Chapter Seven
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increases the word count of a sentence because it uses helping verbs such
as “have” and prepositional phrases instead of actual subjects.^12
In comparison, non-legal forms tend to be written in the active voice.
The active voice, also known to plain language specialists as “direct
address,” is a form of writing where commands are used to direct the
person reading the document. For example, the statement, “The pleading
must be filed with the clerk” uses passive voice. The same statement
written in active voice would read as, “File the pleading with the clerk.”
When forms are written in the active voice, they are easier for
unsophisticated readers to understand and fill out completely.
I believe that cognitive linguistics, especially frame semantics, has
much to offer regarding the problems of understanding passive voice.
Field tests of plain language court form translations have revealed that
some people are confused about a command given in the passive voice.
They do not necessarily assume that the command is directed toward them.
One area of possible study might be to look at passive voice commands to
see if, within the context of legal forms, some people may be assuming
that such a sentence is merely explanatory, rather than a command, and
that someone else within the court structure will see to it that, for instance,
“the form is then filed with the clerk.”
Visual accessibility
Several other features contribute to readability, such as good layout,
careful use of fonts, and occasional graphics. Plain language specialists
initially mostly borrowed from the findings of those doing research in
advertising when incorporating these features into their prescriptions for
improving readability. Their own field studies have shown that good
layout improves comprehension as well. The plain language field has
mostly not gone further and studied these aspects of comprehension from a
cognitive viewpoint. Such research is beyond the bounds of their mission,
which is simply to improve comprehension, rather than to understand the
scientific basis for that improvement.
However, there is now a substantial amount of literature that does deal
with the cognitive aspects of good layout, good fonts, and graphics. Much
of this is driven by the computer information industry, which is heavily
(^12) Changing the document to an active voice is not a complete cure. We would not
want to use the expression “The judge wants to know ...” for instance. That much
is understood implicitly by just about everybody. So we change the statement into
a command, e.g., “List your children ....”