Pleading for shorter sentences

Sentence length one of top 2 predictors of readable copy

“Anyone who finds himself putting down several commas close to one another should reflect that he is making himself disagreeable and question whether it is necessary.”

H.W. Fowler, English lexicographer

A professor of English Literature at the University of Nebraska was the first person to link sentence length to comprehension.

LJ98_002_0006_12WC — **ACID RAIN** Don't drown your readers in a shower of words. Short sentences are among the top two ways to improve understanding and readability.

In the 1880s, Lucius Adelno Sherman took the first statistical look at writing when he calculated sentence length in historical literature. In his book, The Analytics of Literature (1893), he shared how sentences were growing shorter over time:

Pre-Elizabethan times: Sentences averaged 50 words
Elizabethan times: 45 words
Victorian times: 29 words
Sherman’s own time: 23 words

Today, sentences average 20 words, reports readability expert William H. DuBay in Unlocking Language (PDF).

In the 130 years since Sherman started counting words per sentence, dozens of other researchers have proven what Sherman posed: Shorter sentences make for easier reading.

Indeed, DuBay writes, sentence length and word length have been proven in the lab — again and again — to be the two strongest indicators of reading ease.

Write sentences to be read.

Bottom line? To make your copy easier to read and understand, the studies show, write sentences that are:

Short
Simple
Active
Positive

And reduce the number of:

Prepositions
Dependent, embedded and other clauses
Phrases per sentence
Conjunctions
Words before the verb

How do you keep your sentences short and easy to understand?

How long should your message be?
Would your message be twice as good if it were half as long?
Yes, the research says. The shorter your message, the more likely readers are to read it, understand it and make good decisions based on it.
So how long is too long? What’s the right length for your piece? Your paragraphs? Your sentences? Your words?
Find out at Rev Up Readability — our tight-writing workshop, which starts Feb. 22.
There, you’ll use a cool (free!) tool to analyze your message for 33 readability metrics. You’ll leave with quantifiable targets, tips and techniques for measurably boosting readability.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.