Readability: How “Readable” is YOUR Writing?

Last Updated on: May 3rd, 2021

Young Boy reading a book, and struggling to do so

Is your writing “readable”? How do you know?

To introduce the concept of readability, I have some more questions for you.

Have you ever used “big” words in an attempt to seem smarter than you are? Have you ever looked up a word in the dictionary . . . and then had to look up the words found in its definition?

I can see most of you nodding your heads. I can see a few smiles, too. 😉

Now let me ask you:

  • Have you ever wondered if the words you choose to use are too difficult for others to read and/or understand?
  • Have you ever wondered what others really think of your writing (whether it’s found in a blog post, an ebook, a novel, an essay, an article, etc.)?
  • Have you ever read something that was hard to understand (because of all the words you didn’t know the definitions to)?

I bet all of your answers to these questions are “yes.”

But . . . do you know what “readability” really is?

What this post on readability will do for you

This post will:

  • teach you what readability is
  • discuss some history behind how readability is measured
  • indicate the different methods for how readability can be measured
  • give you links to the free, online readability calculators that writers, bloggers, and freelancers should use
  • two additional articles you can read to expand your mind, and
  • it will also mention a brief announcement from Wording Well

You NEED to Consider Readability

Have you ever seriously contemplated the readability of your blog post, books, or articles, and then tailored your writing to your specific audience?

If you are shaking your head shamefully, that’s okay; most people don’t.

Perhaps you didn’t know what to do. Perhaps you didn’t know that you could check the readability of your text.

Perhaps – and this is the more likely option – you’ve never really considered what readability means, how it affects your readers, and how important it actually is.

If you are an author, blogger, writer, freelancer, student (or wannabe author, blogger, writer, freelancer or student), there are a few critical things you should know about readability.

Smiling Senior Woman Reading A Book

What is Readability?

Readability is the measure of written language that makes it easy to read and understand.

Readability tests, which are mathematical formulas, were designed to assess the suitability of books for students at particular grade levels or ages. They were also meant to save time – because before the formula were used those decisions were made on recommendations of educators and librarians who read the books. These people were taking books already written and figuring out who were the appropriate reading groups.~ Source: All About Readability

The tests were intended to help educators, librarians and publishers make decisions about purchase and sale of books.

Readability, however, is dependent upon many characteristics: age, race, culture, and education. The use of slang also plays a part in readability. I think we all know that each culture (heck, even each generation!) has its own slang words or phrases!

Slang

Slang refers to a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. To brush up on or learn some American slang, I’d recommend opting to get 10 randomly chosen slang expressions from their database.  You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn!

Of the 288 factors that were identified, format or design factors were found to be among the three most important clusters of contributors to making a text easier or more difficult to read.

Reading and Writing

One of the reasons I love reading and writing stems from my love for word. When I read and write, I get to be exposed to more words!

When I encounter a word I’ve never heard of, I look it up so that I can add it to my lexicon. I also try to use it correctly in a sentence.

These two practices are something most teachers instruct their students to do in elementary school, and, in fact, were taught to me by my teachers.

They have stuck with me throughout the years, too. I love adding words to my lexicon, and I love using those words properly. When I am writing, I often search for synonyms to use to enhance my writing. However, I try not to use too many “big” words, for two reasons:

  1. Most people won’t understand what I’m saying.
  2. Keeping things simple makes for a more widespread understanding. Most people are not university educated (like I am). Many people cannot read complex sentences. Some people cannot read at all. (Of course, those people won’t be reading this!)

pie chart showing how many people can read

Literacy Statistics

It is estimated that 17-20% of the people in the world cannot read or write.

It is also said that 774 million people cannot read. Considering that there are about 7 billion (7 000 000 000 000) people in this world, that’s a lot; it’s about 10%. That means one-tenth of the people in this world cannot read.
(Side note: if the world consisted of 100 people, this is who it would consist of.)

According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy, some stats for the United States in 2013 are as follows:

  • 63 % of prison inmates can’t read (about 64 million people)
  • 19% of high school graduates can’t read (about 43 million people)

No wonder a lot of authors are having a tough time selling their books!

Image of the word READ, as "read" is the core word of "readability"

 

Readability in Blogging, + a History Lesson

Some bloggers may have contemplated the concept of readability, especially website owners who use a plugin called WordPress SEO by Yoast (a free download), which checks the readability of a blog post using the Flesch Reading Ease Score formula.

The Flesch Reading Ease Score

The Flesch Reading Ease Score formula takes into account the number of sentences, the number of words in each sentence, and how many syllables are in each word. Rudolf Franz Flesch, its creator, was an author, a readability expert, and a writing consultant. He created the Flesch Reading Ease test and was co-creator of the Flesch-Kincaid readability test called the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level test.

Flesch advocated the use of phonics rather than sight reading, to enable students to sound out unfamiliar words. Both of the Flesch–Kincaid readability tests determine how difficult a word is for readers to understand.

Flesch wrote a book called Why Johnny Can’t Read. Why Johnny Still Can’t Read may be of interest to educators, parents, and others wanting to foster a love of reading and teach this critical skill to others. 

The Dale–Chall readability formula

The Dale–Chall readability formula is a readability test that was inspired by Rudolf Flesch’s Flesch–Kincaid readability test. The Dale–Chall readability formula provides a numeric gauge of the comprehension difficulty that readers will have when reading a text, and uses a list of words that groups of fourth-grade American students could reliably understand, considering any word not on that list to be difficult.

The SMOG Readability Formula

The SMOG Readability Formula estimates the years of education a person needs to understand a piece of writing. The SMOG Formula was created by  G. Harry McLaughlin in 1969, who asserts that there is no need to follow Flesch’s system of counting every syllable in a passage in order to obtain a valid measure of its semantic difficulty. The SMOG Readability Formula is considered appropriate for secondary age (4th grade to college level) readers, and generally uses 30 sentences as its base, although there are steps to follow if the text being graded is shorter than 30 sentences.

SMOG Grading implicitly makes two claims; that counting polysyllabic words in a fixed number of sentences gives an accurate index of the relative difficulty of various texts; and that the formula for converting polysyllable counts into grades gives acceptable results. Both claims had to be tested.

The Gunning-Fog Index

The Gunning-Fog index is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand your writing. The lower the number, the more understandable the content will be to your visitors. (Results over seventeen are reported as seventeen, where seventeen is considered post-graduate level.)

According to this website, the following is the algorithm to determine the Gunning-Fog index:

  • Calculate the average number of words you use per sentence.
  • Calculate the percentage of difficult words in the sample (words with three or more syllables).
  • Add the totals together, and multiply the sum by 0.4.
  • Algorithm: (average_words_sentence + number_words_three_syllables_plus) * 0.4

Who has time to do all of these calculations? Not me! Probably not you, either! It’s a good thing for us, then, that someone created some free calculators, huh? 😉

tablet showing a readable book

Free Readability Calculators

Readability may not always be at the forefront of the minds of writers and authors. But it should be. Bloggers, authors, and writers of all types can use one (or more) of the following free readability calculators to check the readability of their text:

The awesome thing about these calculators is that all you have to do is copy and paste a sampling of your writing into them and your readability score is automatically calculated.

You can also test the readability of a website. All you have to do is enter its URL.

Articles of Interest (To Expand Your Mind)

Readability – A PDF written by John J. Pikulski, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Delaware

All About Readability – By Cheryl Stephens

Small Boy Reading Book, easily

What’s Your Take?

Have you ever considered readability before? If so, when?

If not, are you going to use the free readability calculators in the future? Why or why not?

I really want to hear from you.

By the way, I will accept donations if you feel like thanking me for this information!

 

[Image 1 courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net] [Image 2 courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

I created Image 3.

[Image 4 courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net] [Image 5 courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net] [Image 6 courtesy of adamr/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net] [Image 7 courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

 

Did You Know You Could Become a Freelance Editor?

Being a freelance editor, in my opinion, is even better than being a freelance writer. First of all, it pays more. Secondly, it is the best job I could ever ask for. I love editing, I love words, and I love helping others. Finally, I love reaping the many rewards (check out the many benefits of being a freelance editor).

If you are not currently working at your dream job and want to be a freelance editor, then sign up to get on the “interest list” for my upcoming course!

I am in the process of designing a course that will teach you EVERYTHING about being a work-from-home editor and entrepreneur.

This includes:

– how to get paid up-front… ALWAYS! (before you do any work)

– how to get testimonials

– how to market yourself

– where to find work

– how to leverage social media for your business (because, YES, you will be actually running a business if you are successful!)

– how to keep accurate records

– how to easily calculate your costs

– how to communicate with potential clients so they turn into ACTUAL clients

– how to organize your time (so you can complete all of the tasks involved in running your biz)

– how to deal with difficult clients

– which projects to accept

– when to raise your rates

– AND MORE! (INCLUDING BONUSES!)

Plus, I want to get to know you so that I can give you EXACTLY what you need to succeed!

So, DO you want to know more about how to become a freelance editor?

If so, SIGN UP HERE.

 

54 thoughts on “Readability: How “Readable” is YOUR Writing?

  1. samyuktha says

    When I’m writing, I might repeat myself. Or even worse, if I use bullet points, I’m prone to repeat the same sentence structure for each point. Hemingway doesn’t give suggestionson this. If anyone else has suffers from this problem, INK suggests that I change my sentences if they sound too much alike.

  2. Michael W Alvin says

    A very interesting and informative post. Thank you for all the research that you must have done to write it. Quite impressive as compared to the drivel that some bloggers post. The sites for inputting writing selections were really helpful. Thanks again!

  3. I remember SMOG from my days of being a technical writing. You can tell so much about who the article is directed at by this method.
    As for my own writing, I do not adjust any of my writing style. I understand we need to make our writing readable, but I think we should not adjust the way we write for the purpose that more people will read it. Writing should challenge people to try to understand, not having the writer dumb down his verse for the purpose of more people reading it. I think that is the problem, our society dumbs down information for the lowest common denominator, instead of trying to increase their knowledge and education.

    • says

      William, I’m with you. I think part of our job as writers is to write using words others have never heard of before. Often, you can learn a word or at the very least derive it’s basic meaning simply from the context in which it is used.

  4. Hey Lorraine,

    Great information here! I’m always looking to improve my writing since I really got into blogging. Right now, my focus is making my blog posts scannable but I do catch some errors and hard to understand sentences. Unfortunately I catch them a week or a month down the road LOL… that doesn’t help right?

    This information would also be great because I do work for a school district. I’m not a teacher, but the information you provided here will help some of the teachers and speech therapists I know, so I would definitely have to save this post for them.

    Thanks for sharing this valuable info.! I hope you have a great weekend!

    • says

      Sherman, the great thing about blog posts is that they can ALWAYS be updated. Have you considered updating the ones you feel should be changed?

      Note: You can include the word “UPDATE” in your update, too. I’ve done this on several of my posts. Google seems to love me for it, too. 🙂

      I’m pleased that you want to share this post with other educators. Thank you for the lovely compliment!

      Have a great weekend, too. 🙂

  5. says

    Great post as always.

    I have learnt a lot from you Loraine. You are really an amazing teacher. Always you are coming up with new ideas and information. You are right if we come across something with difficult words, it will be hard to carry on or digest it. Specially for the ones , whose first language is not English. But I love to read as I know it will help me to learn. Thanks for readability calculators. It will take sometime to check all of them but I know that they will be of great help.

    Your post is truly a highly readable blog post with easiest language and lots of information.

    Thank you for sharing a great post.

    • says

      Andleeb, I appreciate the kind sentiments. I’m glad you are learning from me. 🙂

      Are you still practicing your English using http://www.manythings.org/ on a daily basis? It’s been over a month, and I had mentioned to you that I’d check in again with you in about a month… Do you think that site has helped you learn more English? I’d love to know how you have been faring!

  6. Phoenicia says

    I have thought about how I can best reach my target audience. I probably need to spend more time on this.

    I too have a love for words. I enjoy learning new words and their meaning.

    You are a great teacher. I can learn a lot from you!

  7. Jassica Bella says

    Hey Lorraine ,

    This is a superb article. Really wonderful work! You brought a very clear understanding on due diligence that bloggers should follow and exhibit. With the present outpouring of daily blog posts, it is becoming important to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I like it, Great Stuff, Keep it Up.
    Regards
    Jassica

  8. says

    Hi Lorraine

    Being a non-native English blogger I many times feel a lot of difficulty to put the appropriate word and eventually I have to use two words instead of one and sometime a complete phrase or sentence to express what I want to say.

    Readability test that is built-in feature of SEO plugin is the great blessing for me. I finally check how it is ranking my post and then simply further break the sentences into smaller ones and think them perfect. But still I think my contents can’t pass the real test of readability if it is done manually.

    The other options you mentioned in this post are quite new for me but I will try a few of them to check my contents next time.

    Thanks a lot for sharing this very useful post to improve the quality of contents.

    • says

      Mi Muba, I can imagine your frustration. Learning another language is hard!

      Because you blog in English, you would benefit greatly if you hired an editor to correct your grammatical errors. I can help you with this; I offer editing as one of my services. Your posts would rank higher in the search engines, be well-received by your readers, and teach you some more English as well as some English conventions (standards).

      You’d catch on quickly, I bet, too. 🙂 Perhaps you’d only need a few edits made.

      Judging from your comment, you seem to know quite a bit, but if I were hired to help you, I’d change your comment to read:

      Being a non-native English blogger, I often feel struggle with using the appropriate word. Eventually, I have to use two words instead of one, and sometime a complete phrase or sentence to express what I want to say.

      SEO plugins that have built-in features for readability are great blessings for me. I can check how my post ranks for readability and then simply break the problematic sentences into smaller ones and think them perfect. But still I think my content can’t pass the real test of readability if it is done manually.

      The other options you mentioned in this post are quite new for me, but I will try a few of them to check my content next time.

      Thanks a lot for sharing this very useful post to improve the quality of contents.

      This is a quick sample to show you how your writing can be improved. I added commas and periods where appropriate, and also changed some of the words.

      Can you see the difference a bit of editing makes?

      Mi Muba, I hope I have not offended you in any way by editing your comment! When I work for pay, I provide my clients with a copy of their writing that shows the changes that have been made (using Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” feature) as well as a final, polished copy. The Track Changes feature also allows clients to choose which changes they want to accept and which ones they want to reject. I’m pleased to say that most people are very happy with my edits. 🙂

      Are you?

  9. Lenie says

    Hi Lorraine – this is quite the post – amazing research. I have the Yoast SEO program which has a readability test included. I try to follow it but sometimes feel it restricts me and makes my writing feel like it belongs to someone else. I really appreciate the other readability calculators you included. I’ll try some of them out and see what it says. As to using big words – that’s me. Someone once said when you talk to Lenie you need to carry a dictionary (All those Reader’s Digest Word Games).

    • says

      Lenie, the problem with the plugin is that is built for SEO purposes, which change constantly. (No offense, Yoast; I love your plugin!) It’s always better to write naturally, regardless of what the plugin says. Recall posts that were stuffed with keywords? Ugh! Nowadays, posts that are written clearly, without errors in spelling, grammar, etc., and provide honesty, facts, and a personal story rank much higher in the search engines.

      Nope, I’m not an SEO expert, but I read a lot. 😉

      On another note, your comment made me laugh at the end! I cannot imagine carrying around a dictionary like it is a translator! LOL

      FYI, I like words games, too. 🙂 We should play Scrabble on Facebook sometime. 😉

  10. Krystyna Lagowski says

    What does it say about me that I initially thought this was about penmanship?! Then, of course, I saw what it was really about and must applaud you, since it’s not the first thing that comes to mind. When I was taking journalism, we were told to write at a 15-year old’s reading level. I wonder if that’s still the case? Also knew that there were programs, usually used by educational publishers, for calculating the age level of texts. However, I didn’t realize there were these incredibly valuable resources available, and thanks for pointing them out!!!

    • says

      Krystyna Lagowski, perhaps the Wording Well logo planted a subliminal message in your head at some point. LOL The “I” in “WORDING” is a feather, after all! Perhaps the quill pen image made you thing of writing… which led you to thinking of penmanship!

      That’s another topic, however. 😉 FYI, my son has barely legible writing. I used to feel sorry for his teachers.

      I can see how “readabilty” can be confused with “legibility” though. You are the first commenter to raise that issue. Thank you!

      As to what they are currently teaching in journalism school, I wouldn’t know. Sorry!

      I’m glad you liked the list of readability calculators. 🙂

      On a side note, I would like to ask you to enter the correct url to your website the next time you comment. You misspelled “drive” and wrote “drike” instead! Thank you for that, Krystyna.

  11. says

    I should take a look at some of these tests. I have a hard time believing that they can take the place of having someone actually read a book and make recommendations. I’m sure they’re cheaper than human readers. I tend to be a bit negative about standardized testing applied to what I consider subjective qualities, whether that happens in the classroom or in human resources. I’m also shocked at some of the stats you’ve included about illiteracy. As a nation we should be embarrassed about those numbers.

  12. Tim Bonner says

    Hey Lorraine

    I have WordPress SEO by Yoast but I often forget the readability score is there.

    I’ve been more focused on it since I discovered Hemingway (which I’ve probably mentioned before!). Now I often write my blog posts in Hemingway and then transfer them over to WordPress. It helps me look at readability, particularly with hard to read sentences, adverbs and the passive tense.

    • says

      Tim, I know you mentioned Hemingway before, and it’s good to hear you are enjoying it! Thanks for mentioning it again. I’ve not yet tried it, but I might, someday. Are you going to do a blog post about this application? I think you should!

  13. James says

    Hi Lorraine,

    You brought a very clear understanding on due diligence that bloggers should follow and exhibit. With the present outpouring of daily blog posts, it is becoming important to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

    Your blog post is a great typical example of a highly readable blog post, and I must say I learn some new knowledge despite the fact that I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years.

    Thanks for sharing, its definitely a worthy resource to the blogging community.

    James

    • says

      James, I appreciate the compliment. There is always *something* to learn about, isn’t there, regardless of how long you’ve been blogging?!

      The great thing about this post, too, is that it’s a good resource not just for bloggers, but for anyone who writes for others, including freelancers and authors, which makes this topic a wonderful one for Wording Well, as I cater to various audiences! 🙂

  14. Jeannette Paladino says

    Wow, you put a lot of effort and research into this post, Lorraine. Thanks for all the sources. I plan to check my website’s readability using one of those tools.

  15. says

    Lorraine,
    Great post! I’m always thinking about the readability in my blog posts. I think I read somewhere that your writing readability should around grade 6 or 7. I tried the read-able.com test for my blog and I’m in that range (11-12 years old).
    I do, at times, end up using “bigger” words, but my husband reviews my posts before I publish them and let’s me know if some of my terms or phrases are little above him.

    • says

      Elna, it’s good to have someone you can bounce ideas off of and who can double-check your posts before you publish them. Wonderful! 🙂

      Better than hiring an editor to point out the difference between “lets” and “let’s” (the latter is “let us” and, yes, you used it incorrectly).

      I mentioned this last point because I know you are a perfectionist, too. 😉 Oh, and one who loves to learn! 🙂

      Thanks for your comment, Elna. Forgive the blatant correction, too.

      I’m not so sure I agree that we should all write at a level for sixth-graders, though. I think we *should* use larger, tougher words and challenge others to learn!

  16. Hi Lorraine!

    I intend to subscribe to the KISS theory because I want to be able to understand what I’m writing…lol 😉 Really, I do my best to speak how I think, and since on my enlightened days – 2 to 4 times a year 😉 – I think quite simply, I can churn out at least 2 to 4 simple, easy to read posts yearly 🙂

    All are awesome points up to. Readers want simple. I generally/never write for academics. I write for people who want to digest some neat travel stories, for their amusement. Maybe I can inspire them to free themselves through blogging, if I can communicate with them effectively.

    I’ve found book smart bloggers who write about their audience, and struggle. I’ve found street smart bloggers who push emotional buttons, and who become pretty dang successful. I use the street smart guys as my labels, because it just makes plain sense to make my American Slang work for me ;)….even if I’m using it in Bali. Or wherever the heck I am, at the time.

    Neat post Lorraine! A super helpful read for bloggers intent on connecting with their audience.

    Ryan

    • says

      Ryan, the point that you bring up about connecting with your readers is what makes readability such a hot topic of discussion. You have to be able to relate to them, and write so that they want to continue reading your posts. This is not rocket science; it’s common sense!

      Most fail to realize that.

      Of course, on Wording Well, I cater to a variety of readers. People come here for many reasons.
      1. to learn blogging tips
      2. to learn freelancing tips
      3. to learn writing tips
      and 4. to connect with me.

      I used to write True Tales Tuesdays posts when this blog was Lorraine Reguly’s Life.

      I’ve since evolved this site, but am continuing the TTT tradition on Laying It Out There, my author site.

      The point is: your audience is key. You need to know what your readers want.

      I think you are achieving that with leaps and bounds on Blogging from Paradise, Ryan.

      Scratch that. You ARE. It’s a fact.

      Way to go!

      You seem to have the whole readability issue covered, my friend. 😉
      Thanks for your comment.

  17. Jo Ann Plante says

    I absolutely LOVE this post! I played around with the Readability Calculators. It was fun and very informative. I learned a lot from reading this. I’m saving this post, so I can refer to it from time to time. I will come in handy. Thanks again for a fun, interesting and informative post!

    • says

      Jo Ann, it’s good to hear that you are choosing your preferred readability calculator by testing each one.

      Thanks for the compliment, too. I’m glad you enjoyed this post and found it interesting!

  18. says

    Is there not a danger of writing down to people (I.E. aiming at the lowest common denominator?). An author should never use complex language to “show off”, nor should he talk down to people.

    • says

      Kevin, you raise a good point. Being condescending to others is not generally something that writers should do… nor is it my personal style; I believe that each of us has our own unique talents when it comes to writing.

      Letting the words flow naturally is best. However, knowing your audience is a huge asset. For example, when I wrote essays while attending university, I knew what the professors were seeking, and so I adapted my style to “give ’em what they wanted.” Often this required using words I wouldn’t normally use. The flip side of this is what you’re suggesting authors avoid: “writing down.”

      Perhaps all writers and authors should write “up” and serve as educators to others!

      What do you think about that?

  19. says

    Thank you so much for your post! Actually, I think I’ve come across it just on time 🙂 I’ve been always trying to watch out no be too complex as I have academic background. That readability core website is amazing. Also checked my whole website and got a score 65 out 100. So definitely there’s room for improvement!

    • says

      Alexander, there is, as they say, “always room for improvement,” regardless of what you’re doing! 😉

      I’m happy you found this post useful… and timely. 🙂

      The problem with blogging is that our audiences are always changing, growing, evolving. It’s difficult to know their reading level, and/or what type of skills they possess. Often we make judgement calls based on the comments we receive. A comment riddled with typos and misused words often goes uncorrected. It’s hard to be the “grammar police” all the time, and it’s also tough to point out to others the error of their ways, as not too many people actually welcome contructive criticism!

      How well do you handle constructive criticism, Alexander? Do you welcome it?

      • says

        Thank you Lorraine. I absolutely welcome constructive criticism! Moreover, I believe it’s crucial for learning and self-development. There’s nothing better than another pair of eyes from the outside to have a better picture of how you are doing. Provided the critique is constructive, of course, and not emotional or illogical.

        Have a nice day!

        • says

          Alexander, it’s good to hear a positive response. I asked specifically because there are two things “wrong” with one of the sentences you made in your initial comment on this post.

          You wrote: “I’ve been always trying to watch out no be too complex as I have academic background.”
          I’m sure that the first *error* was merely a careless boo-boo: “no” should be “not” (this is not a big deal).
          However, I wanted to point out that the word “an” should be put in front of “academic.”
          The correct sentence, therefore, would read: “I’ve been always trying to watch out not be too complex as I have an academic background.”

          “An” is used in place of “a” when the word that follows it begins with a vowel.

          Some examples:
          1. I wanted to see an octopus on my vacation.
          2. I went to an obstetrician for medical advice.
          3. I am an excellent editor. (I had to throw this one in!)

          Okay, that is your grammar lesson for today! 🙂

          I have been to your blog, too, Sasha, and know you speak several languages. I don’t, but I admire those who do.
          Because English is my native language, I want you to excel at it.

          Sincerely.

          • Alexander Svitych says

            Thank you Lorraine 🙂 Both mistakes were rather due to lack of attention, but I appreciate your detailed feedback!

            By the way, didn’t I miss ‘to’ here?

            “Watch out not TO be too complex …?”

            Or is it OK to leave it out in a grammar structure like this?

            • says

              LOL Oops! You’re right. There should be a “to” there, too. Carelessness on both our parts! 😉

              The 100% correct sentence is: “I’ve been always trying to watch out not to be too complex as I have an academic background.”

              It’s good to see that you’re paying attention! Perhaps I’m not “an excellent” editor after all! LOL

              It’s also good to see that you know the difference between “to” and “too” (not to be confused with the number “two”).

              Well done, Sasha! 😀

  20. Chinoms says

    Thanks, Lorraine for this nice post. The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress has a readability calculator. I’ve found it helpful. You may wish to try it out too.

    • says

      Chinoms, I’m glad you enjoyed this post.

      Perhaps you missed the section where I wrote:

      Some bloggers may have contemplated the concept of readability, especially website owners who use a plugin called WordPress SEO by Yoast (a free download), which checks the readability of a blog post using the Flesch Reading Ease Score formula.

      Thanks for mentioning this, though! I think you may have glossed over it, as it was part of the (boring?) history lesson. 😉

      • Terungwa Akaahan says

        Hi Lorraine,

        On the contrary, your entry made super exciting reading and I found the free tools extremely helpful and handy. The Flesch Reading Ease Score Formula in Yoast is a great tool and if not for the fact that it restricts my creativity (or so I believe), I would have been a great fan.

        What I however concentrate on is making certain that sentences are short, paragraphs many (and uncluttered) and delivery in a normal conversational tone.

        Believe me, you can’t go wrong with this.

        Your thoughts?

        Make the day great!

        Always,
        Terungwa

        • says

          Terungwa, if you are writing a blog post, it’s generally better to use shorter paragraphs and sentences, and put a lot of white space in between paragraphs, to make the reader’s experience more enjoyable. Since many people scan a blog post and don’t read the whole thing word for word, this is a great method.

          Italicizing and bolding or even highlighting important points is a good way to call attention to important points as well.

          Using a conversational tone is fantastic strategy, too, since Google’s most recent SEO algorithm says to use this. 🙂

      • Chinoms says

        You’re right. I missed it. I was looking for the “kernel” of the post – not really the shell. But history won’t do me harm, anyway. So I’ve read the history part.
        Thanks.

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