From the course: Writing in Plain English (2016)

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Use multisyllabic words sparingly

Use multisyllabic words sparingly

From the course: Writing in Plain English (2016)

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Use multisyllabic words sparingly

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- [Voiceover] Listen to these statements. The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it as much as the use of unfamiliar words, Hippocrates. The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words, George Eliot. Use familiar words, words that your reader will understand, and not words they will have to look up. No advice is more elementary and no advice is more difficult to accept. When we feel an impulse to use a marvelously exotic word, let us lie down until the impulse goes away, James Kilpatrick. What do Hippocrates, Eliot, and Kilpatrick have in common? All three are writers, of medical information, English literature, and newspaper articles, ranging from the time period of 460 B.C. to 2010 A.D., that's over 2,500 years giving the same advice, use the simple word. That advice of course, supports how the plain English readability indices determine readability levels. Part of the formula is how many multi-syllable words are used, and…

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