Writing IEEE Standards - Techniques and Tips

Michael J Maytum

Bourns Limited, UK

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 1 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Contents

Document software Document file conversion Templates Communication aids

Graphics: Types and common formats Creating and recovering graphics Metafile Quality Graphics: recommendations Questions

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 2 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Document software — 1 Working group Editors mostly use Microsoft Word - This is familiar software

IEEE Editors use Adobe FrameMaker Pros: Stellar long, technical document features; excellent XML and HTML support. Cons: Difficult configurability; old-fashioned interface; no scripting; no ICM color matching.

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 3 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Document software — 2 Basic Word and FrameMaker graphic placement

Most consistent Word results from: Insert Picture From File Browse files Select file (see file types later) Click INSERT

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) can be used: Select and copy (Ctrl-C) graphic in OLE server application Place cursor where graphic is to be placed Paste (Ctrl-V) graphic

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 4 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Document file conversion - 1 Circular Conversion Conversion

MS Word Import FrameMaker Text

WG IEEE Linked Embedded

Graphics Files Graphics Files

IEEE FrameMaker graphics are usually linked TIF files FrameMaker to Word changes Vector graphics to Bit-mapped FrameMaker and Word fonts are different

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 5 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Document file conversion - 2 C62_22-1997 (110 pages) conversion file sizes

1 MB 470 MB 2.4 MB

Word Word FrameMaker Change Fonts RTF Doc

IEEE WG

Graphics Files Graphics Files

36.3 MB 36.3 MB

Final Word document had some unusable graphics Text was OK, apart from rotated tables and complex equations.

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 6 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions IEEE Std C62.22-1997 IEEE GUIDE FOR THE APPLICATION OF METAL-OXIDE SURGE

From an energy standpoint, the energy absorption capability is less after gap sparkover than before.

4.2.1.3 Series-gapped arresters

Another approach to obtain reduced protective levels is to use fewer valve elements in conjunction with series-connected spark gaps, as depicted in Figure 3(a). The series gaps are shunted by a linear component impedance network of such characteristic that the applied voltage is divided between the impedance network and the metal-oxide elements. A typical volt-ampere characteristic is illustrated in Figure 3(b). On the arrival of a surge, the arrester voltage begins to rise (A-B), the total voltage being the vector sum of the voltages across the metal-oxide elements and the series gap impedance network. At a level of current in the vicinity of 1 A (depending on rate of rise in the range B to C), the gaps sparkover and the arrester voltage is reduced to the discharge voltage of the metal-oxide elements only. For further increase in surge current, the voltage increases according to the characteristic D-E-F. As the surge current decreases, the arrester voltage decreases accordingly, following the characteristic F-G until the series gaps extinguish at a low level of current..

Figure 2—Shunt-gapped metal-oxide surge arrester

Figure 3—Series-gapped metal-oxide surge arrester

10 Copyright © 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved. IEEE ARRESTERS FOR ALTERNATING-CURRENT SYSTEMS Std C62.22-1997 reduced to the discharge voltage of the metal-oxide elements only. For further increase in surge current, the voltage increases according to the characteristic D-E-F. As the surge current decreases, the arrester voltage decreases accordingly, following the characteristic F-G until the series gaps extinguish at a low level of current.

Figure 2—Shunt-gapped metal-oxide surge arrester .

Figure 3—Series-gapped metal-oxide surge arrester

4.2.1.4 Test procedures

IEEE Std C62.11-1993 contains test procedures that consider all three types of arrester design. The standard includes tests for both series- and shunt-gapped arresters to obtain the protective level that is the higher of either the gap sparkover or discharge voltage. Protective levels for metal-oxide arresters can be treated in the same manner, irrespective of whether the levels are limited by sparkover or by discharge voltage (see 4.3).

1. Prorating for design tests involving demonstration of thermal recovery

Table 1—Impulse wave shapes

All other Measured quantity 1.2/50 waves exponential waves Crest value ±3% ±10% Front time ±30% ±10% Time-to-half value ±20% ±10% Nominal rate of rise — ±10% of wavefront

2. Power-frequency test voltages

Objects Exported as WMF

None Hairline 2 pt thick 1 pt black bounding line Rectangle - yellow fill Circle - Redfill

1. Prorating for design tests involving demonstration of thermal recovery

Table 1ÑImpulse wave shapes

All other Measured quantity 1.2/50 waves exponential waves

Crest value ±3% ±10%

Front time ±30% ±10%

Time-to-half value ±20% ±10%

Nominal rate of rise — ±10% of wavefront

2. Power-frequency test voltages

2 Copyright © 1999 IEEE. All rights reserved. Templates IEEE Templates FrameMaker — framemaker5_frontmatter.fm — framemaker5_body.fm Word — spastyle_v_6_0.doc Native fonts are Adobe not MS TrueType! Work by example — test17.dot Result of long development, some good ideas Clumsy at times. Marcos and definitions problems

IEC Template Word — iecstd.dot + pdf manual — easy to use

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 7 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Communication aids Word Dog www.worddog.com WordDog points to more than 15,900 wordy phrases, unnecessary words, overworked expressions, AND their alternatives: short, concise, words that are easier to understand.

Style Writer www.editorsoftware.com Comprehensive analysis tool Demo: SW Directory of CD

Plain English Campaign www.plainenglish.co.uk Extensive set of guides and word lists Demo file: plainenglish.pdf

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 8 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions StyleWriter's Main Window

The main StyleWriter window displays the text of your document and highlights style and usage problems it has found in your writing. Click on the underlined headings for more details.

How StyleWriter Works Plain English Campaign:Home page You are on the home page Welcome to Plain English Campaign

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http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/guides.html (1 of 4) [17/04/2004 12:50:03] Plain English Campaign: Free guides Specific issues:

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We have set up the pages so that on most computers, if you print the page, your computer will automatically remove the menu to the right and format the page for A4 printing.

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If you are using Internet Explorer, click on the File menu in the top left-hand corner of your screen and then select 'Work Offline.'

If you are using Netscape Navigator, look for the small picture of a plug and socket in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. Click on this picture and the plug will appear to come out of the http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/guides.html (2 of 4) [17/04/2004 12:50:03] Plain English tips for clear websites

Plain English tips for clear websites

This guide assumes some basic knowledge of how web pages work. However, it does not go into detail about HTML (the coding used to write web pages). It aims to provide guidelines rather than instructions.

The golden rule of good websites is to decide what you want your site to do, and then use technology to achieve this goal. Too many designers find out everything technology can do and then try to think of something to do with this technology.

A website is a means of communication, not a way of showing off your technical ability.

Plain English Campaign owns the copyright on this guide. You must not copy it without getting our permission first. You can download your own copy from our website (www.plainenglish.co.uk).

When a visitor comes to your site, it should be clear straight away: n who the site belongs to; n what purpose the site serves; and n how to contact the people behind the site.

If you are tempted to put only an e-mail address and no phone number or postal address, remember that: n you may be asked for these details regularly through e-mails, so you will waste your time replying; and n having a phone number and ‘real-life’ address will reassure visitors that you are a genuine organisation.

The way you organise your site will depend on the contents. If your content can be divided into logical groups, divide your site into different sections. For example, a ‘high street’ shop could have: n news (press releases, archives, updates); n on-line sales (catalogues, order forms, product details); n store information (local branches, opening hours); and n other information (financial reports, contact details, legal information).

However you organise your site, try to make sure that: n the structure of your site is as logical as possible; and n there is a back-up (such as a guide to the site, or a ‘site map’) for visitors who can’t find what they are looking for.

Remember that visitors may not always enter your site at the homepage (the ‘front’ page that people get when they type your website address). For example, they may be following a link to one of the other pages on your site, or they may have found another page through a search engine.

This means it is a good idea if every page on your site has clear links to: n basic information about your organisation or subject; n a guide to pages on the site (often called a ‘site map’); and n contact information for you or your organisation.

Try also to find a way to make it easy for visitors to find which parts of your site you have changed recently.

A good guideline that many web designers use is that you should be able to get from any page on your site to any other page on the site with no more than three clicks on your mouse.

One site that shows it is possible to present a huge amount of information in a way that is easy to navigate is the BBC News site (www.bbc.co.uk/news.html).

If you are about to begin a site from scratch, don’t be afraid to plan it on paper first. It can be a lot harder to rearrange your pages once your site is up and running.

Remember that most web designers and graphic designers work on larger screens than many ordinary internet users.

If you decide to fix the width of your pages, try to avoid making it more than 800 pixels wide. Anything larger than this will mean many web users have to scroll from left to right and back again as they read down the page.

Try to imagine whether people visiting your site are likely to print pages. If there is a page particularly likely to be printed, try to fix the width of the page so that it can be printed on A4 paper without chopping any of the page off.

Browsers A browser is the program that people use to view your web pages. Most people will be using either Internet Explorer (which comes with Windows) or Netscape Navigator. However, the two can display pages very differently. Both programs are updated every so often, so older versions may also vary.

There is no easy answer to the problem of different browsers. The best bet is to try your web pages on as many different browsers as possible. If there is a feature on your website that doesn’t work on a particular browser, or on older editions, you will have to decide how important that feature is to you, and how many people will be losing out if they cannot use it.

If you already have a website up and running, you should be getting ‘access log’ reports from your internet company. These can show what proportion of your visitors use a particular browser.

Another tip is to try and check your pages on a machine using America Online (AOL). This is a popular way of accessing the internet, but it has a few quirks that can affect how people see and use your site.

© Plain English Campaign 2001 Plain English tips for clear websites Frames Using frames on your site has advantages and drawbacks. It can be useful if you have a straightforward site with distinct sections. Many sites like this use a frame on the left of the screen as a menu, and put the various pages in a bigger frame on the right of the screen.

Frames can cause problems with computers running older browsers. Frames can also cause problems if you are relying on a search engine for people to find your site.

If you do use frames, remember that you cannot rely on people being able to use the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons on their browser.

Colours Although you can use colour to make pages more attractive, be wary of overdoing things. You can often achieve a very effective design with just black, white and one or two other colours. If you use a consistent colour scheme throughout the site, it can make for a professional look.

If your design software allows it, stick to what are called ‘Web Safe’ colours. This is a range of 216 colours that are virtually guaranteed to look the same on all computers. This can avoid any confusion, for example when your corporate logo suddenly appears in a different colour on an Apple Macintosh!

Take particular care in using blue text, as many visitors will see this as a link to another page, so this may cause confusion.

© Plain English Campaign 2001 Plain English tips for clear websites Text For sections of text, it is best to stick to familiar, common fonts. There is no right or wrong choice, but you need to bear a few things in mind. n What works well on paper will not always work the same on screen. This is because on paper you are looking at the ink, while on screen you are looking at shining light. n It can be difficult to control the exact size your text appears on every screen. However, as a general guideline, a line of text (whether in a column or across the whole screen) should not run to more than 70 characters. n If your design software allows it, use what is called a ‘font group’ or ‘font face’ command. This lets you choose a main font, but also lets you set a list of alternatives in case the visitor does not have your main font available on their screen.

Try to avoid using underlining for emphasis. This is because many visitors will see this as a link and become confused.

When you use pieces of text as a link, try to avoid just using the words ‘click here’. This is because people with visual difficulties often use a screen reader, which converts the text on a website to speech. When somebody uses a screen reader to choose one of the links on your page, they will only hear the words used for the link. Just hearing ‘click here’ will not give any idea what the link is for.

Pictures

If you are using pictures for decoration rather than information, use thumbnails. These are small copies of a picture that the visitor can click on to then see a full-sized copy. This saves them having to wait for unwanted images to download.

Always remember to include an ‘Alt Description tag’ with the picture. This is a piece of text that appears in place of the picture if the visitor has their computer set to not show pictures. It also allows people with visual problems who are using screen readers to know what the picture shows.

Make sure the resolution of the image is no more than 72 dots per inch (dpi). This is all that is needed for computer screens. Any setting greater than this will make the page needlessly slow to download. You can change the resolution in most graphics programs. You can also get special ‘optimisation’ programs which will automatically alter your picture to the best settings for using on the web.

If your design package allows it, make sure to set the height and width of the image. This means that when the page loads, the visitor’s computer will leave a space for the image and load the text first. The visitor can then start reading the page without having to wait for the image to load.

© Plain English Campaign 2001 Graphics: Types and common formats - 1 Common FrameMaker and Word 2000 Vector (line drawing) Graphics Formats, These file types can be used for graphics import into both programs

EPS CDR (CorelDRAW 3, 4, 5, 6) CGM 86&92 specs DRW (Micrografx Designer) DXF (AutoCad 10, 11, 12, 13) WMF, EMF (Windows Metafile)

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 9 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Graphics: Types and common formats- 2 Common FrameMaker and Word 2000 Bitmap (raster image) Graphics Formats, These file types can be used for graphics import into both programs

BMP EPS GIF 87, 89 JPEG PICT PCX PNG (Portable Network Graphics) TIF WMF, EMF (Windows Metafile)

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 10 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 1 Graphics Programs

As long as the program can export a shared Word-FrameMaker file format use what you are comfortable with.

Vector (e.g. Adobe Illustrator) and Bit-Map (e.g. Adobe Photoshop) programs are merging with the introduction transparent layers.

Programs using pre-drawn shapes (e.g. Microsoft Visio) speed up drawing production. However, merged shapes can de-merge on export.

Specialist programs like SigmaPlot produce outstanding charts and graphs.

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 11 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 2 Visio OLE

Multiport Only Multiservice and Multiport

Service output Service 1 output

Service input SPD1 Service output Service 1 input SPD1 Service 1 output

Service output Service 1 output

Service 2 input SPD2 Service 2 output

SPD2c

Service n Input SPDn Service n output

SPDnc

Transient Bonding

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 12 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 3 Visio Placed EMF, WYSIWYG hasn’t arrived yet

Multiport Only Multiservice and Multiport

Service output Service 1 output

Service input SPD1 Service output Service 1 input SPD1 Service 1 output

Service output Service 1 output

Service 2 input SPD2 Service 2 output

SPD2c

Service n Input SPDn Service n output

SPDnc

Transient Bonding

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 13 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 4 SigmaPlot — Pulling out all the stops Mesh Plot

3.5e+5 5.0e+4 1.0e+5 1.5e+5 3.0e+5 2.0e+5 2.5e+5 3.0e+5

2.5e+5 3.5e+5 a

t 2.0e+5

Z 1.5e+5

1.0e+5

5.0e+4

480 460 520 440 500 Y 420 Dat 400 480 a 380 460 360 440 ata 420 X D

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 14 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 5 Acrobat This is the full Acrobat package not the free Acrobat reader. The PDF file format is based on the printer postscript (page description) language. The main problem is that text blocks are broken into single lines PDF files make great graphic recovery vehicles

Graphics PDF Print Select Object Edit Vector Source File Bip-Map

PhotoShop Illustrator Save Save

Recovered Graphic

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 15 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 6 Acrobat Extras ISIToolBox™ Selects Graphics and text in Acrobat. Not as foolproof as the Photoshop/Illustrator route, but a lot less expensive.

Enfocus PitStop Professional Everything you need to modify and pre-flight pdf files

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 16 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 7 Bit Map to Vector conversion - automatic conversion Rarely produces a quality result Vector Bit-Map Auto-Conversion Removing Fills

Trace Detail

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 17 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Creating and recovering graphics - 8 Bit Map to Vector conversion - layer trace-over Produces a quality result, but takes a long time

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 18 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Metafile Quality - 1

Windows Metafile (WMF) Objects Exported as WMF

None Hairline 2 pt thick 1 pt black bounding line Rectangle - yellow fill Circle - Redfill

WMF Objects Imported

None Hairline 2 pt thick 1 pt black bounding line Paragraph Rectangle - yellow fill converted to three Circle - Red fill separate text lines

Converted to hairline Black bounding Still a line now 0.9 pt hairline

Circle outline converted to series of 126 2 pt capped line 0.9 pt thick line segments now a hairline rectangle with rectangle endcaps

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 19 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Metafile Quality - 2

Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMF) Objects Exported as EMF

None Hairline 2 pt thick 1 pt black bounding line Rectangle - yellow fill Circle - Redfill

EMF Objects Imported None Hairline 2 pt thick 1 pt black bounding line Paragraph Rectangle - yellow fill converted to three Circle - Red fill separate text lines

Converted to hairline Black bounding Still a line now 0.9 pt hairline

Circle outline converted to series of 126 2 pt capped line 0.9 pt thick line segments is now 1.9 pt and now has round endcaps

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 20 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions Graphics: recommendations Lines Not less than 0.5 pt. Circuit Diagrams and graph axes should use 1.0 pt Plots should use 1.0 to 1.5 pt Dashed lines may export in metafiles as solid lines (Redrawing in a different way may fix this and check what the print out is)

Text Not less than 8 pt in Sans Serif (Arial), 9 pt in Serif (Roman). If possible, make subscripts and superscripts relatively large

Export Files Vector: EMF, Black and White Bit-Map: TIF, Color Bit-Map: JPEG — all 300 dpi

Questions, Problems? [email protected]

M J Maytum SPD 2004 Spring Meeting Bourns Limited, UK May 2004, Page 21 of 21 [email protected] Reliable Electronic Solutions The A to Z of alternative words

The A to Z of alternative words

Calling all writers

This guide gives hundreds of plain English alternatives to the pompous words and phrases that litter official writing. On its own the guide won’t teach you how to write in plain English. There’s more to it than just replacing ‘hard’ words with ‘easy’ words, and many of these alternatives won’t work in every situation. But it will help if you want to get rid of words like ‘notwithstanding’, ‘expeditiously’ and phrases like ‘in the majority of instances’ and ‘ at this moment in time’. And using everyday words is an important first step towards clearer writing. Copyright

Plain English Campaign owns the copyright on this guide. You must not copy it without getting our permission first. You can download your own copy from our website (www.plainenglish.co.uk). Using the A to Z

If you find yourself about to write, type or dictate a word you wouldn’t use in every day conversation, look it up in the A to Z. You should find a simpler alternative. Often there will be a choice of several words. You need to pick the one that best fits what you are trying to say.

(an) absence of no, none abundance enough, plenty, a lot (or say how many) accede to allow, agree to accelerate speed up accentuate stress accommodation where you live, home accompanying with accomplish do, finish according to our records our records show accordingly in line with this, so acknowledge thank you for acquaint yourself with find out about, read acquiesce agree acquire buy, get additional extra, more adjacent next to adjustment change, alteration admissible allowed, acceptable advantageous useful, helpful advise tell, say (unless you are giving advice) affix add, write, fasten, stick on, fix to afford an opportunity let, allow afforded given aforesaid this, earlier in this document aggregate total aligned lined up, in line alleviate ease, reduce

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words allocate divide, share, add, give along the lines of like, as in alternative choice, other alternatively or, on the other hand ameliorate improve, help amendment change anticipate expect apparent clear, plain, obvious, seeming applicant (the) you application use appreciable large, great apprise inform, tell appropriate proper, right, suitable appropriate to suitable for approximately about, roughly as a consequence of because as of the date of from as regards about, on the subject of ascertain find out assemble build, gather, put together assistance help at an early date soon (or say when) at its discretion can, may (or edit out) at the moment now (or edit out) at the present time now (or edit out) attempt try attend come to, go to, be at attributable to due to, because of

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words C calculate work out, decide cease finish, stop, end circumvent get round, avoid, skirt, circle clarification explanation, help combine mix combined together commence start, begin communicate talk, write, telephone (be specific) competent able, can compile make, collect complete fill in, finish completion end comply with keep to, meet component part comprise make up, include

(it is) compulsory (you) must conceal hide concerning about, on conclusion end concur agree condition rule consequently so considerable great, important constitute make up, form construe interpret consult talk to, meet, ask

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words consumption amount used contemplate think about contrary to against, despite correct put right correspond write costs the sum of costs counter against courteous polite cumulative added up, added together currently now (or edit out) customary usual, normal

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words D deduct take off, take away deem to be treat as defer put off, delay deficiency lack of delete cross out demonstrate show, prove denote show depict show designate point out, show, name desire wish, want despatch or dispatch send, post despite the fact that though, although determine decide, work out, set, end detrimental harmful, damaging difficulties problems diminish lessen, reduce disburse pay, pay out discharge carry out disclose tell, show disconnect cut off, unplug discontinue stop, end discrete separate discuss talk about disseminate spread documentation papers, documents domiciled in living in

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words E economical cheap, good value eligible allowed, qualified elucidate explain, make clear emphasise stress empower allow, let enable allow enclosed inside, with

(please find) enclosed I enclose encounter meet endeavour try enquire ask enquiry question ensure make sure entitlement right envisage expect, imagine equivalent equal, the same erroneous wrong establish show, find out, set up evaluate test, check evince show, prove ex officio because of his or her position exceptionally only when, in this case excessive too many, too much exclude leave out excluding apart from, except exclusively only

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words exempt from free from expedite hurry, speed up expeditiously as soon as possible, quickly expenditure spending expire run out extant current, in force extremity limit

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words F fabricate make, make up facilitate help, make possible factor reason failure to if you do not finalise end, finish following after for the duration of during, while for the purpose of to, for for the reason that because formulate plan, devise forthwith now, at once forward send frequently often furnish give further to after, following furthermore then, also, and

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words H henceforth from now on, from today hereby now, by this (or edit out) herein here (or edit out) hereinafter after this (or edit out) hereof of this hereto to this heretofore until now, previously hereunder below herewith with this (or edit out) hitherto until now hold in abeyance wait, postpone hope and trust hope, trust (but not both)

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words I if and when if, when (but not both) illustrate show, explain immediately at once, now implement carry out, do imply suggest, hint at in a number of cases some (or say how many) in accordance with as under, in line with, because of in addition (to) and, as well as, also in advance before in case of if in conjunction with and, with in connection with for, about in consequence because, as a result in excess of more than in lieu of instead of in order that so that in receipt of get, have, receive in relation to about in respect of about, for in the absence of without in the course of while, during in the event of/that if in the majority of instances most, mostly in the near future soon in the neighbourhood of about, around in view of the fact that as, because

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words inappropriate wrong, unsuitable inception start, beginning incorporating which includes incurred have to pay, owe indicate show, suggest inform tell initially at first initiate begin, start insert put in instances cases intend to will intimate say, hint irrespective of despite, even if is in accordance with agrees with, follows is of the opinion thinks issue give, send it is known that I/we know that

(a) large number of many, most (or say how many)

(to) liaise with to meet with, to discuss with, to work with (whichever is more descriptive) locality place, area locate find, put

(it is) mandatory (you) must manner way manufacture make marginal small, slight material relevant materialise happen, occur may in the future may, might, could merchandise goods mislay lose modification change moreover and, also, as well

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words N negligible very small nevertheless but, however, even so notify tell, let us/you know notwithstanding even if, despite, still, yet numerous many (or say how many)

(it is) obligatory (you) must obtain get, receive occasioned by caused by, because of on behalf of for on numerous occasions often on receipt of when we/you get on request if you ask on the grounds that because on the occasion that when, if operate work, run optimum best, ideal option choice ordinarily normally, usually otherwise or outstanding unpaid owing to because of

(a) percentage of some (or say what percentage) partially partly participate join in, take part particulars details, facts per annum a year perform do permissible allowed permit let, allow personnel people, staff persons people, anyone peruse read, read carefully, look at place put possess have, own possessions belongings practically almost, nearly predominant main prescribe set, fix preserve keep, protect previous earlier, before, last principal main prior to before proceed go ahead procure get, obtain, arrange profusion of plenty, too many (or say how many)

(to) progress something (replace with a more precise phrase saying what you are doing)

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words prohibit ban, stop projected estimated prolonged long promptly quickly, at once promulgate advertise, announce proportion part provide give provided that if, as long as provisions rules, terms proximity closeness, nearness purchase buy pursuant to under, because of, in line with

(have) regard to take into account regarding about, on regulation rule reimburse repay, pay back reiterate repeat, restate relating to about remain stay remainder the rest, what is left remittance payment remuneration pay, wages, salary render make, give, send represent show, stand for, be request ask, question require need, want, force requirements needs, rules reside live residence home, where you live restriction limit retain keep review look at (again) revised new, changed

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words S said/such/same the, this, that scrutinise read (look at) carefully select choose settle pay similarly also, in the same way solely only specified given, written, set state say, tell us, write down statutory legal, by law subject to depending on, under, keeping to submit send, give subsequent to/upon after subsequently later substantial large, great, a lot of substantially more or less sufficient enough supplement go with, add to supplementary extra, more supply give, sell, delivery

(the) tenant you terminate stop, end that being the case if so the question as to whether whether thereafter then, afterwards thereby by that, because of that therein in that, there thereof of that thereto to that thus so, therefore to date so far, up to now to the extent that if, when transfer change, move transmit send

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words U ultimately in the end, finally unavailability lack of undernoted the following undersigned I, we undertake agree, promise, do uniform same, similar unilateral one-sided, one-way unoccupied empty until such time until utilisation use utilise use

© Plain English Campaign 2001 The A to Z of alternative words W ways and means ways we have pleasure in we are glad to whatsoever whatever, what, any whensoever when whereas but whether or not whether with a view to to, so that with effect from from with reference to about with regard to about, for with respect to about, for with the minimum of delay quickly (or say when)

Z zone area, region

The words and phrases below often crop up in letters and reports. Often you can remove them from a sentence without changing the meaning or the tone. In other words, they add nothing to the message. Try leaving them out of your writing. You’ll find your sentences survive and succeed without them. · a total of · absolutely · abundantly · actually · all things being equal · as a matter of fact · as far as I am concerned · at the end of the day · at this moment in time · basically · current · currently · during the period from · each and every one · existing · extremely · I am of the opinion that · I would like to say · I would like to take this opportunity to · in due course · in the end · in the final analysis · in this connection · in total · in view of the fact that · it should be understood · last but not least · obviously · of course · other things being equal · quite · really · really quite · regarding the (noun), it was · the fact of the matter is · the month(s) of · to all intents and purposes · to one’s own mind · very

We offer training courses to teach you how to design and write your documents in plain English. We run two types of course: n open courses, held at various hotels throughout the country, where anyone can attend; and n in-house courses, where we come to an organisation and train your staff. This means we can tailor our training to your organisation’s work.

You can also follow our Plain English Diploma Course. This is a 12-month course, leading to a qualification in plain English.

We now offer two courses teaching English grammar. Our Grammarcheck Course is designed to teach delegates the fundamentals of grammar, punctuation, sentence construction and spelling which are so essential for clear communication. We also occasionally hold an Advanced Grammar Course, which goes into more detail on the grammar of standard English.

You may also be interested in ‘The Plain English Course’ - our pack of materials to help you train your own staff.

For more details on any of the courses, please click on the links throughout this page or use the menu at the top. If you have any specific questions about training courses, please call our training manager Helen Mayo on 01663 744409 or e-mail us at [email protected]