Ask five writers and you’ll get five different answers. It’s so subjective. (I was reminded of this recently at a critique group. I had just shared a piece of my writing that I was particularly proud of, and one of the people in the critique group said, “I don’t want to offend you, but that’s so bad, I can’t even talk about it.” Yow! I’d hate to hear what he would say when he was trying to offend me! ) Objective measures do exist, though. Here’s what I’ve developed over the years:
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 56 or higher. Rudolf Flesch designed this readability formula in the 40s. It measures the average sentence length in words and the average word length in syllables. The higher the score, the easier something is to read. The Gettysburg Address is a 65. The average insurance policy is a 10.
Percentage of passive sentences: Single digit. Perhaps it’s impossible to totally eradicate passive construction from your writing (particularly if you’re writing for a corporate audience, which I am during work hours). But you can get close!
Grade-level: 8th grade or lower. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “I’m smarter than an 8th grader!” No doubt. Consider this: The average adult reads at a 9th-grade level and most popular fiction is written to a 7th grade level.
The good news is that you can easily check how your writing matches up to these standards. In Word, use the “Spelling and Grammar” check under Tools. When the software is done analyzing your writing, it will give you a grade in Flesh Reading Ease, passivity and grade level.
Give it a try!
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