Six Graders Can Read Crime & Federalism
April 22, 2005
Have you ever wondered how "readable" your blog is? Wonder no more: instead, run your blog through the "Readability Test." Using what will be the next big thing for navel-gazing bloggers, I learned the following about C&F.
Total sentences 1,001
Total words 7,822
Average words per Sentence 7.81
Words with 1 Syllable 4,953
Words with 2 Syllables 1,684
Words with 3 Syllables 810
Words with 4 or more Syllables 375
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 15.15%
Average Syllables per Word 1.57
Gunning Fog Index 9.19
Flesch Reading Ease 66.40
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 5.94
The result [of] your Gunning-Fog index ... is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content."
The result [of your Flesch Reading Ease] is an index number that rates the text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. Authors are encouraged to aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70."
The result is the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. Like the Gunning-Fog index, it is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content.
So it looks like anyone if you're a smart sixth grader, or an average ninth grader, you should not no problems reading C&F. Now go run your favorite blog through the program.
(Hat tip: Bainbridge.)