Investigates the effectiveness of the prose communication in contemporary corporate annual reports. Indicates that a sample of 65 Canadian annual reports for 1984 were classified as "difficult" to "very difficult" and beyond the fluent comprehension ease of 92 percent of the adult population and 56 percent of the investor…

Surveys recent trends in the area of clear writing. Discusses the problem of incomprehensible language in functional writing (forms and documents). Considers solutions, particularly those developed by the Document Design Center. (PD)