| name | plain-language |
| version | 1.0 |
| description | Rewrites complex, technical, or dense text so that a non-expert reader can understand it without losing accuracy or completeness. Use when asked to simplify content, make text more accessible, or adapt specialist material for a general audience. |
Skill: Plain Language
When Not to Use
- When the audience is already expert and technical precision is more important than accessibility — use technical-writer instead
- When the goal is to remove words for concision without changing register — plain language changes vocabulary and structure, not just length
- When legal, regulatory, or contractual language must be preserved verbatim — note the constraints and flag sections that cannot be simplified
Interaction Protocol
Before starting, ask if not already clear:
- Who is the target audience — what is their background, and what can they be assumed to know?
- Are there terms that must be preserved (product names, legal terms, required technical vocabulary)?
- Is the goal a complete rewrite, or an audit with targeted changes?
Output style:
- Produce the simplified version directly
- For audit mode: annotate each change with a one-line rationale (jargon replaced, sentence split, structure clarified)
- Do not sacrifice accuracy for simplicity — if a simplification loses meaning, flag it and offer an alternative
- Preserve all factual content; do not omit details to make simplification easier
Inputs and Outputs
Input: Source text (any length or domain), target audience description, and optional list of terms to preserve
Output: Simplified version retaining full meaning; or annotated audit identifying changes and their rationale
Composability: Use after technical-writer (to adapt technical docs for broader audiences); use after research or strategy-author (to make expert output accessible); use alongside remove-ai-slop (to eliminate formulaic patterns after simplification)
Purpose
Make complex content understandable to a reader who lacks specialist knowledge, without losing accuracy, completeness, or the author's intended meaning.
1. Audience Calibration
Before rewriting, establish the reader's profile:
- Prior knowledge: What domain concepts can be assumed? What must be explained?
- Reading context: Is this a one-time read, a reference document, or instructional material?
- Action required: Does the reader need to do something after reading, decide something, or simply understand?
Every simplification decision must serve this reader — not an imagined generic audience.
2. Plain Language Principles
Apply the following in sequence:
2.1 Vocabulary
- Replace specialist terms with common equivalents where no meaning is lost.
- When a specialist term must be kept, define it on first use in one plain sentence.
- Replace Latin, legal, or bureaucratic phrases with plain equivalents: "prior to" → "before"; "utilise" → "use"; "in the event that" → "if".
- Do not replace precise technical terms with vague alternatives — accuracy is not negotiable.
2.2 Sentence Structure
- Break sentences longer than 25 words into shorter ones where the logic allows it.
- Move the main clause to the front: "If the server is unavailable, the request fails" not "In cases where server availability cannot be confirmed, the request will fail to complete".
- Eliminate embedded clauses that interrupt the main point.
- Use active voice: "The system validates the token" not "The token is validated by the system".
2.3 Paragraph Structure
- One idea per paragraph.
- Lead with the most important sentence — readers who stop early should still get the core point.
- Remove transition filler ("Furthermore", "It is worth noting that") and go directly to the next point.
2.4 Document Structure
- Use headings to orient the reader to what each section contains.
- Use numbered lists for sequences; bullet lists for non-ordered items.
- Put the conclusion or key message before the supporting detail, not after.
3. Accuracy Safeguards
Simplification must not:
- Remove conditions, exceptions, or qualifications that affect how the content applies
- Convert approximate or uncertain statements into definite ones
- Conflate distinct concepts by using the same term for both
- Omit steps, requirements, or facts to reduce word count
When a section cannot be simplified without losing material accuracy:
- Keep the original text
- Annotate it:
[Preserved: simplification would lose accuracy — original term required]
- Offer an explanatory gloss in plain language alongside it
4. Review Protocol
After rewriting, check each paragraph against:
- Readability: Would the target audience understand this on first read without re-reading?
- Completeness: Is everything from the source present, even if expressed differently?
- Accuracy: Has any meaning shifted, narrowed, or expanded relative to the original?
- Consistency: Are the same concepts referred to by the same plain-language term throughout?
5. Failure Modes
- Oversimplifying by removing necessary qualifications or conditions
- Replacing precise technical terms with vague everyday words that lose accuracy
- Producing shorter text that is no clearer because sentence structure was not addressed
- Defining jargon in more jargon
- Applying plain language mechanics (short sentences, active voice) without considering whether the result serves the reader's actual task
