Someone showed me a cool app called the Hemingway Editor. It’s like a spellchecker, but for readability. It decides which grade level is required to understand your text.
It turns out that the average reading level of American adults is about 7th to 8th grade level. And here’s another interesting tidbit: people prefer to read 2 grade levels below what they’re actually capable of when reading for fun.
So when writing, it’s best to think about not how you like to write, but how your audience likes to consume information. Writing scores at a 10th grade level is not better than writing at an 8th grade level. Writing at a high grade level will often mean that it is confusing, full of tedious words like adverbs, and filled with jargon.
That’s why this app is pretty cool. It will highlight all those troubling areas for you. If your sentences are a little difficult to read, the app will highlight them in yellow. If they are very difficult to read, the app highlights them in red. The app even points out when a simpler word could be used, and when you’re using the passive voice.
You should definitely still get your writing edited, but it might make you see things in a different light, and make you a better writer.
For sure I’m going to start using it.
In fact, I used it for this blog post! See the image below.
It turns out that the average reading level of American adults is about 7th to 8th grade level. And here’s another interesting tidbit: people prefer to read 2 grade levels below what they’re actually capable of when reading for fun.
So when writing, it’s best to think about not how you like to write, but how your audience likes to consume information. Writing scores at a 10th grade level is not better than writing at an 8th grade level. Writing at a high grade level will often mean that it is confusing, full of tedious words like adverbs, and filled with jargon.
That’s why this app is pretty cool. It will highlight all those troubling areas for you. If your sentences are a little difficult to read, the app will highlight them in yellow. If they are very difficult to read, the app highlights them in red. The app even points out when a simpler word could be used, and when you’re using the passive voice.
You should definitely still get your writing edited, but it might make you see things in a different light, and make you a better writer.
For sure I’m going to start using it.
In fact, I used it for this blog post! See the image below.
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