Globally Speaking

Here are three bits of practical advice about how to make your written English more accessible to readers around the world.

1. Minimize the total number of compound nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in your sentences.

Instead of:
     The Chairman and the Directors warmly and heartily welcome and invite you to our beautiful and charming city.

Try something closer to:
     The entire Board enthusiastically welcomes you to our beautiful city.

2. Express an action directly as a verb rather than indirectly as a gerund.

A convoluted use of a gerund:
     The courier was late in bringing the documents.

A simpler form, which is less likely to be misinterpreted:
     The courier brought the documents late.

3. Infinitives (for example, to eat) are less confusing than gerunds (such as for eating).

A potentially confusing use of gerunds that can cause translation errors:
     He likes exercising in many ways, from running to lifting weights.

The final preposition-gerund combination (to lifting) looks somewhat like an infinitive, but it isn't one. In addition, from running might be confused with running from.

One way to rewrite this sentence would be:
     He likes to run, to lift weights, and to exercise in many other ways.