At 11:56 AM 5/15/2008, you wrote:

>Instead of " Your dominant hand is the one with which you write" or "

>Your dominant hand is the one you write with"  we

>can say "You write with your dominant hand."


This is when it's helpful to walk away from "health literacy" and  "plain 
language," and back into some basic, classic guides for good writing. In 
the book, "Elements of Style," Strunk and White would call this "vigorous" 
writing.  Vigorous writing calls for using fewer words to say the same 
thing. The example above is a wonderful example of that.

I find the most effective writing uses direct sentences.  Too much writing, 
especially in the medical field, begins with a clause. "If you are 
taking......then....."   or "if you see..... then...." etc.

Take care,
Joan

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Joan E Guthrie Medlen, R.D., L.D.
Global Clinical Advisor, Health Literacy & Communications
Special Olympics Healthy Athletes
joan at ipns.com
3638 SW Vesta
Portland, OR  97219
503.246.3849 (v)  503.246.3869 (f)