What does article five mean in plain English?

Answer 1

The Constitution of the United States may be altered legally in two ways:

First, by vote of two thirds of both houses of the Congress of the United States and then upon ratification (either by the state legislature or by a ratifying convention as required by state law) by three fourths of the state legislatures and/or ratifying conventions.

Second, by a Constitutional Convention called by the legislatures of two thirds of the states. Scholars disagree on how such a convention would be structured and if what it considers can be limited or expanded upon. In theory a Constitutional Convention may be able to throw out the entire Constitution and replace it with something else, and if three fourths of the states could be enjoined to ratify that move, our whole form of government would change. After all, it was the Second Constitutional Convention in 1787 that threw out the Articles of Confederation, under which our government had been operating since winning the war over England, and replaced them with the Constitution that we now operate under.