Rude 15.4

In a manual for volunteers assisting probation officers:
The sentences in this piece are short and contain only one main idea. This makes the sentences easier to read; however, the advanced vocabulary in the paragraph hinders all the readability that the short sentences create. The information is basic and straightforward, and, aside from the vocabulary, would work well to give basic information to a volunteer. The audience will need to know what probation is and how it works quickly in order to understand what their jobs will entail so they can move onto specifics. The terse, simple prose works well in this situation as well.

In a law textbook:
Unless this is a basic law textbook (like an Intro to Law class textbook) this sentence would be too basic. The vocabulary would probably be more appropriate for this audience, but they would probably already have an understanding of probation and this passage could seem below them. However, the simple sentence constructions would work well in a textbook when the purpose of the prose is to inform because each sentence conveys one idea and the reader can easily follow the meanings and definitions of the words.