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Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist

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How Understandable is your Writing?

We all know that Microsoft Word can check spelling and grammar. LifeHack.org points us to a little-known (well, to me, anyway) feature of Word that tests writing against the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.  I recall using FK tests years ago, as a technical writer; I never thought to look for them in Word.

The next time you write a document, click Tools, Options, and go to the Grammar and Spelling tab.  Check the box marked “Show Readability Statistics”.  Word will present these statistics the next time you do a grammar check.

Note that smaller, easily-recognizable words are generally more understandable than longer words, and that this is (in effect) a mathmetical computation of readability, and therefore, imperfect.  It may not recognize technical terms, colloquialisms and the like.

LifeHack: “How easy is your writing to understand?”.

posted on Sunday, October 23, 2005 7:18 PM

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