Word's Readability Statistics

Jack Hart's A Writer's Coach has been good so far, but one tip jumped out at me this morning (more would, but I've heard him speak and read earlier articles by him, so the book has mostly been a refresher). Microsoft Word has a Readability Statistics pane that gives you average words per sentence, average characters per word, passive voice percentage, and several other useful metrics. The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level numbers evaluate the relationship of words per sentence and syllables per word, adjusted by constants. As a rule, says Jack, you want to shoot for a grade level of 9. Grade level refers to the average reading level a student has at that grade.

These aren't perfect gauges, of course; just look at the formulae and you'll see they're pretty simple. But they are one more tool to use when looking over some text. Jack points out that just because you have a lower score doesn't mean you're a better writer. It's easy to write flat, lifeless text that gets a low score. But one of his Pulitzer winners routinely clocks in at 7. My Savoie piece scores 9.5, with 2 per cent passive voice, while an article I just finished about Oakland's Chinatown scores an 8.0 with 0 per cent passive voice. 0? Really?

To use the tool, you have to activate Readability Statistics in the Spelling and Grammer tab of Word's preferences (Options, if you're on a PC). Then you have to run a full spelling and grammar check on the document. At the very end, a pane will pop up with your statistics.