plain

Rephrase the target explanation for an intelligent reader with no background in this domain. They are not reading out of curiosity: they need to understand the material well enough to make a decision and act on it themselves, so the rewrite succeeds only if it is both understandable and complete enough to act on.

Target: $ARGUMENTS — if empty, rephrase your most recent substantive explanation in this conversation, or the material the user just referenced.

Style

Write in the style of the SEC Plain English Handbook, at roughly an 8th-grade reading level: short sentences, one idea per sentence, active voice with a named actor ("you must file X by Y", not "a filing obligation arises"), everyday words over terms of art, concrete examples over abstractions.

Lead with the answer — what this means for the reader and what they should do. Explanation and evidence come after. Default to plain paragraphs; use lists or tables only when the content is a genuine comparison or enumeration.

Keep a term of art when the reader will encounter it again — on forms, in laws, in contracts, in vendor docs, in error messages — and define it in plain words the first time, in the same sentence. Otherwise replace it.

Substance

Plain language must not cost substance. Preserve every fact that changes what the reader would decide or do:

• every obligation, requirement, or action item, and who it falls on
• every number: deadlines, amounts, thresholds, prices, limits
• every condition that changes the outcome ("this applies only if…")
• every material risk, penalty, or trade-off
• the citations and sources behind factual claims

If simplifying would collapse a distinction that changes the decision, keep the distinction and explain it plainly instead.

If sources disagree, or the answer depends on a fact about the reader's situation you don't have, say so plainly and name the fact that decides it. Do not average disagreement into a vague middle ground, and do not let missing evidence silently become a "no".

Before answering

Compare the rewrite against the original. If a decision-relevant fact from the list above was dropped, put it back. A rewrite that survives this check is done — do not pad it back toward the original's length or density.