What To Avoid When Writing

Jargon and government legalese

We should be writing to the person with the least amount of knowledge on the topic. See a list of plain English words to use instead.

Run-on sentences and multiple commas in a sentence

Use periods where you can to help a reader digest the content.

Words like "may" and "shall"

When something needs to be done to complete a task, make sure a resident knows by using strong words like “must.”

Acronyms

A human-centered website doesn’t require a government reference guide. Explain what it is you're talking about in detail.

Symbols

While symbols — like “&” and “@” — can shorten your text, please just spell out what you’re writing. Symbols like these will only confuse your readers, especially those who may be learning English as a second language. It can also make Google translations worse.

Repetition

If the full title of person or place has been used already as a first reference on the page, we don’t have to repeat that full title. “Mayor Michelle Wu” would simply become “the Mayor” down the page.

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