For several years, we have written Clear and Simple Media books and articles using a basic set of rules. These guiding rules have helped us make what we write more clear and more simple. While this “style guide” has helped us, to the degree that we have accomplished it, make what we write accessible to the broadest readership. Here are the basic principles:

Clear and Simple Media Simple English Style Guide

Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviations where you can. There is usually an alternative, for example:

•  And so on (not etc.)
• For example (not e.g.)
• That is (not i.e.)
• Psalm 23 (not Ps23 or PSA 23)

Sometimes you need to abbreviate a term – perhaps you have to use it many times throughout a document. In that case, spell out the first occurrence in full followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Use the abbreviation every time from then on.

• World Health Organization (WHO)

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns often name intangible concepts, like peace, life, anger, and faith. The nouns can be hard for non-native English speakers to understand. Use abstract nouns only when there is not a suitable alternative.

Whenever possible, choose another word or phrase to describe the same concept. For example:

- Before translation: “The disciples put their trust in Jesus. They had great joy.” 

- After translation: “The disciples trusted Jesus. They were very happy.”

Bible References

Write the names of Bible books in full, and use hyphens and spaces as shown:

• Acts 28:26
• 2 Corinthians 5:1
• Philippians 3:17–24
• Hebrews 11:1, 6, 13–14; 12:3

Capitalization

– Use an initial capital letter for proper nouns, like King David or Bethlehem.

– Keep capital letters to a minimum.

– When quoting, follow the capitalization of the original.

– Do not capitalize “he/him” in reference to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.

Here are some specific examples:

• Bible
• biblical
• Christian
• gospel (when referencing the good news)
• Spirit (capital “S” for the Holy Spirit)
• Word/word (capital “W” if referencing Jesus; lowercase if referring to the Bible)

Conjunctions

Words that connect sentences (such as and, but, so, then, so then, instead, neither, nor, certainly) are vital in maintaining the flow of the text and its clarity. You can use And or But to begin a sentence, as well as within a sentence. For example:

• “We do not know when the end will come. But one day it will come. So we must be ready.”

Contractions

Use “I am” and not I’m or “do not” instead of don’t and “I have” instead of I’ve. Contractions are a kind of abbreviation. While contractions are seen as acceptable in informal writing, but present an obstacle to the new English reader.

Datives

Use “to” for the dative, where possible. This clearly distinguishes an indirect object from a direct object. The second of these two examples is preferred:

- The angel gave John the scroll.

- The angel gave the scroll to John.

Double Negatives

Two negative words in a sentence make a ‘double negative’.

 – “You never said that you did not believe me.”

Double negatives also include negatives combined with verbs (like ‘refuse’ or ‘forget’) that imply a negative:

- “You refused to say that you did not believe me.”

Both of these examples can be reworded as:

• “They wanted you to say that you did not believe me. But you refused to do that.”

Figures of Speech

Avoid using the following figures of speech as they may be misunderstood by our readers: 

Metonymy (substituting an associated word instead of using the word itself) – like “boots on the ground” instead of soldiers. 

 – Truthful lips endure forever (Proverbs 12:19 ESV) 

 – True words continue for all time (EASY) 

Euphemisms (avoidance of a plain direct statement). For example: 

 – Then David slept with his fathers (1 Kings 2:10 ESV) 

 – Then David died (EASY) 

Litotes (a positive that is emphasized by denying the negative). For example: 

 – I am a citizen of no obscure city (Acts 21:39 ESV) 

 – I am a man from an important city. (EASY) 

Irony – For example: 

 – Forgive me this wrong! (2 Corinthians 12:13 ESV) 

Actually, Paul did not think that he was doing wrong. He was being gently sarcastic! 

Idioms – An idiom is a phrase that is meaningful and natural in one language and culture. It may well be nonsense to people from other language groups and cultures. For example: 

 – I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. (Job 19:20 ESV) 

 – I could easily have died. (EASY) 

 – I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. (Exodus 32:9 ESV) 

 – I have seen these people. They are proud and they do not obey me. (EASY) 

Paragraph Length

Short paragraphs improve the readability of a text. This is particularly important for readers using mobile phones. 

• Aim to make each paragraph 150 words or less, with 200 words being the maximum limit.
• Each paragraph should address only one topic.
• One-sentence paragraphs are perfectly acceptable.

Passive Voice

In English, an action can usually be expressed in two ways, known as the active voice and the passive voice. 

In the active voice, the subject does the action:

– The dog bit the man. 

In the passive voice, the action is done to the subject: 

– The man was bitten by the dog. 

Passives are usually formed by part of the verb to be, to get or to become followed by a past participle: 

– Their prayer was answered. 

– He got bitten by a snake. 

– Because the man was ill, his garden became neglected. 

You can turn these into the active voice: 

– God answered their prayer. 

– A snake bit him. 

– The man was ill, so he neglected his garden. 

You can avoid passive verbs by converting them into active ones. Here are some examples of passive sentences with active equivalents: 

 – Without him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:3 ESV) 

 – God did not make anything without him. (EASY) 

 – Everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. (Numbers 21:8 ESV) 

– When a snake bites anyone, they must look at the bronze snake. Then they will not die. (EASY) 

 – Do not be overcome by evil. (Romans 12:21 ESV) 

 – Do not let evil things win against you. (EASY) 

Prepositional Phrases

Don’t use more than two prepositional phrases in a sentence. The following is acceptable: 

– Jesus got into the boat with James and John. 

But not: 

– Jesus got into the boat on the lake with James and John before sunset. 

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that stands in the place of a noun. For example, he, she, it, him, we, you, I, me. If it is not clear which noun the pronoun refers to, reword the sentence to make it clear. For example: 

– And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. (Exodus 4:28 ESV) 

– Then Moses told Aaron all that the Lord had told him to say. He also told Aaron about all the special signs. God had commanded Moses to show these signs to the Israelites and to Pharaoh. (EASY) 

– By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:6 ESV) 

– So, this is how we know that we belong to God. If we say that we are living in God’s true way, then we must live in the way that Jesus lived. (EASY) 

Quotation Marks

– Enclose a quotation or direct speech in single quotation marks.

– When quoting from another document, follow the capitalization and punctuation of the original.

Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question is a sentence that follows the grammatical form of a question but is really a statement. The speaker does not expect an answer. It is really just a forceful way of making a point.

Do not use rhetorical questions. You can usually replace them with ordinary statements: 

– If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 ESV) 

– If God is working on our behalf, nobody can really do anything against us. (EASY) 

– For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? (1 Timothy 3:5 ESV) 

– A man must know how to take care of his own family. If he cannot do that, he will not be able to take care of God’s people in the church. (EASY) 

Sentence Length and Structure

Try to limit sentences to about 20 words. Aim for an average of 8 to 12 words. 

Each sentence can have one of the following patterns: 

o [ main clause ] 

 Some seeds fell on the path. 

o [ main clause] [ main clause] 

 The birds came and they ate those seeds. 

o [ main clause [ subordinate clause]] 

 The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. 

o [[ subordinate clause] main clause] 

 While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path.

o [ start of main clause …[ subordinate clause] …end of main clause] 

The farmer, who went out into the field to plant seeds, is like a person who tells other people about God’s message 

Tenses

Be consistent in your use of tenses. 

In general, use the past tense for past events. For example, in a narrative, you may want to refer to historical events that are yet to happen from the point of view of the narrative itself: 

 – After this, Jesus will be going up to Jerusalem. 

This may be yet to occur from the narrative’s point of view. But it is a past event from our point of view. So use the past tense, like this: 

 – After this, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  

If you use the ‘writer’s present’ in your commentary, be consistent. Do not alternate between the past and present tense. For example: 

 – Peter now continues what he started to say in 1 Peter 3:18. He is writing this letter to Jews. 

Or: 

 – Peter then continued what he started to say in 1 Peter 3:18. He was writing this letter to Jews. 

But not: 

 – Peter then continues what he started to say in 1 Peter 3:18. He was writing this letter to Jews. 

Verbs

Do not use more than two finite verbs in one sentence. 

When counting finite verbs, do not include modal auxiliaries such as can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. Therefore he can read counts as one finite verb. So does he must go. 

When counting finite verbs, do not include infinitives. So, do not include to protect in the following sentence: 

•  The shepherd keeps his sheep near him to protect them. 

When counting finite verbs, do not include -ing participles such as feeding in: 

•  The shepherd kept them feeding in the field. 

Vocabulary

Sometimes you need to use a word that is not included in the vocabulary. There are a number of ways of handling this situation: 

– You could use an in-text definition, for example: 

•  a city called Thessalonica 
•  a big, strong bird called an eagle 

– You could use an in-flight definition (using brackets to separate the definition from the text itself): 

•  an eagle (a big, strong bird with large wings) 

– You could asterisk the word and include it in a Word List at the end of the document, making sure that your definition matches the use of the word in its context in your text.