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Changes for page Simple sentences

Last modified by Lizzie Bruce on 2020/01/11 23:51
From version Icon 1.6 Icon
edited by Lizzie Bruce
on 2019/03/06 20:23
Change comment: There is no comment for this version
To version Icon 6.1 Icon
edited by Lizzie Bruce
on 2020/01/11 23:51
Change comment: on page redirect

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Title
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1 -Clear language
1 +Simple sentences
Parent
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1 -Main.WebHome
1 +Plain English.WebHome
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1 -{{children/}}
1 +Please go to [[readabilityguidelines.co.uk/clear-language/simple-sentences>>url:https://readabilityguidelines.co.uk/clear-language/simple-sentences/]].
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1 +Chris in Oslo
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1 +It's my experience that when you say to people "X should be on average Y long", they hear "X should be at least Y long". They get hung up on the number and think they have to reach it. I could absolutely imagine that people who are not experienced (usually exactly the ones who want clear and explicit guidance) will see this and make sentences *longer* because theirs is only 10 words. TL;DR: I don't think is bad advice, but I do think people are bad at averaging and bad at understanding that X limit does not mean "write X much" :)
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1 +2019-05-03 15:47:13.0
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1 +Chris in Oslo again
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1 +I'm trying to think about how I would write guidelines in a way that would mitigate what I wrote above. My experience has been that people remember the number much better than the precise thing you were trying to convey with the number (which is why we have truthy-but-wrong memes like "you only use 10% of your brain.) I guess I'm missing something above that says "Make sentences as short as possible by introducing one idea at a time" or similar?
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1 +2019-05-03 15:53:50.0
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1 +xwiki:XWiki.LizzieBruce
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1 +Ah, good point Chris. Will revisit this guidance wording! Thanks for the suggested alternative.
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1 +2019-05-21 10:25:03.0