Xero
Finalist: Best Plain English Sentence Transformation 2013
Kylie McGrath’s sentence from 'View customer or supplier contact details'
Original sentence
When a contact is restored, all information entered for the contact will be retained and available for editing again via the Edit button displayed on the contact details screen for the contact, and any existing transactions will display in lists and reports as they did when the contact was previously active or archived.
Rewritten sentence
Restoring a contact makes it available again, as though you’d never archived it.
Judges' comment
Going from 53 words to just 13, there’s little to fault in turning this very long sentence into a short one. You’ve made good use of everyday words, personal pronouns, and contractions to create an informal friendly and relational tone. The quality if this rewrite is excellent.
Media statement
I’m thrilled to be named as a finalist in this year’s WriteMark Plain English Awards.
Xero's Help Centre team uses plain English standards when writing content. Writing short and clear sentences is just one of the ways we're improving content for our users.
It’s fantastic to have our improvements recognised by a panel of national and international plain English experts.
Kylie McGrath