Readability

What is the world literacy rate in 2003?

8% of adults have ‘a severe literacy deficit’

A “severe literacy deficit” haunts the world’s most developed countries. Between one-quarter and three-quarters of the world’s adults don’t have a “suitable minimum skill level” for coping with the demands of modern life and work.… Read the full article

What readability level makes sense for your audience?

Even rocket scientists and brain surgeons don’t want it to be harder

It never fails.

When I talk in my writing workshops about the importance of making copy easy to read and understand, there’s always one person who can’t believe the advice applies to her.… Read the full article

Write about people doing things

To cut your syllable count, make subjects characters

“It is good to write clearly,” wrote Joseph M. Williams, “and anyone can.”

Williams developed “The Little Red Schoolhouse” writing course at the University of Chicago.… Read the full article

Harness the power of one

Single-syllable words can shock, jolt and pop

By Mim Harrison, author of Smart Words

“Samuel Clemens” meanders. “Mark Twain” stands up straight and takes charge.

John F.… Read the full article

Write like Churchill — in one-syllable words

‘Short words are best, and old words when short are the best of all’

What do you notice about this passage, excerpted from an article in The Economist?… Read the full article

To reach readers, avoid writing in the first person

Stop We-We-ing on the reader

It feels so good to talk about ourselves.

Talking about yourself activates the same pleasure centers in the brain as food, money or sex, according to Harvard neuroscientist Diana Tamir and her colleague Jason Mitchell, whose research on the topic was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.… Read the full article

Move from event to impact in PR writing

Focus news stories on MOI

Screenwriter Nora Ephron long remembered the first day of her high school journalism class.

Ephron’s teacher announced the first assignment: to write the lead for a story to appear in the student newspaper.… Read the full article

Literacy rate in America by the numbers [Slideshare]

Half of U.S. adults read at basic level or below

Let’s start with the bad news: More than half of American adults have basic or below basic prose skills, according to the Department of Education’s latest literacy test.… Read the full article

Measure clarity with readability formulas

How to use Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog indexes

In 1946, a lawyer, author and writing consultant named Rudolph Flesch “started a revolution in journalism and business communication,” writes William Dubay, a readability consultant for Plain Language Services.… Read the full article

Sentence length, word length make messages more readable

Want to see your Flesch Kincaid Grade Level drop? Your Flesch Reading Ease soar? Your Automated Readability Index hit the right target?… Read the full article