• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Bob Kelly Writer

Making You Look Good On Paper

  • About
  • Writing Services
  • KellyGram
  • Quotations
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 1)

February 26, 2018 by Bob Kelly

Do you know how readable your writing is? You can – and you should! With all the tools available to you these days, there’s no excuse not to know. I assure you that your target audiences know – instinctively. Once they start reading what you’ve written, they’ll keep going – or quit – depending on how easy or hard it is you’ve made it for them.

The good news is that you, as the writer, don’t have to depend on instinct. Take anything you’ve written and you can quickly determine how readable it is by calculating the average grade level needed to understand it.

For years, I produced a quarterly newsletter for a client, who required that each of the dozen or so articles I wrote and/or edited per issue had an average grade level of 12 (high school graduate) or less.

Calculating readability was once a tedious task. One way was to take a sample of 100-200 words, count the number of words, then the number of sentences, then the percentage of words with three or more syllables. Take the average sentence length plus the average of the longer words, add them together and multiply the sum by a factor of 0.4. The result: the average grade level needed for comprehension.

I did that for years, but there’s a better and easier way. I’ll tell you about it in my next post.

 

 

 

Primary Sidebar

Post Archives

  • ► 2019 (2)
    • ► January (2)
      • Shot Down by Amazon!
      • Thoughts for the New Year
  • ▼ 2018 (59)
    • ► December (1)
      • Happy Birthday to Jesus - and Me!
    • ► November (4)
      • The Power of Questions
      • The Apostrophe Protection Society
      • Listen to Your Writing
      • Change of Address
    • ► September (8)
      • Leaving Readers Dangling - and Confused
      • Strategic Incompetence? There's a Word for It!
      • Watch Your Language!
      • Getting His Words Mixed!
      • Logophobia - and Other Diseases!
      • The Straight Scoop!
      • The Joy of Lex
      • The Proofreader’s Role
    • ► August (6)
      • Schmoozing? Or Losing?
      • Celebrating Bad Writing
      • What’s Up?
      • Feeling Unappreciated?
      • Completed at Last
      • A Must Read – Times Two!
    • ► May (7)
      • Favorite Words
      • Preparing a Book Proposal
      • Quintessence – Part 2
      • Quintessence – Part 1
      • Resources for Writers
      • The Power of the Tongue
      • “Reasons” not to Change
    • ► April (8)
      • Paronomasia? Say What!
      • The Biker
      • New Books
      • Condoughlences
      • Tax Time
      • A Sense of Humor
      • I’m Glad You Asked
      • National Humor Month!
    • ► March (9)
      • Play Ball
      • Banished Words
      • The "Fighting" Irish? I Object!
      • My Friend Patrick and Me - Part 2
      • My Friend Patrick and Me - Part 1
      • Opening Lines!
      • David Wins - Again!
      • Three Strikes and You're Out!
      • How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 2)
    • ▼ February (7)
      • How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 1)
      • Writing: The Preposition Position
      • Words: Loaded Pistols
      • Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!
      • Want to Write That Book? What's Stopping You? (Part 2)
      • Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!
      • How’s Your Deportment?
    • ► January (9)
      • Why Do We Quote?
      • Down with Literacy
      • A Little Bit More
      • The Ghostwriter’s Role
      • ‘Tain’t What You Say!
      • Adjectives and Banana Peels
      • Note Worthy
      • Painting Word Pictures
      • Words – A Love Affair
  • ► 2017 (3)
    • ► December (3)
      • New Year’s Day – a Vial Experience!
      • The New Year
      • The Reason for the Season!

Copyright © 2022 · Author Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in