Easy read and plain language with ELLA

Easy read means information written so that more people can understand it. ELLA writes plain language: shorter sentences, everyday words and a clear order. It does not add pictures and does not promise to follow a published easy read standard, so if you need a certified Easy Read, ask a specialist to produce or approve it.

How to ask

Say it in your request. These work:

"Rewrite this in plain language."
"Make this easy read for adults with a learning disability."
"Make this letter simple. Keep the dates and amounts."

Tell ELLA who the reader is and what they must be able to do after reading. "A tenant who needs to reply by Friday" gives it more to go on than "simplify".

What ELLA does

ELLA writes the easy read version as short sentences, one to a line, in everyday words. A hard word is explained the first time it appears, and the most important information comes first. The result is a Word file and a PDF. Your original stays as it was.

ELLA also keeps the facts safe:

Every number, amount, date, time, phone number, web address and name in the original reaches the easy read version with the same value. A date can be reworded, for example "Tuesday 13 October 2026" for 13/10/2026.
Every sentence in the easy read version is tied back to the part of the original it comes from.
Anything left out is listed in the reply with the reason.
A fact check runs before delivery. If it fails, ELLA does not deliver the easy read version.

What to check

Plain language can still go wrong. Check:

that the actions the reader must take, with their dates and contacts, are all there;
legal, medical and financial wording. The terms of service say to take special care with these and to have a qualified person check them;
that the tone suits the reader.

Easy read should be checked by people with learning disabilities. ELLA cannot do that check, and its reply says it is still to be done. Please arrange it.

Pictures

The words are what ELLA works on. Pictures that support the text help many readers, but this page makes no promise about them. If you want pictures, ask in your request and look at what you get. The reply says what ELLA did.

Keep the original

The easy read version is an addition. Keep your original and give people both when they may need to show the original to someone else.

Easy read and published rule sets

Some organisations publish Easy Read documents that follow a set of rules. ELLA's reply does not claim that a result meets any such rule set. For a document that must follow one, ask the people who set the rules to approve it. See people with learning disabilities.

Save your preference

If you always want plain language for a kind of document, save a memory, for example "Use short sentences and common words."

Still stuck?

Browse the help centre, or contact support and say what you were trying to do.

Easy read and plain language