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150-526: Most literacy and communications scholars agree that plain language means: Plain language focuses on ways of writing a text so that it is clear, concise, pertinent, efficient, and flows well for the reader. The Center for Plain Language states that: "[a] document, web site or other information is in plain language if the target audience can read it, understand what they read, and confidently act on it". Writing in plain language does not mean oversimplifying

300-471: A tyrant , which allowed the Caesarians to have lawful support and kept Caesar's reforms and policies intact. In April 43 BC, "diehard republicans" may have revived the ancient position of princeps senatus (leader of the senate) for Cicero. This position had been very prestigious until the constitutional reforms of Sulla in 82–80 BC, which removed most of its importance. On the other side, Antony

450-462: A Parthian invasion, causing unrest in Syria and Cilicia. Cicero restored calm by his mild system of government. He discovered that a great amount of public property had been embezzled by corrupt previous governors and members of their staff, and did his utmost to restore it. Thus he greatly improved the condition of the cities. He retained the civil rights of, and exempted from penalties, the men who gave

600-522: A Roman citizen without a trial. Cicero, having executed members of the Catiline conspiracy four years previously without formal trial, was clearly the intended target. Furthermore, many believed that Clodius acted in concert with the triumvirate who feared that Cicero would seek to abolish many of Caesar's accomplishments while consul the year before. Cicero argued that the senatus consultum ultimum indemnified him from punishment, and he attempted to gain

750-493: A Working Group within Technical Committee ISO/TC 37 to develop plain language standards and guidelines. Their work began officially towards the end of 2019. It has published standard ISO 24495-1 in 2023. Literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy

900-527: A civil right", as the motto for the US-based Center for Plain Language declares, many practitioners agree that using plain language is part of ethical action, such as being responsive, respectful, honest, truthful and fair. On the other hand, plain language can also be used for unethical ends, such as to obscure or withhold truths. Willerton proposes the BUROC framework for identifying situations requiring

1050-462: A cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. The famous family names of Fabius , Lentulus , and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils, and peas, respectively. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this deprecatory name when he entered politics, but refused, saying that he would make Cicero more glorious than Scaurus ("Swollen-ankled") and Catulus ("Puppy"). At

1200-628: A comprehensive account of Greek philosophy for a Roman audience, including creating a philosophical vocabulary in Latin. In 87 BC, Philo of Larissa , the head of the Platonic Academy that had been founded by Plato in Athens about 300 years earlier, arrived in Rome. Cicero, "inspired by an extraordinary zeal for philosophy", sat enthusiastically at his feet and absorbed Carneades ' Academic Skeptic philosophy. According to Plutarch, Cicero

1350-675: A comprehensive table of contents. Organize the text logically: the most important information should be mentioned first, in the text as a whole and in every individual paragraph . Headings help the reader skim the text more rapidly to find what they're looking for. Sentences should be kept short, and only include necessary information. A long, verbose sentence tends to present too much information at once, and blurs its main point. The text should be direct and concise, and have an easy flow to it. The chosen vocabulary must remain simple and familiar. Everyday language should be favoured against acronyms, jargon and legal language. Plain language favours

1500-688: A conspiracy led by Lucius Sergius Catilina to overthrow the Roman Republic with the help of foreign armed forces. Cicero procured a senatus consultum ultimum (a recommendation from the senate attempting to legitimise the use of force) and drove Catiline from the city with four vehement speeches (the Catilinarian orations ), which remain outstanding examples of his rhetorical style. The Orations listed Catiline and his followers' debaucheries, and denounced Catiline's senatorial sympathizers as roguish and dissolute debtors clinging to Catiline as

1650-469: A consul in 30 BC, avenged his father's death, to a certain extent, when he announced to the Senate Mark Antony's naval defeat at Actium in 31 BC by Octavian. Octavian is reported to have praised Cicero as a patriot and a scholar of meaning in later times, within the circle of his family. However, it was Octavian's acquiescence that had allowed Cicero to be killed, as Cicero was condemned by

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1800-607: A cowed Cicero concentrated on his literary works. It is uncertain whether he was directly involved in politics for the following few years. His legal work largely consisted of defending allies of the ruling triumvirs and his own personal friends and allies; he defended his former pupil Marcus Caelius Rufus against a charge of murder in 56. Under the influence of the triumvirs, he had also defended his former enemies Publius Vatinius (in August 54 BCE), Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (between July and September) and Gnaeus Plancius (with

1950-544: A final and desperate hope. Cicero demanded that Catiline and his followers leave the city. At the conclusion of Cicero's first speech (which was made in the Temple of Jupiter Stator ), Catiline hurriedly left the Senate. In his following speeches, Cicero did not directly address Catiline. He delivered the second and third orations before the people, and the last one again before the Senate. By these speeches, Cicero wanted to prepare

2100-415: A large amount of Latin philosophical vocabulary via lexical innovation (e.g. neologisms such as evidentia , generator , humanitas , infinitio , qualitas , quantitas ), almost 150 of which were the result of translating Greek philosophical terms . Though he was an accomplished orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. It

2250-651: A larger audience, as plain language adoption often involves rewriting very technical and field-specific documents, like legal and medical documents. Some scholars promote plain language use as a means of making documents accessible, especially for disabled readers or those who lack the expertise and education to understand overly technical documents. Simpler language can decrease a reader's cognitive load, and improve information retention in readers who normally struggle to read complex documents. Changes in font, text size, and colour can make texts more readable for individuals with impaired vision. Some scholars view plain language from

2400-569: A legislative requirement enacted by Pompey in 52 BC specifying an interval of five years between a consulship or praetorship and a provincial command . He served as proconsul of Cilicia from May 51 BC, arriving in the provinces three months later around August. In 53 BC Marcus Licinius Crassus had been defeated by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae . This opened the Roman East for

2550-451: A long trip spanning most of 79 through 77 BC. Returning to Rome in 77 BC, Cicero again busied himself with legal defence. In 76 BC, at the quaestorian elections, Cicero was elected at the minimum age required – 30 years – in the first returns from the comitia tributa , to the post of quaestor . Ex officio, he also became a member of the Senate . In the quaestorian lot, he

2700-487: A pamphlet titled On Invention relating to rhetorical argumentation and studying philosophy with Greek academics who had fled the ongoing First Mithridatic War . During this period in Roman history, Greek language and cultural studies were highly valued by the elite classes. Cicero was therefore educated in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers , poets and historians ; as he obtained much of his understanding of

2850-465: A part of the property in order to extend his own house. After demolishing Cicero's house, Clodius had the land consecrated and symbolically erected a temple of Liberty ( aedes Libertatis ) on the vacant land. Cicero's exile caused him to fall into depression. He wrote to Atticus: "Your pleas have prevented me from committing suicide. But what is there to live for? Don't blame me for complaining. My afflictions surpass any you ever heard of earlier". After

3000-729: A particular social context (even if that context is "school"), and, after print acquisition, every instance of reading or writing will be for a specific purpose and occasion with particular readers and writers in mind. Reading and writing, therefore, are never separable from social and cultural elements. A corollary point made by David Barton and Rosalind Ivanić , among others, is that the cognitive and societal effects of acquiring literacy are not easily predictable, since, as Brian Street has argued, "the ways in which people address reading and writing are themselves rooted in conceptions of knowledge, identity, and being." Consequently, as Jack Goody has documented, historically, literacy has included

3150-407: A precursor to early cuneiform writing once people began recording information on clay tablets. Proto-Cuneiform texts exhibit not only numerical signs but also ideograms depicting objects being counted. Though the traditional view had been that cuneiform literacy was restricted to a class of scribes, assyriologists including Claus Wilcke and Dominique Charpin have argued that functional literacy

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3300-632: A resurgence as a result, and by the 15th century, paper was widespread. The Reformation stressed the importance of literacy and being able to read the Bible. The Protestant countries were the first to attain full literacy. In a more secular context, inspired by the Enlightenment , Sweden implemented programs in 1723 aimed at making the population fully literate. Other countries implemented similar measures at this time. These included Denmark in 1739, Poland in 1783, and France in 1794/5. Literacy

3450-472: A score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can read the document. Others who later led plain language and readability research include educator Edgar Dale of Ohio State, Jeanne S. Chall of the Reading Laboratory of Harvard, and George R. Klare of Ohio University. Their efforts spurred the publication of over 200 readability formulas and 1,000 published studies on readability. Beginning in 1935,

3600-402: A semi-invalid, he could not enter public life and studied extensively to compensate. Little is known about Cicero's mother Helvia, but Cicero's brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife. Cicero's cognomen , a hereditary nickname, comes from the Latin for chickpea , cicer . Plutarch explains that the name was originally given to one of Cicero's ancestors who had

3750-552: A senior senator, courted Cicero's favor, but even so Cicero slipped out of Italy and traveled to Dyrrhachium where Pompey's staff was situated. Cicero traveled with the Pompeian forces to Pharsalus in Macedonia in 48 BC, though he was quickly losing faith in the competence and righteousness of the Pompeian side. Eventually, he provoked the hostility of his fellow senator Cato, who told him that he would have been of more use to

3900-573: A series of literacy surveys showed that the average reader in the U.S. was an adult of limited reading ability. Today, the average adult in the U.S. reads at the 9th-grade level. Access to health information, educational and economic development opportunities, and government programs is often referred to in a social justice context. To ensure more community members can access this information, many adult educators, legal writers, and social program developers use plain language principles when they develop public documents. The goal of plain language translation

4050-400: A social justice perspective as a means of increasing equal access to information, especially for marginalized populations that might have decreased access to education. While plain language has positive practical outcomes across many situations, it can also be understood within the framework of ethical action. While not all plain language practitioners and scholars agree that "Plain language is

4200-497: A time of civil unrest and war. Sulla's victory in the first of a series of civil wars led to a new constitutional framework that undermined libertas (liberty), the fundamental value of the Roman Republic. Nonetheless, Sulla's reforms strengthened the position of the equestrian class, contributing to that class's growing political power. Cicero was both an Italian eques and a novus homo , but more importantly he

4350-625: Is "written in plain English and understandable to those who must comply with it". President Ronald Reagan rescinded these orders in 1981, but many political agencies continued to follow them. By 1991, eight states had also passed legislation related to plain language. Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) was formed in 1993 as the Plain Language Network. Its membership is international; it

4500-453: Is also gaining momentum. The traditional concept of literacy widened as a consensus emerged among researchers in composition studies , education research , and anthropological linguistics that it makes little sense to speak of reading or writing outside of a specific context, with linguist James Paul Gee describing it as "simply incoherent." For example, even the extremely early stages of acquiring mastery over symbol shapes take place in

4650-517: Is also gaining traction in U.S. courts and legal aid agencies. California was the first state to adopt plain language court forms and instructions, for which it received the 2003 Burton Award for Outstanding Reform. A 2006 comparative study of plain language court forms concluded that "plain language court forms and instructions are better understood, easier to use, and more economical". The European Union provides standards for making information easy to read and understand. The rules are comparable to

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4800-484: Is both ongoing and uneven. Some definitions remain fairly closely aligned with the traditional "ability to read and write" connotation, whereas others take a broader view: The concept of multiliteracies has gained currency, particularly in English Language Arts curricula, on the grounds that reading "is interactive and informative, and occurs in ever-increasingly technological settings where information

4950-544: Is commonly assumed that children and adults prefer trashy stories in large measure because they are more exciting and more stimulating in respect to sex. There is, however, reason to believe that greater ease of reading in respect to vocabulary, construction, and facts, is a very important cause of preference. A count of the vocabulary of "best sellers" and a summary of it in terms of our list would thus be very instructive. The 1930s saw many studies on how to make texts more readable. In 1931, Douglas Tyler and Ralph Waples published

5100-489: Is concentrated among younger people," along with increased rates among rural populations and women. This evidence indicates that illiteracy is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors impacting rates of illiteracy and the type of illiteracy one may experience. Literacy has rapidly spread in several regions in the last twenty-five years, and the United Nations's global initiative with Sustainable Development Goal 4

5250-597: Is more consistent with an early form of Canaanite that was used c.  1100 BCE . While the earliest Greek inscriptions are dated circa 8th century BCE, epigraphical comparisons to Proto-Canaanite suggest that the Greeks may have adopted the consonantal alphabet as early as 1100 BCE and later "added in five characters to represent vowels". Phoenician, which is considered to contain the first linear alphabet, rapidly spread to Mediterranean port cities in northern Canaan. Some archeologists believe that Phoenician influenced

5400-435: Is part of spatial, audio, and visual patterns (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009)". Objections have been raised that this concept downplays the importance of reading instruction that focuses on "alphabetic representations". However, these are not mutually exclusive , as children can become proficient in word-reading while engaging with multiliteracies. Word reading is fundamental for multiple forms of communication. Beginning in

5550-527: Is to increase accessibility for those with lower literacy levels. In the United States, the movement towards plain language legal writing began with the 1963 book Language of the Law , by David Mellinkoff. However, the movement was popularized by Richard Wydick's 1979 book Plain English for Lawyers. This was followed by famous plain language promissory notes by Nationwide Mutual Insurance and Citibank in

5700-572: The Pro Plancio ) in September, which weakened his prestige and sparked attacks on his integrity: Luca Grillo has suggested these cases as the source of the poet Catullus 's double-edged comment that Cicero was "the best defender of anybody". In 51 BC he reluctantly accepted a promagistracy (as proconsul) in Cilicia for the year; there were few other former consuls eligible as a result of

5850-402: The lex Titia , passed on 27 November 43 BC, which gave each triumvir a consular imperium for five years. The Triumvirate immediately began a proscription of their enemies, modeled after that of Sulla in 82 BC. Cicero and all of his contacts and supporters were numbered among the enemies of the state, even though Octavian argued for two days against Cicero being added to the list. Cicero

6000-549: The College of Pontiffs to rule that the consecration of his land was invalid, thereby allowing him to regain his property and rebuild his house on the Palatine. Cicero tried to re-enter politics as an independent operator, but his attempts to attack portions of Caesar's legislation were unsuccessful and encouraged Caesar to re-solidify his political alliance with Pompey and Crassus. The conference at Luca in 56 BC left

6150-522: The Harappa culture. Existing evidence suggests that most early acts of literacy were, in some areas (such as Egypt), closely tied to power and chiefly used for management practices, and probably less than 1% of the population was literate, as it was confined to a very small group. Scholarship by others, such as Dominique Charpin and a project from the European Union , however, suggest that this

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6300-582: The Plain Writing Act of 2010 , which required federal executive agencies to put all new and revised covered documents into plain language. The Act's sponsor, U.S. Representative Bruce Braley , noted upon its passage that "The writing of documents in the standard vernacular English language will bolster and increase the accountability of government within America and will continue to more effectively save time and money in this country." Plain language

6450-441: The ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of northern Canaan invented the consonantal alphabet as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this theory's development is credited to English archeologist Flinders Petrie , who, in 1905, came across a series of Canaanite inscriptions in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem . Ten years later, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner reasoned that these letters contain an alphabet as well as references to

6600-462: The pomerium , to retain his promagisterial powers: either in expectation of a triumph or to retain his independent command authority in the coming civil war. The struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar grew more intense in 50 BC. Cicero favored Pompey, seeing him as a defender of the senate and Republican tradition, but at that time avoided openly alienating Caesar. When Caesar invaded Italy in 49 BC, Cicero fled Rome. Caesar, seeking an endorsement by

6750-438: The senatus consultum ultimum gave some legitimacy to the use of force against the conspirators, Cicero also argued that Catiline's conspiracy, by virtue of its treason, made the conspirators enemies of the state and forfeited the protections intrinsically possessed by Roman citizens. The consuls moved decisively. Antonius Hybrida was dispatched to defeat Catiline in battle that year, preventing Crassus or Pompey from exploiting

6900-408: The 'Old Academic' and initiator of Middle Platonism . In Asia Minor, he met the leading orators of the region and continued to study with them. Cicero then journeyed to Rhodes to meet his former teacher, Apollonius Molon, who had taught him in Rome. Molon helped Cicero hone the excesses in his style, as well as train his body and lungs for the demands of public speaking. Charting a middle path between

7050-460: The 1940s, the term literacy has often been used to mean having knowledge or skill in a particular field, such as: Functional illiteracy relates to adults and has been defined in different ways: Functional illiteracy is distinguished from primary illiteracy (i.e., the inability to read and write a short, simple statement concerning one's own everyday life) and learning difficulties (e.g., dyslexia ). These categories have been contested—as has

7200-559: The 1970s. Concerned about the large number of suits against its customers to collect bad debts, the bank voluntarily made the decision to implement plain language policies in 1973. That same decade, the consumer-rights movement won legislation that required plain language in contracts, insurance policies, and government regulations. American law schools began requiring students to take legal writing classes that encouraged them to use plain English as much as possible and to avoid legal jargon, except when absolutely necessary. Public outrage with

7350-578: The 4th and 5th centuries, the Church made efforts to ensure a better clergy, especially the bishops, who were expected to have a classical education—the hallmark of a socially acceptable person in higher society. Even after the remnants of the Western Roman Empire fell in the 470s, literacy continued to be a distinguishing mark of the elite, as communication skills were still important in political and church life (bishops were largely drawn from

7500-468: The Apostles' epistles or some other part of Scripture. And if he is illiterate he shall go at the first, third and sixth hours to someone who can teach and has been appointed for him. He shall stand before him and learn very studiously and with all gratitude. The fundamentals of a syllable, the verbs and nouns shall all be written for him and even if he does not want to he shall be compelled to read. During

7650-513: The Buyer", and Edward L. Thorndike 's "The Teacher's Word Book" picked up where Sherman left off. Kitson's work was the first to apply empirical psychology to advertising. He advised the use of short words and sentences. Thorndike's work contained the frequency ratings of 10,000 words. He recommended using the ratings in his book to grade books not only for students in schools but also for average readers and adults learning English. Thorndike wrote: It

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7800-467: The Canaanite goddess Asherah . In 1948, William F. Albright deciphered the text using new evidence, including a series of inscriptions from Ugarit . Discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist Claude F. A. Schaeffer , some of these inscriptions were mythological texts (written in an early Canaanite dialect) that consisted of a 30-letter cuneiform consonantal alphabet. Another significant discovery

7950-557: The English Renaissance, from John Skelton through Ben Jonson and include such poets as Barnabe Googe , George Gascoigne , Walter Raleigh , and perhaps the later work of Fulke Greville . In addition to its purely linguistic plainness, the Plain Style employed an emphatic, pre-Petrarchan prosody (each syllable either clearly stressed or clearly unstressed). By the end of the 19th century, scholars began to study

8100-480: The Gauls, was able to seize letters that incriminated the five conspirators and forced them to confess in front of the Senate . The senate then deliberated upon the conspirators' punishment. As it was the dominant advisory body to the various legislative assemblies rather than a judicial body, there were limits to its power; however, martial law was in effect, and it was feared that simple house arrest or exile –

8250-604: The Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, as these languages evolved during the same time period, share similar features, and are commonly categorized into the same language group. When the Israelites migrated to Canaan between 1200 and 1000 BCE, they adopted a variation of the Canaanite alphabet. Baruch ben Neriah , Jeremiah's scribe, used this alphabet to create the later scripts of the Old Testament . The early Hebrew alphabet

8400-640: The Italian peninsula. His severed hands and head (taken by order of Antony and displayed representing the repercussions of his anti-Antonian actions as a writer and as an orator, respectively) were then displayed on the Rostra . Petrarch 's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs , humanism , and classical Roman culture. According to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński , "the Renaissance

8550-763: The Kingdom of Nabataea, then to the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, eventually making its way to Africa; and east, where it later influenced the development of the Brahmi script in India. Over the next few centuries, Imperial Aramaic script in Persia evolved into Pahlavi , "as well as for a range of alphabets used by early Turkish and Mongol tribes in Siberia , Mongolia and Turkestan ". During this period, literacy spread among

8700-731: The Late Bronze Age , successor alphabets appeared throughout the Mediterranean region and were used in Phoenician , Hebrew , and Aramaic . According to Goody, these cuneiform scripts may have influenced the development of the Greek alphabet several centuries later. Historically, the Greeks contended that their writing system was modeled after the Phoenicians. However, many Semitic scholars now believe that Ancient Greek

8850-732: The Pacific , as well as Latin America and the Caribbean , have adult literacy rates over 90%. In other regions, illiteracy persists at higher rates; as of 2013, the adult literacy rate in South Asia and North Africa was 67.55% and 59.76% in Sub-Saharan Africa . In much of the world, high youth literacy rates suggest that illiteracy will become less common as more educated younger generations replace less educated older ones. However, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where

9000-498: The Senate for the worst possible case; he also delivered more evidence, against Catiline. Catiline fled and left behind his followers to start the revolution from within while he himself assaulted the city with an army of "moral and financial bankrupts, or of honest fanatics and adventurers". It is alleged that Catiline had attempted to involve the Allobroges , a tribe of Transalpine Gaul , in their plot, but Cicero, working with

9150-468: The actions and judgments of government officials. Indus script is largely pictorial and has not yet been deciphered; as such, it is unknown whether it includes abstract signs. It is thought that they wrote from right to left and that the script is logographic . Because it has not been deciphered, linguists disagree on whether it is a complete and independent writing system; however, it is generally thought to be an independent writing system that emerged in

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9300-497: The adoption of patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher into a plebeian family and had him elected as one of the ten tribunes of the plebs for 58 BC. Clodius used the triumvirate's backing to push through legislation that benefited them. He introduced several laws (the leges Clodiae ) that made him popular with the people, strengthening his power base, then he turned on Cicero. Clodius passed a law which made it illegal to offer "fire and water" (i.e. shelter or food) to anyone who executed

9450-612: The age of 15, in 90 BC, Cicero started serving under Pompey Strabo and later Sulla in the Social war between Rome and its Italian allies. When in Rome during the turbulent plebeian tribunate of Publius Sulpicius Rufus in 88 BC which saw a short bout of fighting between the Sulpicius and Sulla, who had been elected consul for that year, Cicero found himself greatly impressed by Sulpicius' oratory even if he disagreed with his politics. He continued his studies at Rome, writing

9600-506: The age of 36, Cicero launched his first high-profile prosecution against Verres, an emblem of the corrupt Sullan supporters who had risen in the chaos of the civil war. The prosecution of Gaius Verres was a great forensic success for Cicero. While Verres hired the prominent lawyer, Quintus Hortensius , after a lengthy period in Sicily collecting testimonials and evidence and persuading witnesses to come forward, Cicero returned to Rome and won

9750-429: The ancient Sumerians invented writing . During this era, literacy was "a largely functional matter, propelled by the need to manage the new quantities of information and the new type of governance created by trade and large scale production". Early writing systems first emerged as a recording system in which people used tokens with impressed markings to manage trade and agricultural production. The token system served as

9900-506: The area, and local potentates. Adeptly balancing those responsibilities, he won their gratitude. He was also appreciated by local Syracusans for the rediscovery of the lost tomb of Archimedes , which he personally financed. Promising to lend the Sicilians his oratorical voice, he was called on a few years after his quaestorship to prosecute the Roman province's governor Gaius Verres , for abuse of power and corruption. In 70 BC, at

10050-648: The benefits of literacy, some recent literature in economics, starting with the work of Kaushik Basu and James Foster, distinguishes between a "proximate illiterate" and an "isolated illiterate". A "proximate illiterate" lives in a household with literate members, while an "isolated illiterate" lives in a household where everyone is illiterate. Isolated illiteracy is more common among older populations in wealthier nations, where people are less likely to live in multigenerational households with potentially literate relatives. A 2018/2019 UNESCO report noted that "conversely, in low and lower middle income countries, isolated illiteracy

10200-508: The book and the register" and that "no one, either free or slave, could afford to be illiterate". Similarly, Dupont points out, "The written word was all around them, in both public and private life: laws, calendars, regulations at shrines, and funeral epitaphs were engraved in stone or bronze. The Republic amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life." The imperial civilian administration produced masses of documentation used in judicial, fiscal, and administrative matters, as did

10350-400: The case in a series of dramatic court battles. His unique style of oratory set him apart from the flamboyant Hortensius. On the conclusion of this case, Cicero came to be considered the greatest orator in Rome. The view that Cicero may have taken the case for reasons of his own is viable. Hortensius was, at this point, known as the best lawyer in Rome; to beat him would guarantee much success and

10500-536: The cause of the optimates if he had stayed in Rome. After Caesar's victory at the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August, Cicero refused to take command of the Pompeian forces and continue the war. He returned to Rome, still as a promagistrate with his lictors , in 47 BC, and dismissed them upon his crossing the pomerium and renouncing his command. In a letter to Varro on c.  20 April 46 BC , Cicero outlined his strategy under Caesar's dictatorship. Cicero, however,

10650-717: The common people, both in town and country, are equally intense in their admiration. Frequently, have we seen the butcher-boy, with his tray on his shoulder, reading with the greatest avidity the last "Pickwick"; the footman (whose fopperies are so inimitably laid bare), the maidservant, the chimney sweep, all classes, in fact, read "Boz". From the mid-19th century onward, the Second Industrial Revolution saw technological improvements in paper production. The new distribution networks, enabled by improved roads and rail, resulted in an increased capacity to supply printed material. Social and educational changes increased

10800-474: The competing Attic and Asiatic styles , Cicero would ultimately become considered second only to Demosthenes among history's orators. While Cicero had feared that the law courts would be closed forever, they were reopened in the aftermath of Sulla's civil war and the purging of Sulla's political opponents in the proscriptions . Many of the orators whom Cicero had admired in his youth were now dead from age or political violence. His first major appearance in

10950-466: The competition of the world. In the late 19th century, gas and electric lighting were becoming more common in private homes, replacing candlelight and oil lamps, enabling reading after dark and increasing the appeal of literacy. Data published by UNESCO shows that the worldwide literacy rate among adults has increased, on average, by 5 percentage points every decade since 1950, from 55.7% in 1950 to 86.2% in 2015. Due to rapid population growth , while

11100-565: The concept of "illiteracy" itself—for being predicated on narrow assumptions, primarily derived from school-based contexts, about what counts as reading and writing (e.g., comprehending and following instructions). Script is thought to have developed independently at least five times in human history: in Mesopotamia , Egypt , the Indus civilization , lowland Mesoamerica , and China . Between 3500 BCE and 3000 BCE, in southern Mesopotamia,

11250-442: The concepts, but presenting the information in a way that makes it easier to understand and use by a wider audience. Texts written in plain language are still formal, but are easier to read and inspire confidence for the reader. Using plain language in communications ultimately improves efficiency, because there is less ambiguity for the readers, and less time is taken for clarifications and explanations. Clear communication improves

11400-472: The conspirators, began, "How I could wish that you had invited me to that most glorious banquet on the Ides of March!" Cicero became a popular leader during the period of instability following the assassination. He had no respect for Mark Antony, who was scheming to take revenge upon Caesar's murderers. In exchange for amnesty for the assassins, he arranged for the Senate to agree not to declare Caesar to have been

11550-444: The countryside again. Cassius and his legions followed them, harrying them wherever they went, eventually ambushing and defeating them near Antigonea. Another large troop of Parthian horsemen was defeated by Cicero's cavalry who happened to run into them while scouting ahead of the main army. Cicero next defeated some robbers who were based on Mount Amanus and was hailed as imperator by his troops. Afterwards he led his army against

11700-411: The courts was in 81 BC at the age of 26 when he delivered Pro Quinctio , a speech defending certain commercial transactions which Cicero had recorded and disseminated. His more famous speech defending Sextus Roscius of Ameria – Pro Roscio Amerino – on charges of parricide in 80 BC was his first appearance in criminal court. In this high-profile case, Cicero accused a freedman of

11850-569: The death penalty. Cicero had the conspirators taken to the Tullianum , the notorious Roman prison, where they were strangled. Cicero himself accompanied the former consul Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura , one of the conspirators, to the Tullianum. Cicero received the honorific " pater patriae " for his efforts to suppress the conspiracy, but lived thereafter in fear of trial or exile for having put Roman citizens to death without trial. While

12000-532: The demand for reading matter, as rising literacy rates, particularly among the middle and working classes, created a new mass market for printed material. Wider schooling helped increase literacy rates, which in turn helped lower the cost of publication. Unskilled labor forces were common in Western Europe, and, as British industry improved, more engineers and skilled workers who could handle technical instructions and complex situations were needed. Literacy

12150-840: The dictator Sulla, Chrysogonus , of fabricating Roscius' father's proscription to obtain Roscius' family's property. Successful in his defence, Cicero tactfully avoided incriminating Sulla of any wrongdoing and developed a positive oratorical reputation for himself. While Plutarch claims that Cicero left Rome shortly thereafter out of fear of Sulla's response, according to Kathryn Tempest, "most scholars now dismiss this suggestion" because Cicero left Rome after Sulla resigned his dictatorship. Cicero, for his part, later claimed that he left Rome, headed for Asia, to develop his physique and develop his oratory. After marrying his wife, Terentia , in 80 BC, he eventually left for Asia Minor with his brother Quintus , his friend Titus Atticus , and others on

12300-557: The dictatorship of Julius Caesar , Cicero was a supporter of the Optimates faction. Following Caesar's death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches . He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and consequently executed by soldiers operating on their behalf in 43 BC, having been intercepted during an attempted flight from

12450-639: The elite. These oracle-bone inscriptions were the early ancestors of modern Chinese script and contained logosyllabic script and numerals. By the time of the consolidation of the Chinese Empire during the Qin and Han dynasties ( c.  200 BCE ), written documents were central to the formation and policing of a hierarchical bureaucratic governance structure reinforced through law. Within this legal order, written records kept track of and controlled citizen movements, created records of misdeeds, and documented

12600-575: The ethical action of plain language: bureaucratic, unfamiliar, rights-oriented, critical. Cicero argued, "When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind." Shakespeare parodied the pretentious style, as in the speeches of Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing . The plain, or native style, was, in fact, an entire literary tradition during

12750-543: The features of plain language. A. L. Sherman, a professor of English literature at the University of Nebraska, wrote Analytics of Literature: A Manual for the Objective Study of English Prose and Poetry in 1893. In this work, Sherman showed that the typical English sentence has shortened over time and that spoken English is a pattern for written English. Sherman wrote: Literary English, in short, will follow

12900-467: The first alphabetic system ( c.  750 BCE ) that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Goody contests: The importance of Greek culture of the subsequent history of Western Europe has led to an over-emphasis, by classicists and others, on the addition of specific vowel signs to the set of consonantal ones that had been developed earlier in Western Asia. Many scholars argue that

13050-416: The forms of the standard spoken English from which it comes. No man should talk worse than he writes, no man writes better than he should talk.... The oral sentence is clearest because it is the product of millions of daily efforts to be clear and strong. It represents the work of the race for thousands of years in perfecting an effective instrument of communication. Two 1921 works, Harry Kitson's "The Mind of

13200-619: The independent Cilician mountain tribes, besieging their fortress of Pindenissum . It took him 47 days to reduce the place, which fell in December. On 30 July 50 BC Cicero left the province to his brother Quintus , who had accompanied him on his governorship as his legate . On his way back to Rome he stopped in Rhodes and then went to Athens, where he caught up with his old friend Titus Pomponius Atticus and met men of great learning. Cicero arrived in Rome on 4 January 49 BC. He stayed outside

13350-459: The intervention of recently elected tribune Titus Annius Milo , acting on the behalf of Pompey who wanted Cicero as a client , the Senate voted in favor of recalling Cicero from exile. Clodius cast the single vote against the decree. Cicero returned to Italy on 5 August 57 BC, landing at Brundisium . He was greeted by a cheering crowd, and, to his delight, his beloved daughter Tullia. In his Oratio De Domo Sua Ad Pontifices , Cicero convinced

13500-685: The king of the Parthians, had crossed the Euphrates , and was ravaging the Syrian countryside and had even besieged Cassius (the interim Roman commander in Syria) in Antioch . Cicero eventually marched with two understrength legions and a large contingent of auxiliary cavalry to Cassius's relief. Pacorus and his army had already given up on besieging Antioch and were heading south through Syria, ravaging

13650-506: The lack of a suitable writing medium, as when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the import of papyrus to Europe ceased. Since papyrus perishes easily and does not last well in the wetter European climate, parchment was used, which was expensive and accessible only by the church and the wealthy. Paper was introduced into Europe via Spain in the 11th century and spread north slowly over the next four centuries. Literacy saw

13800-429: The letters are less distinguishable from one another. Simple design elements like leaving white spaces, using bullets, and choosing contrasting colours encourages a user to read the text and increases readability. Proponents of plain language adoption argue that it improves reading comprehension and readability, and grants readers greater access to information. Simple language allows documents to be read and understood by

13950-533: The litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he would not resist. According to Plutarch, Herennius first slew him, then cut off his head. On Antony's instructions his hands, which had penned the Philippics against Antony, were cut off as well; these were nailed along with his head on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum according to

14100-420: The merchant classes, and 15-20% of the total population may have been literate. The Aramaic language declined with the spread of Islam , which was accompanied by the spread of Arabic . Until recently, it was thought that the majority of people were illiterate in the classical world, though recent work challenges this perception. Anthony DiRenzo asserts that Roman society was "a civilization based on

14250-485: The most important bodies of primary material for the writing and revision of Roman history , especially the last days of the Roman Republic . Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on 3 January 106 BC in Arpinum , a hill town 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Rome. He belonged to the tribus Cornelia. His father was a wealthy member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being

14400-498: The municipalities. The army kept extensive records relating to supply and duty rosters and submitted reports. Merchants, shippers, and landowners (and their personal staffs), especially of the larger enterprises, must have been literate. In the late fourth century, the Desert Father Pachomius would expect the literacy of a candidate for admission to his monasteries: They shall give him twenty Psalms or two of

14550-523: The nickname "Atticus", and whose sister married Cicero's brother) would become, in Cicero's own words, "as a second brother", with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. In 79 BC, Cicero left for Greece, Asia Minor and Rhodes . This was perhaps to avoid the potential wrath of Sulla , as Plutarch claims, though Cicero himself says it was to hone his skills and improve his physical fitness. In Athens he studied philosophy with Antiochus of Ascalon ,

14700-752: The percentage of adults who were illiterate decreased, the actual number of illiterate adults increased from 700 million in 1950 to 878 million in 1990, before starting to decrease and falling to 745 million by 2015. The number of illiterate adults remains higher than in 1950, "despite decades of universal education policies, literacy interventions and the spread of print material and information and communications technology (ICT)". Available global data indicates significant variations in literacy rates between world regions. North America, Europe, West Asia , and Central Asia have almost achieved full literacy for men and women aged 15 or older. Most countries in East Asia and

14850-490: The plain-language movement. In 1975, Flesch collaborated with J. Peter Kincaid to create the Flesch-Kincaid readability test , which uses an algorithm to produce grade level scores that predict the level of education required to read the selected text. The instrument looks at word length (number of letters) and sentence length (number of words) and produces a score that is tied to a U.S. grade school level. For example,

15000-452: The post-Sullan establishment, and the leaders of municipalities throughout post-Social War Italy. His co-consul for the year, Gaius Antonius Hybrida , played a minor role. He began his consular year by opposing a land bill proposed by a plebeian tribune which would have appointed commissioners with semi-permanent authority over land reform. Cicero was also active in the courts, defending Gaius Rabirius from accusations of participating in

15150-412: The prestige that Cicero needed to start his career. Cicero's oratorical ability is shown in his character assassination of Verres and various other techniques of persuasion used on the jury. One such example is found in the speech In Verrem , where he states "with you on this bench, gentlemen, with Marcus Acilius Glabrio as your president, I do not understand what Verres can hope to achieve". Oratory

15300-648: The pretentious diction, meaninglessness, vagueness, and worn-out idioms of political jargon. In 1979, the Plain English Campaign was founded in London to combat "gobbledegook, jargon and legalese". Lyman Bryson at Teachers College in Columbia University led efforts to supply average readers with more books of substance dealing with science and current events. Bryson's students include Irving Lorge and Rudolf Flesch , who became leaders in

15450-418: The proconsul's tent. Everyone seemed to have abandoned Cicero. After Clodius passed a law to deny to Cicero fire and water (i.e. shelter) within four hundred miles of Rome, Cicero went into exile. He arrived at Thessalonica , on 23 May 58 BC. In his absence, Clodius, who lived next door to Cicero on the Palatine, arranged for Cicero's house to be confiscated by the state, and was even able to purchase

15600-415: The property back. Besides this, he was extremely frugal in his outlays for staff and private expenses during his governorship, and this made him highly popular among the natives. Besides his activity in ameliorating the hard pecuniary situation of the province, Cicero was also creditably active in the military sphere. Early in his governorship he received information that prince Pacorus , son of Orodes II

15750-489: The republic would be restored along with him. Shortly after completing his consulship, in late 62 BC, Cicero arranged the purchase of a large townhouse on the Palatine Hill previously owned by Rome's richest citizen, Marcus Licinius Crassus. To finance the purchase, Cicero borrowed some two million sesterces from Publius Cornelius Sulla , whom he had previously defended from court. Cicero boasted his house

15900-478: The results of their two-year study, "What People Want to Read About". In 1934, Ralph Ojemann, Edgar Dale , and Ralph Waples published two studies on writing for adults with limited reading ability. In 1935, educational psychologist William S. Gray teamed up with Bernice Leary to publish their study, "What Makes a Book Readable". George Orwell 's 1946 essay " Politics and the English Language " decried

16050-698: The rules for plain language. Based in Germany there is a dictionary for plain language called Hurraki. In France , a 2002 decision by the Constitutional Council recognized a constitutional goal of ensuring the "clarity and intelligibility" of French law. In 2013 the Israeli Knesset passed service accessibility regulations which mandated the use of simple language and/or language simplification (Hebrew = פישוט לשוני), which were subsequently codified in 2015 for implementation. ISO has formed

16200-456: The same mistakes as his father. He attacked Antony in a series of speeches he called the Philippics , named after Demosthenes's denunciations of Philip II of Macedon . At the time, Cicero's popularity as a public figure was unrivalled. Cicero supported Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus as governor of Cisalpine Gaul ( Gallia Cisalpina ) and urged the Senate to name Antony an enemy of

16350-483: The senatorial class) in a new cultural synthesis that made "Christianity the Roman religion". However, these skills were less needed in the absence of a large imperial administrative apparatus whose middle and top echelons were dominated by the elite. Even so, in pre-modern times, it is unlikely that literacy was found in more than about 30–40% of the population. During the Dark Ages , the highest percentage of literacy

16500-765: The seventh century BCE. In the Near East , it was common to record events on clay using the cuneiform script; however, writing Aramaic on leather parchments became common during the Neo-Assyrian empire. With the rise of the Persians in the 5th century BCE, Achaemenid rulers adopted Aramaic as the "diplomatic language". Darius the Great standardized Aramaic, which became the Imperial Aramaic script. This Imperial Aramaic alphabet rapidly spread: west, to

16650-405: The situation for their own political aims. After the suppression of the conspiracy, Cicero was proud of his accomplishment. Some of his political enemies argued that though the act gained Cicero popularity, he exaggerated the extent of his success. He overestimated his popularity again several years later after being exiled from Italy and then allowed back from exile. At this time, he claimed that

16800-572: The skyrocketing number of unreadable government forms led to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980. In 1972, the Plain Language Movement received practical political application, when President Richard Nixon decreed that the "Federal Register be written in layman's terms". On March 23, 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12044, which said that federal officials must see that each regulation

16950-488: The standard options – would not remove the threat to the state. At first Decimus Junius Silanus spoke for the "extreme penalty"; but during the debate many were swayed by Julius Caesar, who decried the precedent it would set and argued in favor of life imprisonment in various Italian towns. Cato the Younger then rose in defense of the death penalty and the Senate finally agreed on the matter, and came down in support of

17100-546: The state. The speech of Lucius Piso , Caesar's father-in-law, delayed proceedings against Antony. Antony was later declared an enemy of the state when he refused to lift the siege of Mutina , which was in the hands of Decimus Brutus. Cicero's plan to drive out Antony failed. Antony and Octavian reconciled and allied with Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate after the successive battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina . The alliance came into official existence with

17250-446: The support of the senators and consuls, especially of Pompey. Cicero grew out his hair, dressed in mourning and toured the streets. Clodius' gangs dogged him, hurling abuse, stones and even excrement. Hortensius, trying to rally to his old rival's support, was almost lynched. The Senate and the consuls were cowed. Caesar, who was still encamped near Rome, was apologetic but said he could do nothing when Cicero brought himself to grovel in

17400-431: The target audience needs to accomplish, and what and how much information they need to complete it. The needs of the target audience will also affect the chosen vocabulary: writing for someone in the same field as the author is different from writing for someone whose native language is not English. Provide informative headings, topic sentences, and frequent summaries to help orient the reader. For complex documents, create

17550-427: The theory and practice of rhetoric from the Greek poet Archias . Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite. Cicero's interest in philosophy figured heavily in his later career and led to him providing

17700-594: The three-man alliance in domination of the republic's politics; this forced Cicero to recant and support the triumvirate out of fear from being entirely excluded from public life. After the conference, Cicero lavishly praised Caesar's achievements, got the Senate to vote a thanksgiving for Caesar's victories, and grant money to pay his troops. He also delivered a speech 'On the consular provinces' ( Latin : de provinciis consularibus ) which checked an attempt by Caesar's enemies to strip him of his provinces in Gaul. After this,

17850-543: The tradition of Marius and Sulla, both of whom had displayed the heads of their enemies in the Forum. Cicero was the only victim of the proscriptions who was displayed in that manner. According to Cassius Dio , in a story often mistakenly attributed to Plutarch, Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against Cicero's power of speech. Cicero's son, Marcus Tullius Cicero Minor, during his year as

18000-479: The transformation of social systems that rely on literacy and the changing uses of literacy within those evolving systems. According to 2015 data collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics , about two-thirds (63%) of the world's illiterate adults are women. This disparity was even starker in previous decades, and from 1970 to 2000, the global gender gap in literacy decreased significantly. Around

18150-541: The unlawful killing of plebeian tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus in 100 BC. The prosecution occurred before the comita centuriata and threatened to reopen conflict between the Marian and Sullan factions at Rome. Cicero defended the use of force as being authorised by a senatus consultum ultimum , which would prove similar to his own use of force under such conditions. Most famously – in part because of his own publicity  – he thwarted

18300-491: The use of the verb form of the word, instead of the noun form. To increase clarity, use the active voice, in which the subject does the action of the verb. Sentences written in plain language have a positive construction and address the reader directly. Writing in plain language also takes into account the presentation of the text. It is important to choose a font that is easy to read, and set it to an adequate size. Sentences written in capital letters are harder to read because

18450-401: The user's experience with the organization, ultimately creating trust in the company. Writers who wish to write in plain language must first and foremost consider their target audience. This should influence what information is included in the text and how it is written. Different audiences have different needs, and require different information. When writing, it is important to consider what

18600-477: The vast majority of the world's illiterate youth live, lower school enrollment implies that illiteracy will persist to a greater degree. According to 2013 data, the youth literacy rate (ages 15 to 24) is 84% in South Asia and North Africa and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the distinction between literacy and illiteracy is not clear-cut. Given that having a literate person in the household confers many of

18750-913: The year 2013, however, this progress stagnated, with the gender gap holding almost constant over the last two decades. In general, the gender gap in literacy was not as pronounced as the regional gap; that is, differences between countries were often larger than gender differences within countries. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest overall literacy rate and the widest gender gap: 52% of adult women and 68% of adult men are literate. A similar gender disparity exists in North Africa , where 70% of adult women are literate versus 86% of adult men. In South Asia, 58% of adult women and 77% of adult men are literate. Cicero People Events Places Marcus Tullius Cicero ( / ˈ s ɪ s ə r oʊ / SISS -ə-roh ; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs ˈtʊlli.ʊs ˈkɪkɛroː] ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC)

18900-428: The youngest possible age: quaestor in 75 BC (age 30), aedile in 69 BC (age 36), and praetor in 66 BC (age 39), when he served as president of the "Reclamation" (or extortion) Court. He was then elected consul at age 42. Cicero, seizing the opportunity offered by optimate fear of reform, was elected consul for the year 63 BC; he was elected with the support of every unit of the centuriate assembly , rival members of

19050-606: Was "in conspectu prope totius urbis" ("in sight of nearly the whole city"), only a short walk from the Roman Forum . In 60 BC, Julius Caesar invited Cicero to be the fourth member of his existing partnership with Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus, an assembly that would eventually be called the First Triumvirate . Cicero refused the invitation because he suspected it would undermine the Republic, and because he

19200-501: Was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic , who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire . His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric , philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero

19350-426: Was a Roman constitutionalist . His social class and loyalty to the Republic ensured that he would "command the support and confidence of the people as well as the Italian middle classes". The optimates faction never truly accepted Cicero, and this undermined his efforts to reform the Republic while preserving the constitution. Nevertheless, he successfully ascended the cursus honorum, holding each magistracy at or near

19500-463: Was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity ." The peak of Cicero's authority and prestige came during the 18th-century Enlightenment , and his impact on leading Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists such as John Locke , David Hume , Montesquieu , and Edmund Burke was substantial. His works rank among the most influential in global culture, and today still constitute one of

19650-461: Was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola . Cicero's fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus (who became a famous lawyer, one of the few whom Cicero considered superior to himself in legal matters), and Titus Pomponius . The latter two became Cicero's friends for life, and Pomponius (who later received

19800-401: Was assigned to Sicily for 75 BC. The post, which was largely one related to financial administration in support of the state or provincial governors, proved for Cicero an important place where he could gain clients in the provinces. His time in Sicily saw him balance his duties – largely in terms of sending more grain back to Rome – with his support for the provincials, Roman businessmen in

19950-403: Was considered a great art in ancient Rome and an important tool for disseminating knowledge and promoting oneself in elections, in part because there were no regular newspapers or mass media. Cicero was neither a patrician nor a plebeian noble ; his rise to political office despite his relatively humble origins has traditionally been attributed to his brilliance as an orator. Cicero grew up in

20100-476: Was consul and leader of the Caesarian faction, and unofficial executor of Caesar's public will. Relations between the two were never friendly and worsened after Cicero claimed that Antony was taking liberties in interpreting Caesar's wishes and intentions. Octavian was Caesar's adopted son and heir. After he returned to Italy, Cicero began to play him against Antony. He praised Octavian, declaring he would not make

20250-457: Was during his consulship that the Catiline conspiracy attempted to overthrow the government through an attack on the city by outside forces, and Cicero (by his own account) suppressed the revolt by summarily and controversially executing five conspirators without trial, an act which would later lead to his exile. During the chaotic middle period of the first century BC, marked by civil wars and

20400-600: Was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order , and served as consul in 63 BC. He greatly influenced both ancient and modern reception of the Latin language. A substantial percentage of his work has survived, and he was admired by both ancient and modern authors alike. Cicero adapted the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy in Latin and created

20550-522: Was essential to be hired. A senior government official told Parliament in 1870: Upon the speedy provision of elementary education depends our industrial prosperity. It is of no use trying to give technical teaching to our citizens without elementary education; uneducated labourers—and many of our labourers are utterly uneducated—are, for the most part, unskilled labourers, and if we leave our work–folk any longer unskilled, notwithstanding their strong sinews and determined energy, they will become overmatched in

20700-604: Was first used by the Olmec and Zapotec civilizations in 900–400 BCE. These civilizations used glyphic writing and bar-and-dot numerical notation systems for purposes related to royal iconography and calendar systems. The earliest written notations in China date back to the Shang dynasty in 1200 BCE. These systematic notations, inscribed on bones, recorded sacrifices made, tributes received, and animals hunted, which were activities of

20850-471: Was found among the clergy and monks, as they made up much of the staff needed to administer the states of western Europe. An abundance of graffiti written in the Nabataean script dating back to the beginning of the first millennium CE has been taken to imply a relatively high degree of literacy among the general population in the ancient Arabic-speaking world. Post-Antiquity illiteracy was made worse by

21000-511: Was given away by Philologus, a freedman of his brother Quintus Cicero. As reported by Seneca the Elder , according to the historian Aufidius Bassus , Cicero's last words are said to have been: Ego vero consisto. Accede, veterane, et, si hoc saltim potes recte facere, incide cervicem. I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck. He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of

21150-656: Was incorporated as a non-profit organization in Canada in 2008. In June 1998, President Bill Clinton issued a memorandum that called for executive departments and agencies to use plain language in all government documents. Vice President Al Gore subsequently led a plain language initiative that formed a group called the Plain Language Action Network (PLAIN) to provide plain language training to government agencies. PLAIN provided guidance to federal executive agencies when President Barack Obama signed

21300-542: Was made in 1953 when three arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite inscriptions from 12th century BCE. According to Frank Moore Cross , these inscriptions consisted of alphabetic signs that originated during the transitional development from pictographic script to a linear alphabet. Moreover, he asserts, "These inscriptions also provided clues to extend the decipherment of earlier and later alphabetic texts". The Canaanite script's consonantal system inspired alphabetical developments in later systems. During

21450-588: Was not the case in all ancient societies: both Charpin and the EU's emerging scholarship suggest that writing and literacy were far more widespread in Mesopotamia than scholars previously thought. According to social anthropologist Jack Goody , there are two interpretations regarding the origin of the alphabet. Many classical scholars, such as historian Ignace Gelb , credit the Ancient Greeks for creating

21600-546: Was one of the most viciously and doggedly hunted among the proscribed. He was viewed with sympathy by a large segment of the public and many people refused to report that they had seen him. He was caught on 7 December 43 BC leaving his villa in Formiae in a litter heading to the seaside, where he hoped to embark on a ship destined for Macedonia. When his killers – Herennius (a Centurion) and Popilius (a Tribune) – arrived, Cicero's own slaves said they had not seen him, but he

21750-530: Was prominent in the Mediterranean region until Neo-Babylonian rulers exiled the Jews to Babylon in the 6th century BCE. It was then that the new script ( Square Hebrew ) emerged, and the older one rapidly died out. The Aramaic alphabet also emerged sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Although early examples are scarce, archeologists have uncovered a wide range of later Aramaic texts, written as early as

21900-581: Was somewhat widespread by the Old Babylonian period. Nonetheless, professional scribes became central to law, finances, accounting, government, administration, medicine, magic, divination, literature, and prayers. Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged between 3300 BCE and 3100 BCE; the iconography emphasized power among royals and other elites. The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was the first notation system to have phonetic values; these symbols are called phonograms . Writing in lowland Mesoamerica

22050-410: Was strongly opposed to anything unconstitutional that limited the powers of the consuls and replaced them with non-elected officials. During Caesar's consulship of 59 BC, the triumvirate had achieved many of their goals of land reform, publicani debt forgiveness, ratification of Pompeian conquests, etc. With Caesar leaving for his provinces, they wished to maintain their hold on politics. They engineered

22200-519: Was taken by surprise when the Liberatores assassinated Caesar on the ides of March , 44 BC. Cicero was not included in the conspiracy, even though the conspirators were sure of his sympathy. Marcus Junius Brutus called out Cicero's name, asking him to restore the republic when he lifted his bloodstained dagger after the assassination. A letter Cicero wrote in February 43 BC to Trebonius , one of

22350-468: Was understood solely as alphabetical literacy (word and letter recognition); and the period after 1950, when literacy slowly began to be considered as a wider concept and process, including the social and cultural aspects of reading and writing and functional literacy . The range of definitions of literacy used by NGOs , think tanks , and advocacy groups since the 1990s suggests that this shift in understanding from "discrete skill" to "social practice"

22500-676: Was well established in early 18th century England, when books geared towards children became far more common. Near the end of the century, as many as 50 were printed every year in major cities around England. In the 19th century, reading would become even more common in the United Kingdom. Public notes, broadsides, handbills, catchpennies and printed songs would have been usual street literature before newspapers became common. Other forms of popular reading material included advertising for events, theaters, and goods for sale. In his 1836/1837 Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens's said that: even

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