From the course: Writing in Plain English

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Minimize abbreviations when writing in plain English

Minimize abbreviations when writing in plain English

From the course: Writing in Plain English

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Minimize abbreviations when writing in plain English

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- [Narrator] Writing in plain English means making sure your message is clear and easy to read, and one way to achieve that goal is to avoid abbreviations your audience doesn't understand. A driving principle of plain language is to consider what's right for your audience. You can assume everyone knows NASA, DNA, and TV, for example, and you don't have to define those. Using less well-known abbreviations may be fine too, depending on your audience. For example, if you're writing for the US Department of Agriculture, you can use USDA without defining it. If you're writing for the general public, on the other hand, you should write out the full name of a moderately recognizable abbreviation like USDA, at least the first time you use it. Also, consider how often you'll use a name. If you're only using it two or three times in a document, it's not worth asking your readers to learn the abbreviation, but if you need to use it many times, it may make more sense. If you do decide to use an…

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