plain-language
Plain language
Plain language is writing a reader can understand the first time they read it, find what they need in, and act on. It is not dumbing down. A plain-language version of a lease or a discharge note keeps every obligation and every number; it just stops making the reader dig for them. The plain-language movement in government and law has argued this for decades, and the core moves are well known: answer the reader's question first, use the words they use, and make the person who does something the subject of the sentence.
This skill rewrites a text for its real reader and shows what changed. For health, legal, money, or safety text, it clarifies what the source says. It does not add advice, soften a requirement, or decide what the source "really means" where the source is ambiguous.