Date:    2/3/97 2:30 PM
     
     
I have read your plain English Handbook and want to congratulate you on a 
reference that should be extremely helpful to your staff.  It is not easy to 
make the changes you are recommending based on the Plain English philosophy, 
but your Handbook should make revising more possible.
     
I have only one suggestion.  Many grammar check software programs such as 
Grammatik could help your staff revise.  All of the evaluative comments they 
make are not good; some are even erroneous.  Nevertheless, these programs 
can be helpful.  They are particularly useful in identifying passive voice. 
Whereas humans have a hard time recognizing passive voice, computers never 
miss it.  So your best hope for having people recognize it and then revise 
to eliminate it would be to use a grammar checker.
     
Frederick K. Moss
Professor of English
The University of Wisconsin-Waukesha 
1500 University Dr.
Waukesha, WI 53188
e-mail: fmoss@uwc.edu
fax:    414-521-5491
phone:  414-521-5478