507:. They chose to revise Fraser's 1973 version rather than starting from Gowers's original. Having two authors made it necessary to abandon Gowers's frequent use of the first person; Fraser had retained it, stating "...the reader may take it that 'I' means either 'Gowers agreed with by Fraser' or 'Fraser, confident that Gowers would agree with him'". With joint authors for the new edition, this could not be sustained, and the change from first person to impersonal removed some of the book's previous character. An example is in the section on punctuation, where Gowers wrote, "The author of the style-book of the Oxford University Press
302:, Gowers abandoned the joke, and rewrote the second sentence as, "I suspect that this project may be received by many of them without any marked enthusiasm or gratitude." A substantive objection by Vallins to "the cult of 'plain English'" was his view that verbose phrases lose important nuances when reduced to plain words. He gave as an example "evacuated to alternative accommodation", which in his opinion has overtones that Gowers's "taken to other houses" lacks.
38:
721:, his great-granddaughter Rebecca Gowers uses "Gowers's room". After the 1973 revised edition came out, Bruce Fraser was criticised for referring to "Gowers' work", rather than "Gowers's work". To an amateur grammarian who objected, he replied, "No one can deny that what you say is entirely logical and sensible", but he retained the shorter form in reprints of the edition, and it was preserved in the Greenbaum and Whitcut edition of 1986.
397:
English-speaking world who have been good enough … to send me suggestions, criticisms and specimens". An example of his revisions is in the entry on "bottleneck", of which in 1951 he had written four brief sentences warning against overuse: in 1954 he felt it necessary to write 270 words, so ubiquitous had the term become. (By the time of the 1973 revision the fad for the word had declined, and Fraser's entry is very much shorter.)
349:
entries, explaining the dangers of overuse of abstract words, and recommending concrete terms where possible. Thus, "Was this the realisation of an anticipated liability?" would be better as, "Did you expect to have to do this?" The entry on "Write" was an example of one of the short articles on particular words; it pointed out that "I wrote to you about it" needs the "to" but "I wrote you a letter" does not.
187:... that we revel in jargon and obscurity". During the Second World War, with the role of government greatly expanded, official communications proliferated, and in Gowers's view were full of "mistiness and grandiloquence". He called for a new style of official writing, friendly in tone and easy to understand. His views came to the notice of the head of the civil service,
539:. It was printed on lower-weight paper and in a smaller format than its predecessors. The reviser was Rebecca Gowers, Ernest's great-granddaughter, a novelist and author of a non-fiction book about a Victorian murder. She begins the new edition with a twenty-page preface that includes a biographical sketch of Ernest Gowers and a history of the revisions after his death.
377:
that all the topics were of equal importance; the second was that the people most in need of advice would not think to look up the relevant entry: "There is no reason why anyone addicted to abstract nouns, unconscious of any offence, should ever be prompted to read that article; nor can I think of any other title for it that would be more likely to throw it in his way."
314:
582:. Thus a government department these days might release a disastrous consultation paper in terms of issues to do with interoperability issues, even as a Minister has personal issues that threaten to become an issue in the press, causing the Prime Minister to have a major issue with the Minister. In short, Gowers's warning went unheeded, and
195:. After Gowers retired from the civil service at the end of the war, Bridges asked him to write a short pamphlet on good writing, for the benefit of the new generation of officials. Bridges called on his senior colleagues throughout the civil service to cooperate; some had already made efforts in the same cause, including the
443:
Fraser preserved Gowers's structure, and added three new chapters, the most important of which was titled "Some recent trends"; it covered the increasing prevalence of informality, and the influences of
America, science, technology, economics, business, and personnel management. The final sections of
769:
Among the more extreme uses of the word noted by Gowers in 1954 were "drastic bottleneck", the "vicious circle of interdependent bottlenecks" and the "worldwide bottleneck". In the 2014 edition
Rebecca Gowers points out that misuse of the word has not completely vanished, citing a recent use of "the
481:
in any new version cannot possibly have the same impact as Gowers first had when he reminded administrators that they could best express themselves in a clean and economical prose. But this version, which battles with later jargon and more subtle temptations, a version less sure of the nature of its
542:
Unlike the three earlier revisers, Rebecca Gowers generally avoids merging her own comments with the original text. Her practice is to retain Ernest Gowers's remarks and append updated observations in a separate note. An example is the entry on the use of the noun "issue". The original words were:
425:
The 1954 text was reprinted seven times during Gowers's lifetime, and he made a number of amendments in the various impressions. Changing times in the 1960s meant that a substantial revision was needed if the book was to continue to fulfil its purpose. Gowers, fully occupied for a decade in making
412:
greeted the publication: "It may be hoped that in this more durable form the book's good influence will continue to spread: Civil
Servants have not been alone in profiting from it in the past, nor should they be in the future." The book has remained in print, in its original and revised editions,
376:
Neither the
Treasury nor HMSO expected the second book to rival the popularity of its predecessor, but it sold nearly 80,000 copies in its first year. Gowers was nevertheless not wholly happy with it. He thought the A–Z layout had two disadvantages. The first was that it gave the wrong impression
146:
The nonsensical jargon of the old
Ministries must be replaced by a simple style, clear and yet concise, free from expressions of servility, from obsequious formulae, stand-offishness, pedantry, or any suggestion that there is an authority superior to that of reason, or of the order established by
348:
is of little use for that: it has not even an index". The new work consisted of articles, mostly brief, on points of vocabulary, grammar, construction, punctuation and style, set out in alphabetical order, beginning with "Abstract words" and ending with "Write". The former was one of the longer
243:
praised the book and engaged in a little mock-officialese of its own: "It deserves to be a 'best seller' (or perhaps we should say that in all the circumstances it may reasonably be anticipated that it will be found to evoke a relatively considerable demand on the part of the general public)."
751:, David Hunt, reviewing the 1973 edition, wrote, "No writer of English at any level, from the most elaborate to the most utilitarian, can fail to derive profit from this book. He could for example, by studying Sir Bruce's instructions on how to arrange his thoughts before starting to write."
716:
Gowers was not dogmatic about the possessive form of names such as his that end in "s", but he described the form "Jones's room" as "the most favoured practice" as opposed to "Jones' room". In her biography of Gowers, his granddaughter Ann Scott uses the form "Gowers' room"; in the extensive
161:
caricatured officialdom as the "Circumlocution Office", where for even the most urgent matter nothing could be done without "half a score of boards, half a bushel of minutes, several sacks of official memoranda, and a family-vault full of ungrammatical correspondence." By the 1880s the term
396:
had been sold. The
Treasury, HMSO and Gowers agreed that the obvious and best course would be to combine the two booklets into a single volume. This Gowers did, with help from his colleagues, as before; he made many revisions as a result of "the many correspondents from all parts of the
511:... says 'If you take hyphens seriously you will surely go mad'. I have no intention of taking hyphens seriously." In the new edition the second sentence read, "You should not take hyphens seriously". Rebecca Gowers objects that this approach "systematically depersonalise the writing".
403:
contained 226 pages, including seven pages of index. It was a hardback, in green cloth binding with dust-jacket, in HMSO's preferred size, used for the two earlier Plain Words books, 8.4in x 5.25in (21.3 cm x 13.3 cm). It was published in
September 1954 at what
590:
Although Fraser, Greenbaum and
Whitcut remained broadly faithful to Gowers's original structure and chapter headings, with some minor changes, Rebecca Gowers reverts to the original almost exclusively. The modernisations she introduces, such as the consideration of
472:
The core of the book remains Gowers, but I do not think Fraser, for all his desire to be faithful, has been able to keep the urbane, untroubled, effortless grace which made the original so instantly attractive. And, to be fair, the times have made this all but
416:
Between Gowers's prologue and epilogue there is a
Digression on Legal English followed by chapters on The Elements, Correctness, Avoiding the Superfluous Word, Choosing the Familiar Word, Choosing the Precise Word, The Handling of Words, and Punctuation.
324:
by producing a second volume of advice on good, clear writing. As with its predecessor, he "had many helpers to thank", including
Griffith and other civil service colleagues. He also drew on the works of well-known writers on English usage, including
170:
199:, whose advice to staff included "one golden rule to bear in mind always: that we should try to put ourselves in the position of our correspondent, to imagine his feelings as he writes his letters, and to gauge his reaction as he receives ours."
226:, a 94-page booklet. It was judged successful by the civil service, and the Treasury considered that it should be made publicly available. Had Gowers written it as part of his duties while still a civil servant it would have automatically been
356:
illustrate how some comments have become dated and others have not: Gowers warned in 1951 that the word "backlog" meaning "arrears" would be unintelligible to British readers, and in the next entry he advised that the construction "on a
467:
said that the book remained "the happiest thing to come out of the Treasury". He praised Fraser for replacing Gowers's dated examples of officialese with modern specimens and updating the text to reflect current trends, but concluded:
514:
The new edition, in the same format as its two predecessors, is in blue cloth, with dust-jacket, and has 298 pages. A paperback version was issued by Penguin Books in 1987, and an American hardback edition was published in 1988 by
234:(HMSO), issued the booklet for sale in April 1948. It was priced at two shillings (10 pence in British decimal currency); between April and Christmas 1948 it sold more than 150,000 copies and had to be reprinted seven times.
202:
Government departments sent Gowers many examples of officialese so extreme as to be amusing; a small committee of senior officials formed to help him and comment on his proposals. The colleague on whom Gowers most relied was
494:
The third edition was commissioned not by the Treasury but by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, to mark its bicentenary. The revision was made not by an experienced public servant but by an academic and a lexicographer,
293:
The purpose of this book is to help officials in their use of written English. To some of them this may seem a work of supererogation, calculated only to place an unnecessary burden on a body of people already
230:, but as he had not begun it until after his retirement he owned the rights. The Treasury offered a flat fee of £500, but he successfully held out for a royalty on every copy sold. The government publisher,
97:(1951). The aim of the book is to help officials in their use of English as a tool of their trade. To keep the work relevant for readers in subsequent decades it has been revised by
760:
If indeed it was a joke: the text was read by Gowers's advisory colleagues, all keen on plain English, but Rebecca Gowers suggests that the use of the phrase was an oversight.
183:, a senior civil servant, was among those who wished to see officialese replaced by normal English. In 1929 he remarked in a speech about the civil service, "It is said
344:
Gowers explained the purpose of the new book in his preface, "We must have something that can be kept on the desk and consulted on points of difficulty as they arise.
486:
The Fraser edition was reprinted in hardback three times between 1973 and 1983. Penguin published a paperback version in the UK in 1973, and in the US in 1975.
440:. The new edition, 250 pages long, was published by HMSO at £1, in hardback with black cloth binding and dust-jacket, in the same format as the first edition.
504:
1637:
432:, was unable to carry out the task; he died in 1966, a few months after the publication of the revised Fowler. Another retired senior civil servant,
151:
The British civil service of the 19th and early 20th centuries had a reputation for pomposity and long-windedness in its written communications. In
85:, published in 1954. It has never been out of print. It comprises expanded and revised versions of two pamphlets that he wrote at the request of
1231:
444:
the chapter were on "vogue words" and "modish writing". Fraser noted that though Gowers had said approvingly in 1954 that the use of the
1599:
1580:
231:
109:
547:
This word has a very wide range of proper meanings as a noun, and should not be made to do any more work – the work, for instance of
1561:
188:
621:
1632:
1542:
459:
commented of Fraser, "his wit, perhaps a little drier and more Scottish, is equally acute, diverting and instructive". In
239:
433:
139:
98:
448:
was dying out, it was now, under the influence of American writing, making an unwelcome reappearance in English usage.
628:
516:
500:
361:... basis" should be avoided. The latter remains a frequent feature of loose writing and all the editions of the
163:
166:
as, "The formal and typically verbose language considered characteristic of officials or official documents".
939:, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, retrieved 5 April 2014
1616:
649:
604:
592:
134:
743:
This use of "he" to indicate readers of both sexes was customary at the time, and was used in the original
352:
Gowers and his successors revised their advice as usage changed over the years. Two consecutive entries in
1642:
578:
has grown enormously since Gowers wrote this, not least because it now also doubles up on the job done by
734:
and other bodies until 1953, and on the board of the National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases until 1957.
635:
456:
204:
37:
847:
428:
286:
272:
commented, "The Stationery Office must have enjoyed publishing this book. It is great fun to read".
105:
and Janet Whitcut in 1986, and by the original author's great-granddaughter Rebecca Gowers in 2014.
326:
128:, a prominent civil servant as well as a poet, urged the use of straightforward writing. Reviewing
780:
932:
1595:
1576:
1557:
1538:
1521:
1504:
1487:
671:
48:
731:
611:
496:
445:
125:
102:
808:
282:
227:
158:
642:
531:
and the public service was broken in 1996, when HMSO was dismembered under governmental
334:
277:
196:
535:
policy. The 2014 edition of the book was published by Particular Books, an imprint of
124:
The association of wordiness with bureaucracy has a long history. In the 14th century
1626:
615:
536:
532:
464:
268:
180:
173:
153:
113:
82:
482:
readership or the mood of the nation, is an honourable and certainly a useful guide.
330:
169:
207:
of the Inland Revenue, whose contribution Gowers acknowledged in the prefaces to
192:
86:
78:
365:
books retain and expand Gowers's advice, whereas within three years of writing
747:
and its successors until the 1986 revision. Twenty-five years after the first
373:
that "backlog" was rapidly and usefully establishing itself in British usage.
313:
1525:
783:, five shillings in 1954 equates to £5.62 in 2011 terms. The 2014 edition of
1508:
289:
objected to the conspicuously un-plain words of Gowers's opening sentences:
251:
246:
1556:(3rd ed.). London / Boston: Her Majesty's Stationery Office / Godine.
1491:
17:
1338:
1416:
1404:
1350:
1428:
Elliott, Valerie. "Stationery Office sold for £54m in cut-price deal",
388:
By 1954 both books were still selling well. Almost 300,000 copies of
1520:(1st combined ed.). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
312:
168:
1552:
Gowers, Ernest (1986). Greenbaum, Sidney; Whitcut, Janet (eds.).
730:
Gowers's public service career continued as chairman of several
275:
Occasionally Gowers's humour misled literal-minded reviewers.
147:
law. There must be no conventional phrases, no waste of words.
408:
called the remarkably cheap price of five shillings (25p).
503:
and Janet Whitcut, formerly senior research editor of the
1537:(2nd ed.). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
499:, Quain Professor of English Language and Literature at
341:
had 160 pages, and was priced at three shillings (15p).
595:, are incorporated into the chapters of the 1954 book.
320:
The Treasury invited Gowers to build on the success of
266:
from Gowers "the Treasury has put us all in its debt."
254:
to the work, and concluded, "for all its cool urbanity
717:
biographical sketch that prefaces the 2014 edition of
108:
All the editions until that of 2014 were published by
896:
Parkin, Michael, "Harris harries the 'S'-droppers",
850:, Oxford English Dictionary, retrieved 5 April 2014
490:
1986 revision by Sidney Greenbaum and Janet Whitcut
54:
44:
1594:. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
909:Gowers (1973), p. iii; and Gowers (1986), p. iii
1450:Gowers (1954) p. 113; and Gowers (2014), p. 158
569:
545:
470:
291:
144:
1592:Ernest Gowers: Plain Words and Forgotten Deeds
1575:(4th ed.). London: Particular (Penguin).
1571:Gowers, Ernest (2014). Gowers, Rebecca (ed.).
614:allows 50 years after the death of the author
112:. The most recent is issued by an imprint of
8:
1533:Gowers, Ernest (1973). Fraser, Bruce (ed.).
1282:
1280:
1038:Vallins, p. 149; and Gowers (2014), p. xxvii
30:
1503:. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office.
1486:. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office.
1316:Potter, Dennis. "Where English is now at",
1484:Plain Words: A Guide to the Use of English
950:
948:
770:single biggest bottleneck in the economy".
298:When revising the text in preparation for
36:
29:
586:is being made to labour harder than ever.
162:"officialese" was in use, defined by the
1370:
1368:
1234:, MeasuringWorth, retrieved 6 April 2014
1166:
1164:
981:Hunt, David. "The Corridors of Gowers",
977:
975:
973:
919:
917:
915:
800:
662:
1329:Gowers (1973) fourth impression, p. ii
1232:"Relative worth of £0 5s 0d from 1954"
821:
819:
110:Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO)
1200:
1198:
7:
1419:, WorldCat, retrieved 14 April 2014
1407:, WorldCat, retrieved 14 April 2014
1353:, WorldCat, retrieved 14 April 2014
1341:, WorldCat, retrieved 14 April 2014
608:(1954 UK copyright expired version)
258:is written with missionary zeal".
25:
262:considered that by commissioning
1638:Style guides for British English
887:and Gowers (2014), pp. vii–xxvii
699:For hard langage and hard matere
567:To which the reviser has added:
237:Reviewers responded favourably.
222:The result of Gowers's work was
138:quoted the French revolutionary
696:Pardee, hit oghte thee to lyke;
523:2014 revision by Rebecca Gowers
426:the first revision of Fowler's
232:His Majesty's Stationery Office
678:Have I not preved thus simply,
1:
1254:The Times Literary Supplement
1014:The Times Literary Supplement
983:The Times Literary Supplement
684:Of speche, or gret prolixitee
622:Fowler's Modern English Usage
527:The last direct link between
453:The Times Literary Supplement
451:Reviewing the new edition in
421:1973 revision by Bruce Fraser
410:The Times Literary Supplement
240:The Times Literary Supplement
191:, permanent secretary to the
1441:Gowers (2014), pp. vii–xxvii
1295:Gowers (1973), dust-jacket
1274:Gowers (1954), pp. v and vi
1101:Gowers (1951), front cover
933:"Gowers, Sir Ernest Arthur"
629:The Chicago Manual of Style
77:in its 2014 revision, is a
1659:
1459:Gowers (2014), pp. 158–159
1417:"The Complete Plain Words"
1405:"The Complete Plain Words"
1351:"The Complete Plain Words"
1339:"The Complete Plain Words"
1256:, 31 December 1954, p. 858
1243:Gowers (2014), dust-jacket
501:University College, London
27:1954 book by Ernest Gowers
1432:, 12 September 1996, p. 2
1174:, 22 September 1954, p. 6
702:Is encombrous for to here
687:Of termes of philosophye,
675:(c. 1380) Chaucer wrote:
392:and more than 130,000 of
164:Oxford English Dictionary
35:
31:The Complete Plain Words
1617:The Complete Plain Words
1554:The Complete Plain Words
1535:The Complete Plain Words
1518:The Complete Plain Words
1204:Gowers (1954), pp. 84–85
1140:Gowers (1954), pp. 83–84
865:in Gowers (2014), p. xii
787:was published at £14.99.
693:Or colours of rethoryke?
606:The Complete Plain Words
479:The Complete Plain Words
438:The Complete Plain Words
401:The Complete Plain Words
382:The Complete Plain Words
371:The Complete Plain Words
300:The Complete Plain Words
211:and its two successors.
68:The Complete Plain Words
1516:Gowers, Ernest (1954).
1499:Gowers, Ernest (1951).
1482:Gowers, Ernest (1948).
1172:The Manchester Guardian
1056:Gowers (2014), p. xxvii
1029:, 24 April 1948, p. 667
967:Gowers (2014), p. xviii
941:(subscription required)
852:(subscription required)
827:The Manchester Guardian
681:Withouten any subtiltee
650:Practical English Usage
593:gender-neutral language
406:The Manchester Guardian
260:The Manchester Guardian
135:The Manchester Guardian
1633:1954 non-fiction books
1374:Gowers (2014), p. xvii
1122:Gowers (1951), pp. 1–2
1003:Gowers (2014), p. xiii
985:, 22 June 1973, p. 719
690:Of figures of poetrye,
588:
565:
484:
436:, was asked to revise
339:The ABC of Plain Words
317:
296:
177:
149:
1468:Gowers (2014), p. 212
1383:Gowers (1986), p. 167
1320:, 5 April 1973, p. 16
1286:Gowers (1973), p. iii
1265:Gowers (2014), p. xiv
1213:Gowers (2014), p. 155
1192:Gowers (1954), p. iii
1131:Gowers (1951), p. 146
1113:Gowers (1951), p. iii
1092:Gowers (1951), p. vii
958:, 15 April 1948, p. 5
923:Gowers (2014), p. xii
900:, 3 August 1973, p. 6
829:, 15 April 1948, p. 4
636:The Elements of Style
316:
205:Llewelyn Wyn Griffith
172:
1362:Gowers (1973, p. vi)
1222:Gowers (1973), p. 76
1158:Gowers (1951), p. iv
1083:Gowers (1951), p. vi
1025:"What Do You Mean",
1016:, 1 May 1948, p. 247
994:Gowers (1954), p. iv
429:Modern English Usage
1590:Scott, Ann (2009).
1307:Gowers (1973), p. x
1065:Gowers (1954), p. 1
1047:Gowers (1948), p. 1
874:Gowers (1951), p. 9
838:Dickens, Chapter 10
807:Chaucer, Geoffrey.
285:and the grammarian
32:
1501:ABC of Plain Words
1149:Scott, pp. 181–182
1012:"Plain Speaking",
781:Retail Price Index
574:: The workload of
505:Longman Dictionary
369:, Gowers noted in
318:
307:ABC of Plain Words
189:Sir Edward Bridges
178:
157:in the mid-1850s,
95:ABC of Plain Words
810:The House of Fame
732:Royal Commissions
672:The House of Fame
616:Sir Ernest Gowers
517:Godine Publishing
181:Sir Ernest Gowers
142:writing in 1794:
83:Sir Ernest Gowers
64:
63:
49:Sir Ernest Gowers
16:(Redirected from
1650:
1605:
1586:
1567:
1548:
1529:
1512:
1495:
1469:
1466:
1460:
1457:
1451:
1448:
1442:
1439:
1433:
1426:
1420:
1414:
1408:
1402:
1396:
1390:
1384:
1381:
1375:
1372:
1363:
1360:
1354:
1348:
1342:
1336:
1330:
1327:
1321:
1314:
1308:
1305:
1299:
1293:
1287:
1284:
1275:
1272:
1266:
1263:
1257:
1250:
1244:
1241:
1235:
1229:
1223:
1220:
1214:
1211:
1205:
1202:
1193:
1190:
1184:
1181:
1175:
1168:
1159:
1156:
1150:
1147:
1141:
1138:
1132:
1129:
1123:
1120:
1114:
1111:
1105:
1099:
1093:
1090:
1084:
1081:
1075:
1072:
1066:
1063:
1057:
1054:
1048:
1045:
1039:
1036:
1030:
1023:
1017:
1010:
1004:
1001:
995:
992:
986:
979:
968:
965:
959:
952:
943:
942:
930:
924:
921:
910:
907:
901:
894:
888:
881:
875:
872:
866:
860:
854:
853:
845:
839:
836:
830:
823:
814:
805:
788:
777:
771:
767:
761:
758:
752:
741:
735:
728:
722:
714:
708:
667:
510:
497:Sidney Greenbaum
476:
360:
186:
126:Geoffrey Chaucer
103:Sidney Greenbaum
99:Sir Bruce Fraser
71:, titled simply
56:Publication date
40:
33:
21:
1658:
1657:
1653:
1652:
1651:
1649:
1648:
1647:
1623:
1622:
1612:
1602:
1589:
1583:
1570:
1564:
1551:
1545:
1532:
1515:
1498:
1481:
1478:
1473:
1472:
1467:
1463:
1458:
1454:
1449:
1445:
1440:
1436:
1427:
1423:
1415:
1411:
1403:
1399:
1392:Gowers (1986),
1391:
1387:
1382:
1378:
1373:
1366:
1361:
1357:
1349:
1345:
1337:
1333:
1328:
1324:
1315:
1311:
1306:
1302:
1294:
1290:
1285:
1278:
1273:
1269:
1264:
1260:
1251:
1247:
1242:
1238:
1230:
1226:
1221:
1217:
1212:
1208:
1203:
1196:
1191:
1187:
1182:
1178:
1170:"Plain Words",
1169:
1162:
1157:
1153:
1148:
1144:
1139:
1135:
1130:
1126:
1121:
1117:
1112:
1108:
1100:
1096:
1091:
1087:
1082:
1078:
1074:Vallins, p. 147
1073:
1069:
1064:
1060:
1055:
1051:
1046:
1042:
1037:
1033:
1024:
1020:
1011:
1007:
1002:
998:
993:
989:
980:
971:
966:
962:
954:"Plain Words",
953:
946:
940:
931:
927:
922:
913:
908:
904:
895:
891:
882:
878:
873:
869:
861:
857:
851:
846:
842:
837:
833:
825:"Plain Words",
824:
817:
813:, lines 854–864
806:
802:
797:
792:
791:
778:
774:
768:
764:
759:
755:
742:
738:
729:
725:
715:
711:
668:
664:
659:
601:
525:
508:
492:
474:
423:
386:
358:
311:
283:Harold Nicolson
228:Crown Copyright
220:
184:
159:Charles Dickens
122:
57:
28:
23:
22:
15:
12:
11:
5:
1656:
1654:
1646:
1645:
1640:
1635:
1625:
1624:
1621:
1620:
1611:
1610:External links
1608:
1607:
1606:
1601:978-0230580251
1600:
1587:
1582:978-0141975535
1581:
1568:
1562:
1549:
1543:
1530:
1513:
1496:
1477:
1474:
1471:
1470:
1461:
1452:
1443:
1434:
1421:
1409:
1397:
1385:
1376:
1364:
1355:
1343:
1331:
1322:
1309:
1300:
1288:
1276:
1267:
1258:
1245:
1236:
1224:
1215:
1206:
1194:
1185:
1176:
1160:
1151:
1142:
1133:
1124:
1115:
1106:
1094:
1085:
1076:
1067:
1058:
1049:
1040:
1031:
1018:
1005:
996:
987:
969:
960:
944:
925:
911:
902:
889:
876:
867:
855:
840:
831:
815:
799:
798:
796:
793:
790:
789:
772:
762:
753:
736:
723:
709:
707:
706:
703:
700:
697:
694:
691:
688:
685:
682:
679:
661:
660:
658:
655:
654:
653:
646:
639:
632:
625:
618:
600:
597:
524:
521:
491:
488:
422:
419:
385:
379:
335:Eric Partridge
310:
304:
278:The Daily Mail
219:
213:
197:Inland Revenue
140:Martial Herman
121:
118:
62:
61:
58:
55:
52:
51:
46:
42:
41:
26:
24:
14:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1655:
1644:
1643:Plain English
1641:
1639:
1636:
1634:
1631:
1630:
1628:
1619:
1618:
1614:
1613:
1609:
1603:
1597:
1593:
1588:
1584:
1578:
1574:
1569:
1565:
1563:9781567922035
1559:
1555:
1550:
1546:
1540:
1536:
1531:
1527:
1523:
1519:
1514:
1510:
1506:
1502:
1497:
1493:
1489:
1485:
1480:
1479:
1475:
1465:
1462:
1456:
1453:
1447:
1444:
1438:
1435:
1431:
1425:
1422:
1418:
1413:
1410:
1406:
1401:
1398:
1395:
1389:
1386:
1380:
1377:
1371:
1369:
1365:
1359:
1356:
1352:
1347:
1344:
1340:
1335:
1332:
1326:
1323:
1319:
1313:
1310:
1304:
1301:
1298:
1292:
1289:
1283:
1281:
1277:
1271:
1268:
1262:
1259:
1255:
1252:"Philology",
1249:
1246:
1240:
1237:
1233:
1228:
1225:
1219:
1216:
1210:
1207:
1201:
1199:
1195:
1189:
1186:
1183:Scott, p. 182
1180:
1177:
1173:
1167:
1165:
1161:
1155:
1152:
1146:
1143:
1137:
1134:
1128:
1125:
1119:
1116:
1110:
1107:
1104:
1098:
1095:
1089:
1086:
1080:
1077:
1071:
1068:
1062:
1059:
1053:
1050:
1044:
1041:
1035:
1032:
1028:
1027:The Economist
1022:
1019:
1015:
1009:
1006:
1000:
997:
991:
988:
984:
978:
976:
974:
970:
964:
961:
957:
951:
949:
945:
938:
934:
929:
926:
920:
918:
916:
912:
906:
903:
899:
893:
890:
886:
880:
877:
871:
868:
864:
859:
856:
849:
848:"officialese"
844:
841:
835:
832:
828:
822:
820:
816:
812:
811:
804:
801:
794:
786:
782:
776:
773:
766:
763:
757:
754:
750:
746:
740:
737:
733:
727:
724:
720:
713:
710:
704:
701:
698:
695:
692:
689:
686:
683:
680:
677:
676:
674:
673:
666:
663:
656:
652:
651:
647:
645:
644:
640:
638:
637:
633:
631:
630:
626:
624:
623:
619:
617:
613:
609:
607:
603:
602:
598:
596:
594:
587:
585:
581:
577:
573:
568:
564:
562:
558:
557:consideration
554:
550:
544:
540:
538:
537:Penguin Books
534:
533:privatisation
530:
522:
520:
518:
512:
506:
502:
498:
489:
487:
483:
480:
469:
466:
465:Dennis Potter
462:
458:
454:
449:
447:
441:
439:
435:
431:
430:
420:
418:
414:
411:
407:
402:
398:
395:
391:
383:
380:
378:
374:
372:
368:
364:
355:
350:
347:
342:
340:
336:
332:
328:
323:
315:
308:
305:
303:
301:
295:
294:overburdened.
290:
288:
284:
280:
279:
273:
271:
270:
269:The Economist
265:
261:
257:
253:
249:
248:
242:
241:
235:
233:
229:
225:
217:
214:
212:
210:
206:
200:
198:
194:
190:
182:
175:
174:Ernest Gowers
171:
167:
165:
160:
156:
155:
154:Little Dorrit
148:
143:
141:
137:
136:
131:
127:
119:
117:
115:
114:Penguin Books
111:
106:
104:
100:
96:
92:
88:
84:
80:
76:
75:
70:
69:
59:
53:
50:
47:
43:
39:
34:
19:
1615:
1591:
1572:
1553:
1534:
1517:
1500:
1483:
1464:
1455:
1446:
1437:
1429:
1424:
1412:
1400:
1393:
1388:
1379:
1358:
1346:
1334:
1325:
1317:
1312:
1303:
1296:
1291:
1270:
1261:
1253:
1248:
1239:
1227:
1218:
1209:
1188:
1179:
1171:
1154:
1145:
1136:
1127:
1118:
1109:
1102:
1097:
1088:
1079:
1070:
1061:
1052:
1043:
1034:
1026:
1021:
1013:
1008:
999:
990:
982:
963:
955:
936:
928:
905:
898:The Guardian
897:
892:
884:
879:
870:
862:
858:
843:
834:
826:
809:
803:
784:
775:
765:
756:
748:
744:
739:
726:
718:
712:
670:
665:
648:
643:Hart's Rules
641:
634:
627:
620:
612:UK Copyright
605:
589:
583:
579:
575:
571:
570:
566:
560:
556:
552:
548:
546:
541:
528:
526:
513:
493:
485:
478:
471:
460:
452:
450:
442:
437:
434:Bruce Fraser
427:
424:
415:
413:ever since.
409:
405:
400:
399:
393:
389:
387:
381:
375:
370:
366:
362:
353:
351:
345:
343:
338:
321:
319:
306:
299:
297:
292:
276:
274:
267:
263:
259:
255:
245:
238:
236:
223:
221:
215:
208:
201:
179:
152:
150:
145:
133:
129:
123:
107:
101:in 1973, by
94:
90:
73:
72:
67:
66:
65:
1573:Plain Words
937:Who Was Who
785:Plain Words
749:Plain Words
745:Plain Words
719:Plain Words
529:Plain Words
473:impossible.
446:subjunctive
390:Plain Words
363:Plain Words
346:Plain Words
331:A P Herbert
322:Plain Words
287:G H Vallins
264:Plain Words
256:Plain Words
224:Plain Words
216:Plain Words
209:Plain Words
130:Plain Words
93:(1948) and
91:Plain Words
87:HM Treasury
81:written by
79:style guide
74:Plain Words
18:Plain Words
1627:Categories
1544:0117003409
795:References
779:Using the
519:, Boston.
457:David Hunt
327:H W Fowler
250:devoted a
120:Background
1526:559778291
1430:The Times
1318:The Times
1297:et passim
1103:et passim
956:The Times
461:The Times
247:The Times
132:in 1948,
1509:65646838
599:See also
193:Treasury
1492:2602739
1476:Sources
883:Scott,
705:At ones
580:problem
561:dispute
549:subject
394:The ABC
367:The ABC
354:The ABC
176:in 1920
1598:
1579:
1560:
1541:
1524:
1507:
1490:
1394:passim
885:passim
863:quoted
509:
475:
384:, 1954
359:
309:, 1951
252:leader
218:, 1948
185:
45:Author
657:Notes
610:Note:
584:issue
576:issue
553:topic
1596:ISBN
1577:ISBN
1558:ISBN
1539:ISBN
1522:OCLC
1505:OCLC
1488:OCLC
572:Note
559:and
477:...
333:and
60:1954
669:In
1629::
1367:^
1279:^
1197:^
1163:^
972:^
947:^
935:,
914:^
818:^
555:,
551:,
463:,
455:,
337:.
329:,
281:,
116:.
89:,
1604:.
1585:.
1566:.
1547:.
1528:.
1511:.
1494:.
563:.
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
