One of the things that surprised me when I trained to be a Technical Writer was the tutor’s assertion that we write to a grade eight level. (For those outside of North America, grade eight students are roughly 14 years old.) We were then pointed at the readability measurement feature of MS Word.
The readability statistics show three figures: the percentage of sentences that are written in the passive voice, the Flesch Reading Ease score, and the Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level.
I’m not sure why the passive voice is singled out for attention, but it is, and as many of us know, sometimes the passive voice is appropriate, so this percentage isn’t generally worried about by yours truly.
Reading Ease
The Flesch Reading Ease score indicates how difficult the material is to read. The formula for calculating this figure can be written as
206.835 – (1.015(total words / total sentences) + 84.6(total letters / total words))
(Check it out for yourself here). The higher the number, the easier a piece is to read. A score in the 60 – 70 range is required for the piece to be easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.
Grade Level
The Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level analyzes the text of a piece slightly differently, placing more weight on word length. It yields a result that represents the USA’s school grade level of education required to understand the text.
I’ve never worked as a member of a writing team (although I’d like to), so I don’t know how other writers track their readability scores as they write. However, on the occasions when I do check the statistics, I frequently find that I struggle to keep my scores in the target ranges. For example, as of the last period, this piece is running at a 57.5 for reading ease and at a grade level of 10.3. I’ve already put a couple more periods in than I normally would in order to get the average sentence length down. Almost all the polysyllabic words are necessary. (e.g., technical, readability, statistics, attention, substantial, differently) So how would my tutor have suggested I improve my scores? Short, irrelevant sentence insertion? Random. Period. Insertion? By the way, I’m at 59.1 and Grade Level 8.9 now.)
Everything Written to Grade 8?
I think my tutor may not have qualified his point; at least I hope that’s the case. If everything was written to a grade eight level, wouldn’t the general level of comprehension among adults reduce to that level over a period of a couple of generations or so? This would mean (according to data in the Wikipedia article quoted above) that people would no longer be able to understand Time Magazine – we’d all be reading Reader’s Digest and Green Eggs and Ham. And as for Herman Melville’s and Marcel Proust’s works…
According to material I’ve read since taking my training, that “grade eight level” rule/guideline relates to documentation intended for consumption by the general public, such as insurance policies, government forms and guides, and so on. That makes sense – after all, everyone needs to have at least a fighting chance of understanding such material. It isn’t nearly as important for everyone to understand my ramblings, so, fortified by that revelation, I could quite happily, with no trace of feelings of shame or guilt, write my posts, pages and other materials using annoyingly long sentence constructs. (Ha! That sentence scored 24.9 for Reading Ease and 19.9 for Grade Level.)
Rule or Guideline?
Readability statistics are a good guide, but in many applications, they are, like much of the art of writing, no more than a guide. Commonly-used polysyllabic words and occasionally-used monosyllabic words can distort the measurement. Also, writing multiple sentences often requires more words in order to convey the same amount of information. Consider the two examples below.
Avoiding polysyllabic words sometimes demands the use of more individual words, thus creating longer sentences. 15 words; one sentence; Reading Ease 22.4; Grade Level 13.8)
Avoiding polysyllabic words sometimes creates longer sentences. This is because several short words need to be used in one long word’s place. (22 words; two sentences; Reading Ease 61.0; Grade Level 7.4)
Constructing shorter sentences but using more words can be bad, especially if you’re writing to a word limit; something usually has to give – clarity, comprehensiveness, comprehension – something usually has to give.
Auto insurance policies are a great example of where sheer word count can be intimidating. According to this BBC article, there are policy documents out there with over 37,000 words – longer than Animal Farm (they say). I wonder what the readability scores for those puppies might be?
The Long and Short of It…
Always bear in mind the complexity of your writing and its suitability for your audience. Use your word processor’s readability analyses as a guide. If your client (or boss) requires you to write to a certain level, try to do so. But at the end of the proverbial day, your writing needs to balance clarity, brevity, and completeness of information. Your instinct and your audience’s feedback are the best measures for that.
(Final Readability Scores: 839 words; 48 sentences; Reading Ease 52.3; Grade Level; 9.9. That’s close enough for me for my expected audience.)
Please Help Improve Yonder Pedant’s Ramblings
- Did I miss a typo? (I’ll feel bad when you tell me, but I’d rather you did tell me!)
- Did I write something that makes you want to turn green and burst out of your shirt?
- Do you have any better examples that you would share and allow me to use?
If so, please let me know by leaving a comment.
(Footnote: This is actually a draft of this post. I’m pretty sure I’ll be returning to it to see how it could be improved; for example, by discussing other readability tests. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts on prescribed readabiity levels.)