Can others understand your writing in English?
Eric Anderson
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There are various tests available online that evaluate the readability of text. They are tools that you can use when it is important to be understood by your readers. Of course, commercial products such as grammarly.com perform a similar function.
In the Flesch reading-ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read; lower numbers mark passages that are more difficult to read. A negative number means very difficult to read.
Here is a very simple sample text: "The car is yellow." Here is the readability score:
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease 97
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level 0.7
Here is another sample text, even shorter, but it got a different score: "Writing is easy." The same online tool produced the following result:
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease 62.8
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level 5.2
Here is long and complex sentence, which produced a very different score:
Business Process Management or BPM – Business Process Modeling is a disciplined approach to identify, draw (or design), execute, measure, monitor and control business processes, automated or otherwise, to achieve consistency and results aligned with strategic organizational objectives.
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease -23.2
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level 25.9
The purpose here is to look at readability. Some tools will also look at spelling, grammar and usage errors.
No doubt some professionals are sure that their writing in English is perfect, even though English is not their first language.
If you would like me to assess a short sample of your writing, send it to me in a text message.
About the author: Eric Anderson has studied ten languages and lived on four continents. He gained software development experience in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and his Guerilla Marketing and PR work spans dozens of countries. He is a published essayist and poet, and has many years of experience as a Business English and Communication coach.
English Communication Coach to overseas actors & film professionals
3 年For me the style and writing approach taken really depends on the audience. When I was at university there was a strict word cap so we had to cram our thoughts and all our points into an essay of say between 1000-2000 words. This meant the writing needed to be really tight! Years later when I was clearing out my essays I could barely understand them, but my (academic) tutors and I could at the time! It was a good discipline to find the best wording.... But for general purposes, if we get the grammar right it's going to be understandable.
MS HCDE@UW | SAP
3 年Insightful article!
A qualified, professional teacher. Really useful English and really useful French. Starting at YOUR level and teaching / improving your skills so that you feel confident to speak, read and write whatever the situation.
3 年It's very important to come across as professional when submitting a written piece or being able to fully understand. This will indicate your expertise and affect your actions, especially if you are following instructions. Excellent to have someone who will focus on this area of your communication. Good points made.
Coaching Introverted Business ESL Professionals * Level-Up your Job Performance Guaranteed - Learn American Accent Teqniques - +27% Improvement in 1 Month!
3 年Great insights con the usage of apps. Computers still cannot compete with humans. Great read.