First, plain English drafters make their contracts more reader friendly by, for example, adopting an informal tone. Although the business world is more informal than it used to be (think business casual dress), it is hard to imagine a multimillion dollar contract between Apple and Intel in which Apple is referred to as we and Intel as you. But more important than tone is the approach to the contract’s substance. A plain English contract’s provisions are pared down to their bare essentials, while a business contract’s are hefty, retaining all provisions that might add value or protect against risk. Carl Felsenfeld, one of the first proponents of plain English, explained the difference between the two kinds of contracts as follows

首先，普通英语起草者通过采取非正式语调等方式，使合同更容易读者。尽管商业世界比过去更加非正式（想想商业休闲装），但很难想象苹果和英特尔之间签订了数百万美元的合同，苹果被称为我们和英特尔，称之为你。但更重要的是，对合同实质的处理方式比语气更重要。普通英语合同的条款被缩减为其基本条件，而商务合同则是庞大的，保留了可能增加价值或防范风险的所有条款。卡尔·费尔森菲尔德是最早的普通英语支持者之一，他解释了这两种合同的区别，如下所示