Avoid long, convoluted sentences.

Even if they are well written, they are hard for non-native English speakers to understand. Long sentences may also cause difficulty for localizers.

Use lists and tables instead of complicated sentence and paragraph structures.

Lists and tables can often simplify syntax and aid scanning.

Limit your use of sentence fragments.

Sentence fragments are often ambiguous and may cause difficulty for localizers.

Use language that is likely to be understood by English speakers worldwide.

Avoid idioms, regionalisms, colloquial expressions, and other culture-specific references. Although these forms add color and interest to writing for some users, they are almost always confusing for non-native English speakers, and they can be difficult or impossible to translate.

Use optional pronouns such as that and who.

Optional words often eliminate ambiguity by clarifying sentence structure.

Microsoft style

Inspect the database to ensure that all tables, data, and relationships were correctly migrated.

This tool simplifies the tasks that you have to perform.

Not Microsoft style

Inspect the database to ensure all tables, data, and relationships were correctly migrated.

This tool simplifies the tasks you have to perform.

Use optional articles such as the.

Articles help mark nouns in a sentence so that they cannot be confused for other parts of speech.

Include optional punctuation.

Optional punctuation, such as a comma after an introductory phrase and after the last item in a series, makes sentence structure explicit.

Avoid modifier stacks.

Long chains of modifying words, whether they are nouns or adjectives, increase the risk of ambiguity and are confusing even to native English speakers.

Let active voice and indicative mood predominate. Use imperative mood in procedures.

Use passive voice only in the following situations:

Keep adjectives and adverbs close to the words they modify, and do not place them too close to other words that they might modify instead.

Pay particular attention to the placement of only.