In 1946 , writer George Orwell wrote an essay entitled , " Politics and the English Language " , where he criticized the dangers of " ugly and inaccurate " contemporary written English . The essay focuses particularly on politics where '' pacification '' can be used to mean " ... defenceless villages are bombarded from the air , the inhabitants driven out into the countryside , the cattle machine-gunned , the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets ... " . In 1948 , HM Treasury asked Sir Ernest Gowers to provide a guide to officials on avoiding pompous and over-elaborate writing . He wrote , " writing is an instrument for conveying ideas from one mind to another ; the writer 's job is to make his reader apprehend his meaning readily and precisely . " Gowers ' guide was published as a slim paperback '' Plain Words , a guide to the use of English '' in 1948 , followed by a sequel '' The ABC of Plain Words '' in 1951 , and a hardback book combining the best of both , '' The Complete Plain Words '' , in 1954 – which has never been out of print since . Gowers argued that legal English was a special case , saying that legal drafting : There is a trend toward plainer language in legal documents . Plain English Campaign has been campaigning since 1979 " against gobbledygook , jargon and misleading public information . " The campaign has helped many government departments and other official organisations with their documents , reports and publications . They believe that everyone should have access to clear and concise information . " The 1999 " Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts " regulations mandate " plain and intelligible " language . An inquiry into the 2005 London bombings recommended that emergency services should always use plain English . It found that verbosity can lead to misunderstandings that could cost lives
2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
Plain English