Plain Language Checklist: The 14 Federal Checks, Tested on Real Text

The federal checklist lived at plainlanguage.gov, which now redirects to the plain language guide on digital.gov. We quote the 14 checks from the archived checklist page (captured 15 December 2024), read on 12 October 2026.

The 14-point federal plain language checklist

The federal checklist says a document in plain language:

The checks are the federal page's own wording. The third column is our short version of how to check each one.

Why it matters: plain language is the law for federal agencies

The digital.gov guide puts it plainly: plain language "is also the law", through the Plain Writing Act of 2010, which covers federal agencies. Outside government, nothing requires it, but the reasons are the same. The guide's own example of what goes wrong: people rating government websites wrote "Cluttered" and "Information flow was poor".

The guide also takes apart the most common objection. Plain language does not mean writing for children: "Don't write for an 8th-grade class if your readers are PhD candidates, small business owners, or working parents." Write for the reader you actually have.

We tested the checklist on 3 real federal sentences

We took three sentences from federal rules, rewrote each against the 14 checks, and scored both versions. The reading grade is the Flesch-Kincaid grade level, computed by our own script with a standard syllable count; a grade of 8 means an average eighth grader could read it. These rewrites show the method. They are not legal advice and do not replace the rule.

1. Keeping safety data sheets at work (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8))

Before, from the rule on eCFR:

The employer shall maintain in the workplace copies of the required safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s). (Electronic access and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the safety data sheets are permitted as long as no barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace are created by such options.)

After:

You must keep a safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical at work. Workers must be able to read it during every shift without leaving their work area. You may keep the sheets on a computer instead of on paper. If you do, nothing can stop a worker from opening them right away.

Checks that did the work: 4 (speak to "you"), 5 (active voice: "are permitted... are created by such options" became "you may keep"), 6 (one idea a sentence) and 11 ("must", not "shall").

2. Who needs a safety data sheet (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(1))

Before:

Chemical manufacturers and importers shall obtain or develop a safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical they produce or import. Employers shall have a safety data sheet in the workplace for each hazardous chemical which they use.

After:

If you make or import a hazardous chemical, you must write or get a safety data sheet for it. If you use one at work, you must have its safety data sheet there.

Checks that did the work: 10 (familiar words: "obtain or develop" became "write or get") and 11. The word count barely moved. The grade halved anyway, because the words got shorter.

3. What happens to a non-compliant application (NIH, Format Attachments)

Before, from NIH's Format Attachments page:

Applications that include PDF attachments that do not conform to the minimum requirements listed above may be withdrawn from consideration.

After:

If a PDF breaks these rules, we may not review your application.

Checks that did the work: 5 (the passive "may be withdrawn" hides who acts) and 12 (the subject and its verb sat 14 words apart).

We checked a one-page notice against all 14

A rewrite of one sentence is easy. A whole document is the real test. We ran the checklist on our own Notice of Privacy Practices summary template, a one-page sheet a clinic hands to patients.

Edit this template

A sample clinic's privacy notice summary: a required header, three columns and a contact row.

The one exception is the header, and it is on purpose. The HIPAA Privacy Rule, 45 CFR 164.520(b)(1)(i), says the notice "must contain the following statement as a header or otherwise prominently displayed", and the rule prints that statement in capitals: "THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED..." By our script, it reads at grade 9.0, twice the body's level, and the digital.gov design guide warns that all capitals make text harder to read. But when a law sets the exact words, you keep them and make everything around them plain.

How to run a plain language check in 15 minutes

1. Name the reader in one line: who they are and what they need to do after reading.
2. Score the reading grade with any readability tool, and write the number down. California's state plain language checklist sets grade 8 or lower as its target for the public.
3. Search for "shall" and replace each with "must", "will" or "may", whichever is meant.
4. Search for "be" verbs followed by a word ending in "-ed": "was approved", "are required". Each is a likely passive. Name who acts.
5. Search for "-tion" and "-ment" words after "make", "give" or "take". "Make a determination" is a hidden verb for "decide".
6. Split any sentence over 25 words, and turn any run of three or more items into a list.
7. Test it on one real reader. The digital.gov guide recommends paraphrase testing: ask someone to read it and tell you in their own words what it says. Plan to test at least twice.

Plain language mistakes that survive a checklist

Plain language works best on one page

The design half of plain language is about the page, not the words. The digital.gov guide asks for "key information at the top", clear headings, lists for scanning and tables for complex relationships. A one-page summary forces all four: there is no room for a buried point.

Edit this template

A sample patient handout: "Get up at the same time every day, weekends too" sits at the top as the one thing to remember, then short numbered steps, dos and don'ts and when to call.

Make a plain-language One-Pager

Open the free Notice of Privacy Practices summary template or the patient education sheet template, replace the sample with your own text, and run the 15-minute check above before you print. Have a long document to boil down? Paste it into the free AI One-Pager generator, then read the result against the 14 checks yourself.