uacceptable level. 2 From a electricity compay I do ot seem to have received the iformatio required from you to set up your budget scheme, ad I ow eclose the relevat form ad ask that you fill it i ad retur it. 3 From a solicitor If you could let me have the latest typed versio of the form i the ext seve days, whereupo I suggest we meet here o 19 December to fialise the text so that you could the give me a estimate of the cost of producig a typeset proof. 4 From a credit compay I refer to the earlier otice served i respect of your accout as the arrears ow amout to the sum show above, you leave me with o alterative tha to commece court actio ad details of your accout have bee referred to the compay s solicitor. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

5 How to write reports i plai Eglish Actives ad passives Do you wat your reports to soud active or passive - crisp ad professioal or stuffy ad bureaucratic? Well, this is where we have to get grammatical. Most people kow that a verb is a doig word, like make, do, play, talk or write. There are may ways to split verbs ito differet categories, but we re just goig to cosider the differece betwee active ad passive verbs. Passive verbs make writig duller ad more difficult to uderstad. Active verbs make writig livelier ad more persoal. But what are active ad passive verbs? Let s take a simple setece: The boss slammed the door. Here, we ca call the boss the doer. The verb is slammed. Ad the door is what we ca call the thig. I almost all seteces that cotai active verbs, the doer comes first, the the verb ad the the thig. There will probably be lots of other words as well. For example: The boss, i a fit of temper, slammed the door to the outer office. But the order of doer, verb, thig stays the same. With passive verbs, the thig comes first: The door was slammed by the boss. You ca see that by makig the setece passive, we have had to itroduce the words was ad by, ad the setece becomes more clumsy. Remember that the doer is ot always a perso ad the thig is ot always a thig! The tree crushed Peter is active but Peter was crushed by the tree is passive. Ad remember passive has othig to do with the past tese. Here are some more examples of seteces cotaiig passive verbs. Our active versios are udereath each oe. The matter will be cosidered by us shortly. (We will cosider the matter shortly.) The riot was stopped by the police. (The police stopped the riot.) The mie had to be closed by the safety ispector. (The safety ispector had to close the mie.) Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

6 How to write reports i plai Eglish Sometimes the doer gets left out. Seteces with passive verbs ca make sese without havig a doer. For istace, the door was slammed, the cheque had bee cashed ad the report is beig writte all leave out the doer. People used to officialese ofte write reports that are full of passive verbs, with seteces like these. 35 sites were visited i three weeks. Procedures were beig properly followed at the sites visited. Overheads were ot kept uder cotrol despite a awareess of the budgetary situatio. Neither of these seteces has a doer. So the reader may be left askig, Who visited the sites?, Who was followig procedures properly? ad so o. Chagig to active verbs reveals the doers ad sharpes up dull ad uclear seteces. We visited 35 sites i three weeks. At the sites we visited, we foud that staff were followig procedures properly. Maagers were ot keepig overheads uder cotrol, despite kowig about the budgetary situatio. You will otice that i the last setece we have used a active verb istead of a awareess of. As we shall see later this is a example of chagig a omialisatio ito a verb. Spottig passives There is aother way of spottig passive verbs which is especially useful whe the doer is t metioed i the setece. First, passive verbs almost always have oe of the followig words added o - be, beig, am, are, is, was, were, will be. They are all formed from the verb to be. Secod, they have a thig called a past participle. This table shows you how to get a past participle from a verb. Verb ask claim do write Past participle asked claimed doe writte Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

7 How to write reports i plai Eglish So a complete passive verb could be will be doe, has bee formed or was watched. Here are some examples: Care should be take whe opeig the door. The outcome will be decided ext week. Applicats will oly be accepted if proof of purchase is eclosed. It ca be doe.the problem could ot have bee foresee. Good uses of passives There are times of course whe it makes sese to use a passive. To make somethig less hostile - this bill has ot bee paid (passive) is softer tha you have ot paid this bill (active). To avoid takig the blame - a mistake was made (passive) rather tha we made a mistake (active). Whe you do t kow who or what the doer is - the Eglad team has bee picked. If it simply souds better. But aim to make about 80-90% of your verbs active. Exercise The differece betwee active ad passive verbs is ot easy to grasp. So if you are cofused, read this sectio agai. If you are ot, spot the passive verbs i the followig examples ad chage the seteces aroud so that they use active verbs. 1 From a DVLA letter (you will eed to ivet a doer for the first verb) The tax disc was set to you at the address o your applicatio form but it was retured by the Post Office as udeliverable mail. 2 From a buildig society I the Ivestmet Accout Statemet which was set to you recetly, it was idicated by us that we would write to you agai cocerig the mothly iterest that has bee paid to you uder the terms of your accout. 3 From a coucil leaflet to parets (use we for the Educatio Departmet, you for the paret). Advice must also be sought from ay other professioal likely to have relevat iformatio. If there is ayoe whom you thik should be cosulted, for example a specialist doctor your child is seeig, please let the Area Educatio Office kow. Every professioal whose advice is sought will be set a copy of ay iformatio that is provided by you. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

8 How to write reports i plai Eglish Talk to your reader Write with your reader i mid. If you wat to ecourage people to read your report, give them a piece of writig that is lively ad readable. Imagie you are presetig your report to your reader yourself. Thik carefully: What do they kow already? What do you eed to tell them? Talk directly to your readers i laguage they uderstad. You will fid that usig shorter seteces ad active verbs will already have made a differece. I ad we As we said earlier, reports used to be full of passive verbs. This allowed the writer to remai aoymous by leavig out the doer. They used phrases like: it was foud that; it is accepted that; ad it is recommeded that. The reaso (or excuse) for this used to be that the writer was writig o behalf of the orgaisatio. But usually everyoe kows who has writte the report, who iterviewed people ad so o. Let the readers kow there is a perso behid the prit. It s ot just friedlier; I, you ad we are also usually easier to uderstad. Use phrases like: we foud that; I accept that; ad we recommed that. Obviously you will use I if the report is all your ow work, ad we if you are reportig o a team effort. But be sure that your audiece kows who you are talkig about. Uderstadable words Say exactly what you mea, usig the simplest words that fit. This does ot ecessarily mea oly usig simple words - just words that the reader will uderstad. At the ed of the course is a list of a few of the words that we suggest you avoid. But for most words you will have to decide yourself whether they are suitable. Most importatly, do t use jargo that is part of your workig life uless you are writig to someoe who uses the same jargo. If a teacher is writig to a educatio officer, the jargo word SATs could be very useful i savig time ad space. But whe writig a report that parets will read, you would t use it without explaiig what it meas. I geeral, use everyday Eglish wheever you ca. Agai, imagie you are presetig your report i perso. Write to commuicate, ot to impress. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

9 How to write reports i plai Eglish What is a omialisatio? A omialisatio is a type of abstract ou. I other words, it is the ame of somethig that is t a physical object but a process, techique or emotio. Nomialisatios are formed from verbs. For example: Verb complete itroduce provide fail arrage ivestigate use Nomialisatio completio itroductio provisio failure arragemet ivestigatio utilisatio So what s wrog with them? The problem is that writers ofte use omialisatios whe they should use the verbs they come from. Like passive verbs, too may omialisatios make writig very dull ad heavy-goig. Here are some examples of omialisatios, with our plai Eglish versios udereath. We had a discussio about the matter. (We discussed the matter.) The report made referece to staff shortages. (The report referred to staff shortages.) The decisio was take by the Board. (The Board decided.) The implemetatio of the policy has bee doe by a team. (A team has implemeted the policy.) Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

10 How to write reports i plai Eglish Exercise Brig the followig seteces to life by revealig the verbs hidde by omialisatios ad makig ay chages you thik are ecessary. 1 From a letter o Housig Beefit If you would like cosideratio to be give to your applicatio, please sed me your last five wage slips. 2 From a electricity compay Your meter is operated by the utilisatio of tokes. 3 From a surveyor s report We ca solve the problem by the removal of the plaster to a height of oe metre, the isertio of a ew damp proof course ad the itroductio of suitable floor joists. 4 From a gas regio We have made a examiatio of your accout ad ca tell you that applicatio for budget paymets at this late stage is still possible. 5 From a coucil to a buildig cotractor To cause miimum disruptio to teachig provisio, it is imperative that the school roof reewal is carried out by your compay cocurretly with your completio of the Special Needs Uit. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

11 How to write reports i plai Eglish Cuttig out useless words Now you re goig to put all the techiques you ve leart so far ito practice, alog with oe other techique - cuttig out useless words. So with all these examples, shorte seteces, put i active verbs, use everyday Eglish, make them more persoal ad direct, replace omialisatios ad cut out useless words. 1 From a electricity board letter The stadig charge is payable i respect of each ad every quarter. 2 From a bak You will be set a letter regardig curret iterest rates ot less ofte tha oce a year. 3 From a credit compay Notice must be give of your itetio to cacel the agreemet a period of 30 days prior to your cacellatio. 4 From a buildig society Should you be uable to agree to the cotets of the statemet or you have ay questios thereo, please write to this departmet at the address overleaf, eclosig your passbook or certificate ad the statemet. 5 From a maagemet cosultat You are required to otify us immediately i the evet of your uavoidable absece from work for sickess or ay other reaso ad the attached ote explais your obligatios i this respect. 6 From a solicitor We would advise that attached herewith is the etry form which has bee duly completed ad would further advise that we should be grateful if you would give cosideratio to the various differet documets to which we have made referece. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

12 How to write reports i plai Eglish 7 From aother electricity compay I cosequece of the o-paymet of the above-metioed accout, a employee will call at your home for the purpose of obtaiig a meter readig ad discoectig the supply o 10 March. 8 From a local authority If you are experiecig difficulty i meetig your ret paymets ad are ot curretly i receipt of Housig Beefit, you may qualify for help towards your ret uder the Housig Beefit Scheme ad details of this ca be forwarded upo request. Alteratively, if you require advice regardig either your ret arrears or possible etitlemet to Housig Beefit, please do ot hesitate to cotact me. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

13 How to write reports i plai Eglish Other poits to cosider Soudig positive Always try to emphasise the positive side of thigs. For example: If you do t sed your paymet, we wo t be able to reew your membership of the scheme. (egative) Please sed your paymet so that we ca reew your membership of the scheme. (positive) Now rewrite these examples i a positive way (ad use what you have leared so far to make ay other chages you thik are ecessary). 1 From a local authority You will reduce your chaces of a coucil home if you do ot keep your choice of areas as wide as possible. 2 From a bak (make this more persoal) No-oe may apply for the scheme uless their accout is credited with at least Usig lists Lists are excellet for splittig iformatio up. There are two mai types of list. You ca have a cotiuous setece with several listed poits picked out at the begiig, middle or ed. You ca have a list of separate poits with a itroductory statemet (like this list). I the list above, each of the poits is a complete setece so they each start with a capital letter ad ed with a full stop. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

14 How to write reports i plai Eglish For the same type of list with short poits, it is better to set it out like this. Kevi eeded to take: a pekife some strig a pad of paper a pe. With a list that is part of a cotiuous setece, put semi-colos (;) after each poit ad start each with a lower case letter. If you ca prove that: you were somewhere else at the time; you were ot related to Mary; ad you are over 21; the you should be all right. As you ca see, the ext to last poit has ad after the semi-colo. If you oly had to prove oe of the three poits istead of all of them, this word would be or. Always make sure each poit follows logically from the itroductio. For example, if you took out you from the secod ad third poits it would still flow as a ormal setece but ot as a list. The third poit would effectively read If you ca prove that are over 21 which obviously does ot make sese. We have also used bullet poits for each listed poit. These are better tha umbers or letters as they draw your attetio to each poit without givig you extra iformatio to take i. Exercise Use bullet poits to split the followig setece ito a list. 1 From a scietist s report (make this more persoal) People with a mathematical brai or those who display a very sharp sese of humour or chess players of club stadard or higher are more likely to show early sigs of beig musical. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

15 How to write reports i plai Eglish Some more myths destroyed We re ot tryig to be tredy here by breakig some of the grammatical rules. We re just goig to destroy some of the grammatical myths. I the past, grammarias decided it was bad form to do certai thigs. But our rule is, if it makes your setece clearer, do t worry about bad form. You ca start a setece with ad, but, because, so, or or however. You ca split ifiitives. So, you ca say to boldly go. You ca ed a setece with a prepositio. I fact, it is somethig we should stad up for. Ad you ca repeat a word i a setece if you ca t fid a better word. Of course, this does ot mea you should break these so-called rules all the time - just whe you wat to make a setece flow better. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

16 How to write reports i plai Eglish Plaig ad orgaisig reports Whe writig reports, make your audiece s job as easy as possible. Use active verbs, short seteces ad keep to the poit, just as you would i ay other kid of writig. First you eed to pla ad orgaise the report carefully. Before you write a report you eed to: defie its purpose carefully; ivestigate the topic thoroughly; ad orgaise the iformatio ito sectios. Defiig the purpose This helps you to be clear about: why you are writig; what to iclude; what to leave out; ad who your readers are. If you ca express the purpose i a sigle setece, so much the better. Ivestigatig the topic How you do this depeds o the topic ad purpose. You may eed to read, iterview, experimet ad observe. Get advice from someoe more experieced if you eed to. Orgaisig the report ito sectios Your job is to make it easy for the readers to fid the iformatio they wat. I reports that are oe or two pages log, readers should have o trouble fidig their way aroud. With a log report (more tha four or five pages), you eed to take great care i how you orgaise the iformatio. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

17 How to write reports i plai Eglish Reports ca be set out i eight parts, but you wo t always eed them all. Title or title page Cotets list Abstract Itroductio Discussio Summary ad coclusios Recommedatios Appedix A short report wo t eed a title page, but should have a title. The cotets list is oly eeded i log reports. The abstract is oly eeded i formal reports, such as reports of scietific research. It is a summary of the report. The abstract appears i library files ad jourals of abstracts. It wo t usually be prited with the report so it eeds to be able to stad aloe. Keep it betwee 80 ad 120 words. Do t cofuse this with a executive summary which we will talk about later. The itroductio should be brief ad aswer ay of the followig questios that seem relevat. What is the topic? Who asked for the report ad why? What is the backgroud? What was your method of workig? If the method is log ad detailed, put it i a appedix. What were the sources? If there are may, put them i a appedix. The discussio is the mai body of the report. It is likely to be the logest sectio, cotaiig all the details of the work orgaised uder headigs ad sub-headigs. Few readers will read every word of this sectio. So start with the most importat, follow it with the ext most importat, ad so o. You should follow the same rule with each paragraph. Begi with the mai poits of the paragraph, the write further details or a explaatio. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

18 How to write reports i plai Eglish The summary ad coclusios sectio is sometimes placed before the discussio sectio. It describes the purpose of the report, your coclusios ad how you reached them. The coclusios are your mai fidigs. Keep them brief. They should say what optios or actios you cosider to be best ad what ca be leared from what has happeed before. So they may iclude or may lead to your recommedatios: what should be doe i the future to improve the situatio? Ofte, writers will put the summary ad coclusios ad the recommedatios together ad circulate them as a separate documet. This is ofte called a executive summary because people ca get the iformatio they eed without havig to read the whole report. It may be better (ad cheaper) to sed everyoe a executive summary, ad oly provide a copy of the full report if someoe asks for it. You may save a few trees, ad you will certaily save your orgaisatio plety of time ad moey. The appedix is for material which readers oly eed to kow if they are studyig the report i depth. Relevat charts ad tables should go i the discussio where readers ca use them. Oly put them i a appedix if they would disrupt the flow of the report. Order of presetatio We recommed the followig order of presetatio. You wo t always eed all these sectios, especially those i brackets. Log reports Title or title page (Cotets list) (Abstract) Itroductio Summary ad coclusios Recommedatios Discussio (Appedix) Short reports Title Itroductio Discussio Summary ad coclusios Recommedatios (Appedix) Order of writig The order i which you write eed t follow the order of presetatio. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

19 How to write reports i plai Eglish We recommed the followig order of writig, because each sectio you fiish helps you write the ext oe. Itroductio Discussio Summary ad coclusio Recommedatios (Abstract) Title or title page (Cotets list) (Appedix) After writig all the sectios, read ad revise them. Rewrite sectios if ecessary. Numberig sectios ad paragraphs If you use plety of clear headigs ad have a full cotets list at the start of the report, you should fid this is eough to show where each part begis ad eds, ad to cross-refer if ecessary. If you do have to label sectios ad paragraphs, keep it as simple as possible. Use capital letters to label sectios ad umbers to label paragraphs (A1, A2 ad so o). If ecessary, use small letters o their ow for parts of paragraphs. Plaig the writig Usually you will have collected such a mass of iformatio that you caot decide where to pluge i ad begi. So, before you start to write you must make some kid of pla. This will save you hours of writig ad will help to produce a better-orgaised report. Here are two differet ways of plaig. A outlie begis as a large, blak sheet of paper oto which you pour out all your facts, ideas, observatios ad so o, completely at radom. Write i ote form, ad try to get everythig dow as fast as possible. Whe you have got all your poits o paper, start to orgaise them, group them, ad assess them for stregth, relevace, ad their place i the report. You ca the umber the poits i order or put headigs ext to them such as Itro, Discussio, Coclusio ad so o. Use lies ad arrows to lik up related poits. Gradually you will create a etwork of ideas grouped uder headigs - this is the structure of your report. Leave it for a day or two if you ca. Retur with fresh ideas, add poits you d forgotte, ad cross out aythig you do t eed. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

20 How to write reports i plai Eglish Mid mappig is a differet way of plaig that suits some writig better. The idea is the same: by pourig out ideas at radom, you ca cocetrate o the cotet, ad orgaise the material at leisure whe the ideas are set dow. There is o special magic to a mid map. Start by puttig the topic i a box i the middle of the page, the draw lies to brach out from it with your mai ideas. It is easy to add ew iformatio ad to make liks betwee the mai ideas. Order ad orgaisatio will ofte take care of themselves. Revisio Always read critically what you ve writte. If possible, leave it aloe for a few days ad the re-read it. Or ask someoe else to read it for you. Ask: Is this clear, cocise ad persuasive? Be prepared to revise your laguage ad structure. You may eve have to rewrite parts that do t work. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

21 How to write reports i plai Eglish Writig your report This is your chace to practise everythig you have leared, by plaig ad writig a report from scratch. The purpose of the report Your seior maagers wat to fid out how staff travel to work ad what iflueces their choice of travel. The results of the survey will help them make decisios about workig hours, car parkig ad travel-to-work costs. You have to prepare a short report o your ow travel optios ad how ad why you travel as you do. Write about 250 to 350 words (about a side of A4 or 12 to 18 seteces of 20 words). If you live very close to work (or eve work from home) you will have to use a little imagiatio. For istace, preted you have moved several miles away, or that your employer has moved. The method Thik about the purpose carefully, the produce a pla usig a mid map or a outlie. Do it quickly, pourig out the poits as they occur to you. Do t worry about eatess - o-oe else eeds to be able to read your pla. Take 10 to 15 miutes over this. Look at your pla ad assess the poits for importace ad relevace. The orgaise them uder sectio headigs. You will probably eed four sectios. Title Itroductio Discussio Summary ad coclusios Now write the report. Take 20 to 25 miutes for this stage. We have t provided a model aswer here because everyoe usig this book will have differet circumstaces, ad will write a differet report. But there are a umber of ways you ca check what you have writte. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

22 How to write reports i plai Eglish Have you used active verbs ad the words I, me, my ad so o? Because you were describig your ow optios ad choices, this should have happeed fairly aturally. Is your average setece legth aroud 15 to 20 words? You ca check this by coutig the umber of words you have used, dividig that by the umber of seteces. I each sectio, ad i each paragraph, have you give the most importat iformatio first, ad the explaied or give the detail? Read the report out loud. Imagie you are tellig your boss about your optios for travel ad so o. Are there ay words or phrases i your writte report that you would t use if you were talkig? What would you say istead? Could you use those words i your report? Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

23 How to write reports i plai Eglish Brevity - Memo to the War Cabiet To do our work, we all have to read a mass of papers. Nearly all of them are far too log. This wastes time, while eergy has to be spet i lookig for the essetial poits. I ask my colleagues ad their staff to see to it that their reports are shorter. The aim should be reports which set out the mai poits i a series of short, crisp paragraphs. If a report relies o detailed aalysis of some complicated factors, or o statistics, these should be set out i a appedix. Ofte the occasio is best met by submittig ot a full-dress report, but a aide-memoire cosistig of headigs oly, which ca be expaded orally if eeded. Let us have a ed of such phrases as these: It is also of importace to bear i mid the followig cosideratios, or Cosideratio should be give to the possibility of carryig ito effect. Most of these woolly phrases are mere paddig, which ca be left out altogether, or replaced by a sigle word. Let us ot shrik from usig the short expressive phrase, eve if it is coversatioal. Reports draw up o the lies I propose may first seem rough as compared with the flat surface of officialese jargo. But the savig i time will be great, while the disciplie of settig out the real poits cocisely will prove a aid to clearer thikig. Sir Wisto Churchill, 9 August 1940 Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

24 How to write reports i plai Eglish Summary We hope you have ejoyed the course ad that it will help you write i plai Eglish. Pla carefully before you start writig. Use a outlie or a mid map so that you kow exactly what you ll be writig about. Orgaise your report ito sectios. Use everyday Eglish wheever possible. Avoid jargo ad legalistic words, ad explai ay techical terms you have to use. Keep your setece legth dow to a average of 15 to 20 words. Try to stick to oe mai idea i a setece. Use active verbs as much as possible. Say we will do it rather tha it will be doe by us. Be cocise. Imagie you are talkig to your reader. Write sicerely, persoally, i a style that is suitable ad with the right toe of voice. Ad always check that your report is accurate, clear, cocise ad readable. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

25 How to write reports i plai Eglish Traiig from Plai Eglish Campaig We offer traiig courses to teach you how to desig ad write your documets i plai Eglish. We ru two types of course: ope courses, held at various hotels throughout the coutry, where ayoe ca atted; ad i-house courses, where we come to a orgaisatio ad trai your staff. This meas we ca tailor our traiig to your orgaisatio s work. You ca also follow our Plai Eglish Diploma Course. This is a 12-moth course, leadig to a qualificatio i plai Eglish. We ow offer two courses teachig Eglish grammar. Our Grammarcheck Course is desiged to teach delegates the fudametals of grammar, puctuatio, setece costructio ad spellig which are so essetial for clear commuicatio. We also occasioally hold a Advaced Grammar Course, which goes ito more detail o the grammar of stadard Eglish. You may also be iterested i The Plai Eglish Course - our pack of materials to help you trai your ow staff. For more details o ay of the courses, please click o the liks throughout this page or use the meu at the top. If you have ay specific questios about traiig courses, please call our traiig maager Hele Mayo o or us at ifo@plaieglish.co.uk Ope course dates for 2001 Tuesday 15 May (Lodo) Thursday 17 May (Machester) Thursday 14 Jue (Lodo) Wedesday 11 July (Lodo) Thursday 19 July (Machester) Thursday 16 August (Lodo) Wedesday 12 September (Lodo) Thursday 13 September (Machester) Wedesday 19 September (focusig o grammar, Lodo) Wedesday 3 October (focusig o layout ad desig, Lodo) Wedesday 10 October (Lodo) Wedesday 24 October (focusig o Housig Tax ad Coucil Tax Beefit forms, Lodo) Tuesday 30 October (Glasgow) Tuesday 13 November (Lodo) Wedesday 14 November (focusig o medical writig, Lodo) Thursday 22 November (Machester) Friday 7 December (focusig o legal agreemets, Lodo) Thursday 13 December (Lodo) Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

26 How to write reports i plai Eglish Words to avoid Try to use the alteratives we suggest i brackets: additioal (extra) advise (tell) applicat (you) commece (start) complete (fill i) comply with (keep to) cosequetly (so) esure (make sure) forward (sed) i accordace with (uder, keepig to) i excess of (more tha) i respect of (for) i the evet of (if) o receipt (whe we/you get) o request (if you ask) particulars (details) per aum (a year) persos (people) prior to (before) purchase (buy) regardig (about) should you wish (if you wish) termiate (ed) whilst (while) Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

27 How to write reports i plai Eglish Our suggested aswers I some cases, our aswers are about the oly oes possible. However, most thigs ca be expressed clearly ad well i several differet ways. If your aswers are differet from ours, do t worry. Compare them carefully ad see whether there are ay extra techiques you ca pick up from them. Ad of course, our suggestios are t perfect! Keep your seteces short 1 I raised your difficulty about arrivig ready for work o time. I poited out that your maagers had doe their best to take accout of your travel problems ad you had agreed with them that the Gree Lae depot was the most coveiet place for you to work. However, your iitial improvemet was short-lived. Over the past two moths your puctuality has dropped to a totally uacceptable level. Or I raised your difficulty about arrivig ready for work o time. I poited out that: your maagers had doe their best to take accout of your travel problems; ad you had agreed with them that the Gree Lae depot was the most coveiet place for you to work. However, your iitial improvemet was short-lived. Over the past two moths your puctuality has dropped to a totally uacceptable level. 2 I do ot seem to have received the iformatio required to set up your budget scheme. I ow eclose the relevat form. Please fill it i ad retur it. 3 Please let me have the latest typed versio of the form i the ext seve days. I suggest we meet here o 19 December to fialise the text. You could the give me a estimate of the cost of producig a typeset proof. 4 I refer to the earlier otice served i respect of your accout. As the arrears ow amout to the sum show above, you leave me o alterative but to commece court actio. Details of your accout have bee referred to the compay s solicitor. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

28 How to write reports i plai Eglish Actives ad passives 1 We set you the tax disc at the address o your applicatio form but the Post Office retured it as udeliverable mail. 2 I the Accout Statemet which we set you recetly, we idicated that we would write to you agai cocerig the mothly iterest that we have paid to you uder the terms of your accout. 3 We must also seek advice from ay other professioal likely to have relevat iformatio. If there is ayoe you thik we should cosult, for example a specialist doctor your child is seeig, please let the Area Educatio Office kow. We will sed a copy of ay iformatio you provide to every professioal whose advice we seek. Talk to your reader Please pay this debt immediately. You have four days to pay or to cotact this office. (Rig the umber show above.) If you do ot pay the debt or cotact us withi this time, we may have to start legal proceedigs. So do t igore this letter. What is a omialisatio? 1 If you would like us to cosider your applicatio, please sed me your last five wage slips. 2 You operate your meter usig tokes. 3 We ca solve the problem by removig the plaster to a height of oe metre ad puttig i a ew damp-proof course ad suitable floor joists. 4 We have examied your accout ad ca tell you that you ca still apply for budget paymets at this late stage. 5 To disrupt teachig as little as possible, your compay must reew the school roof at the same time as fiishig the Special Needs Uit. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001

29 How to write reports i plai Eglish Cuttig out useless words 1 You must pay the stadig charge every quarter. 2 We will sed you a letter about curret iterest rates at least oce a year. 3 You must tell us that you ited to cacel the agreemet 30 days before you cacel. 4 If you do t agree with the cotets of the statemet or you have ay questios about it, please write to us at the address over the page. Eclose your passbook or certificate ad the statemet. 5 You must tell us immediately if you are away from work for sickess or ay other uavoidable reaso. The attached ote explais what you must do. 6 We have filled i the etry form ad attached it to this letter. Please cosider the various documets we have referred to. 7 As you have ot paid this bill, we will call at your home o 10 March to cut off your supply ad read your meter. 8 If you are havig difficulty payig your ret ad you do ot get Housig Beefit, you may be able to get help towards your ret uder the Housig Beefit Scheme. Please ask us for details. If you would like advice about your upaid ret or whether you ca get Housig Beefit, please cotact me. Other poits to cosider 1 You will icrease your chaces of a coucil home if you keep your choice of areas as wide as possible. 2 You may apply for the scheme if your accout has 1000 or more i it. 3 You are more likely to show early sigs of beig musical if you: have a mathematical brai; show a very sharp sese of humour; or play chess to at least club stadard. Plai Eglish Campaig 2001