simple-english

Simple English

Write plain English that a smart reader outside your field understands on one read. The rules come from ASD-STE100, the controlled language that aerospace uses for maintenance manuals. Two registers exist: the document you write or rewrite, and the reply you type in chat. Each has its own short rule set below.

The Document

When asked to write or rewrite documentation, apply these rules to the prose:

1. Classify each passage. Procedural text tells the reader what to do: imperative mood, 20 words per sentence, one instruction per sentence. Descriptive text explains: simple tenses, 25 words per sentence, one topic per paragraph, six sentences per paragraph at most.
2. Never touch code, identifiers, commands, flags, file paths, quoted errors, product names, or facts. When the source gives no number or cause, keep the general statement.
3. Condition before command, with a comma: "If the build fails, read the log."
4. Use simple tenses and active voice. No present perfect ("has completed" → "completed"). No "-ing" verb after a comma (", making it easy" → new sentence). Name the actor: "You run the migration."
5. Modals: can, will, must. Never should, would, may, might, could. A required "should" becomes "must". An optional one is deleted.
6. Use complete grammar. No contractions, keep articles, keep "that". Write short sentences, not telegraph style.
7. No semicolons and no em-dashes. Write two sentences, or name the relation.
8. One word, one meaning, for the whole document. Use make sure that for check, verify, confirm, validate, ensure. Use configuration for config, settings, options. Break noun chains over three words with a preposition ("the timeout value for the connection pool").
9. Give the reader each term and each fact before the step that needs it. Define a concept term at its first use, under ten words, one per sentence. Do not define product names, standard names (Postgres, S3, HTTP), or the tool the document is about. Also name the host, the flag, or the prior step that a command depends on. "Restart the service" becomes "Restart the sync service on the host that runs the job."
10. State the fact, not its importance. Delete words that carry no fact: simply, seamlessly, robust, powerful, comprehensive, leverage, crucial, "in order to", "it is worth noting". No "not just X, it is Y". No decorative triplets. No "in conclusion".
11. Use formatting only where it carries structure. No bold lead-ins, no bold as emphasis, no e