Paste a text that is hard going: a letter from a landlord or a council, a policy, a manual, a dense paragraph from a textbook. Say who needs to understand it, and name any terms that have to stay. Hemmingway rewrites it in plain English, with short sentences, everyday words and a clear "who does what".
It simplifies the wording and keeps the content. Every date, number, condition and warning should still be there, and nothing is added, advice included. A simplified version of someone else's text is still their work, so say where it came from if you reuse it.
What makes it work
- Say who the reader is. "A twelve-year-old", "someone still learning English" and "a customer who has never seen this form" each need a different level.
- Name the terms to keep. If the reader will meet "gas safety inspection" again on a form, the plain version should use it and explain it once.
- Look for the person. Hard texts hide who has to act: "access will be required". A plain version says "you must let them in".
- Check the small words. "May", "must", "unless" and "only if" carry the meaning. Make sure a "may" has not turned into a "will" on the way.
An example
Given the text "Tenants are advised that, pursuant to clause 8, access to the premises will be required for the purposes of the annual gas safety inspection, and failure to provide such access may result in the inspection being rescheduled at the tenant's expense", for a first-time tenant, keeping the term "gas safety inspection", a plain version along these lines is what to expect:
Once a year, someone needs to come into your home for a gas safety inspection, which is a check that the gas is safe. Clause 8 says you must let them in. If you do not, the inspection may have to be booked again, and you would pay for that.
It says the same three things: the visit, the duty, and the cost of refusing. The "may" is still a "may".
A plain version keeps everything, so it is often about as long as the original. If you want only the main points, use the AI summarizer. For one hard sentence, use the sentence rewriter.
Common questions
Is the text simplifier free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the plain version is written in the chat.
What is plain English?
Plain English is writing a reader understands the first time through. It uses short sentences, everyday words, active verbs and "you", and it explains any term it cannot avoid. It is not baby talk, and it leaves nothing out.
Can it simplify a legal or medical text?
It can make one easier to read, and that is all. A plain version can lose a condition or an exception, and Hemmingway can be wrong and still sound sure. Use it to understand the original, then ask a professional before you decide anything about your health, your rights or your money.
Will it sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. It still helps to read it aloud and change any word you would not use.
Is this the Hemingway Editor?
No. Hemingway Editor, with one m, is a different company's tool that highlights hard-to-read sentences in text you wrote. This one, from Hemmingway with two m's, rewrites the text for you. Which is which.