Quick answers
Answer your plain language questions with my best writing tips
Acronyms — how can I help my readers understand them?
Acronyms — how should I deal with them?
Active and passive — what is this and why do I need to know?
AI — how can AI help me with my tone?
AI — how can AI help me with my proofreading?
Asking a question — how can I do this well? (and get a result!)
Being direct — how can I get to the point quickly?
Bulleted list or paragraph — which should I use?
Bulleted lists — how can I do them well?
Conciseness — how can I get clearer and crisper? (1)
Conciseness — how can I get clearer and crisper? (2)
Conciseness — how can I get clearer and crisper? (3)
Conciseness — how can I get clearer and crisper? (4)
Dumbing down — am I doing this?
Editing — when should I focus on sentences?
Emails — am I being too friendly or not enough?
Emails — how can I get people to read them?
Emails — how can I start them well?
Emails — mine didn't work, so what went wrong?
Emotion — how can I take it out of my writing?
Goal of writing — how can I clarify it?
Grammar — do I really need help with this?
Headings — how can I create headings that readers love?
Hyperlinks — how can I write them well?
Important points — how can I make them stand out?
Important points — how do I work out what’s the most important?
Jargon — how can I stop using it?
Layout — what's the best way to lay out my information?
Literacy — should I consider this when writing?
New type of document — I need to write one: help!
Plain language — what exactly is it?
Planning — how can I do it quickly and easily?
Print vs screen — do I need to write differently for each?
Proofreading — how can I do this quicker?
Sentences — how can I make them more readable and understandable?
Sentences — how short should they be?
Short — why should I aim for shorter emails and documents?
Subject lines — how can I write them so people read my emails?
Subject lines and titles — how can I write them so they hook my reader in?
Te reo Māori — how should I use it in my documents?
Technical terms — how can I help my readers understand them?
Technical terms — will my readers know them?
Titles — how can I write them so they hook my reader in?
Tone — how can I check I'm getting it right?
Tone — how can I inject energy into my writing?
Tone — how can I inject personality into my emails?
Tone — how formal (or informal) do I need to be?
Tone — do I need to sound 'professional'?
Tone — should I use negative forms?
User testing — how can I check my document works for my readers?
Waffle or fluff — how can I reduce it?
Waffle or fluff — what should I delete?
We and you — can I use them in my writing?'
Web content — how can I make it more accessible?
Words — should I use common, everyday ones?
Words: technical, complex, unfamiliar ones — how do I help my readers understand them?