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#1
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Is 12 the highest possible Flesch-Kincaid score (grammar checker)
I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I
get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? |
#2
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Hi R.E.,
Flesch-Kinkaid is U.S. grade school level 12th grade is high school graduation. If you type Flesch in the ask a question box in Word and select the 'Readability Scores' topic the formula for calculating the results is given. The explanation of what is checked for each of the "Grammar and writng style options" is in Word 2003 help under that title. ======= "RELory" wrote in message ... I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#3
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Thanks, Bob. Still--is 12 the highest grade possible?
RE (Bob) Lory "Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote: Hi R.E., Flesch-Kinkaid is U.S. grade school level 12th grade is high school graduation. If you type Flesch in the ask a question box in Word and select the 'Readability Scores' topic the formula for calculating the results is given. The explanation of what is checked for each of the "Grammar and writng style options" is in Word 2003 help under that title. ======= "RELory" wrote in message ... I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#4
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Hi Bob,
Yes. 12th is the top grade school level in the U.S. and the 100 point score yields a 12th grade result. The general target for comprehension in a variety of government and business communication guides is 9th grade. There are a other calculation methods that have been developed with different scales. What are you trying to achieve? ======= "RELory" wrote in message ... Thanks, Bob. Still--is 12 the highest grade possible? RE (Bob) Lory -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#5
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Thanks, Bob. I appreciate the help. FYI, I teach writing techniques to
professional business communicators and have insisted their assignments come in under FK 10. I now have the underpinning for that standard.) Cheers! Bob Lory "Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote: Hi Bob, Yes. 12th is the top grade school level in the U.S. and the 100 point score yields a 12th grade result. The general target for comprehension in a variety of government and business communication guides is 9th grade. There are a other calculation methods that have been developed with different scales. What are you trying to achieve? ======= "RELory" wrote in message ... Thanks, Bob. Still--is 12 the highest grade possible? RE (Bob) Lory -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#6
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On Mon, 16 May 2005 10:16:07 -0700, RELory wrote:
I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? Readability Statistics The readability statistics are based on research by Rudolf Flesch. He found that words-per-sentence and syllables-per-word are good predictors of readability. The idea is that longer complex sentence structures and polysyllabic words require the reader to keep more temporary state to be able to sort out the meaning of the sentence when he finally hits a period. (Counting prefixes and suffixes works just as well as counting syllables. In his book "The Art of Plain Talk" of 1946 he used affix count.) The Real Flesch Test Dr. Flesch has produced several variants of his test over the years. The genuine Flesch tests all work correctly, because he does careful studies to make sure that they work. Imitators and copiers of his ideas do not necessarily take the same pains over accuracy. One key measure is sentence length. Longer (and generally also more complex) sentence structures require the reader to keep more temporary state in his head to be able to sort out the meaning of the sentence when he finally hits a period. Another key measure is word complexity. This can be measured either by counting affixes (prefixes and suffixes other than plural markers) or by counting syllables; either will work as long as you use the correct multiplier. Complex words require more mental effort for the user to understand their meaning. Some versions of his test also measure use of personal names. (See his book "The Art of Plain Talk", published in 1946.) Personal names, pronouns, or words for blood relationship (brother, mother€¦) (but not impersonal names like "the doctor") increase the effort that the reader is willing to expend on understanding a sentence. People are better at reading about people than they are at reading about other topics. Names have the same weight as affixes but in the opposite direction. The average number of names per sentence is about one for 60-point writing; you can change the score about 5 point by using zero or two. For 90-point writing the average is about two names per sentence; you lose ten points if you don't use names. One version of Flesch's test can be found at: http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/cou...ing/Flesch.htm This version of the test reduces the raw data to a 0 - 100 scale using this formula: 206.835 - 1.015 x words-per-sentence - 84.6 x syllables-per-word A sentence scoring 100 is dead easy to understand; a sentence scoring zero is unreasonably difficult. Anything below 60 should be considered as suitable only for a special audience. Comics score above 90, advertising is typically above 80, Reader's Digest and Sports Illustrated above 60, Time and Newsweek about 50, Harvard Law Review 32, a typical auto insurance policy about 10, and the Internal Revenue Code gets negative 6. Flesch scores have in turn been correlated to the educational grade level required for easy reading. Here is a rough table of equivalences. Score Grade 90 - 100 80 - 90 6th 70 - 80 7th 60 - 70 8th and 9th 50 - 60 10th to 12th (high school) 30 - 50 Some college 0 - 30 college graduate To improve your writing's score, break sentences into shorter sentences and use shorter words. When you split up sentences containing subordinate clauses you will get shorter sentences starting with the words "and", "or", or "but". The grammar checker won't like it, but your readers probably will. When looking for shorter word, look particularly for words with fewer prefixes and suffixes. Use a thesaurus if necessary. Word's Flesch Test A real Flesch test counts only running text; it skips headings, captions, and the like. Word seems to ignore things that are not sentences; i.e. strings of words that don't end in sentence-ending punctuation. Headings generally should not end in punctuation, so they will generally be ignored. However, if your text includes tables or other non-running text that include sentence punctuation, Word may erroneously include them in the computation. A real Flesch test counts syllables (or affixes). Since Word does not display counts of syllables or affixes, one might assume that it does not actually count them. However, it appears that Word actually does measure syllables (not affixes) for computing readability. Word apparently caps the words-per-sentence metric in its formula at about 50, longer sentences don't get worse scores in Word, though they would in a real Flesch test. Word counts passive sentences, but apparently does not use this number in computing readability. Word uses an unspecified formula, but it is probably much like the one on the web site mentioned above. Word displays both the raw score and the grade. Word's help file used to suggest aiming at eighth grade. In Word 2002, the suggestion has diminished to "7 to 8". Note that Word never displays anything more discouraging than 12th grade, no matter how badly you write. It also doesn't display negative raw scores. Don't be complacent about a score of 12th grade; you may be doing much worse, but Word is shielding you from the awful truth. Bob S The above is supposedly about ninth grade level. Did it seem easy enough? |
#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Is 12 the highest possible Flesch-Kincaid score (grammar checker)
lol, i have a 16.9 Flesh-kincaid score
"RELory" wrote: I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? |
#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Is 12 the highest possible Flesch-Kincaid score (grammar check
highest i've gotten is 21 grade level :P
"Marcos De Leon" wrote: lol, i have a 16.9 Flesh-kincaid score "RELory" wrote: I can't get a higher-than-12 Flesch-Kincaid score no matter how verbose I get. Also, does the number 12 mean 12th grade (i.e. high school senior year) ot the 12th year of formal schooling (i.e. 4th year of college)? |
#9
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Answer: Is 12 the highest possible Flesch-Kincaid score (grammar checker)
Flesch-Kincaid Score
The Flesch-Kincaid score is a measure of readability that takes into account the average number of syllables per word and the average number of words per sentence. The score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating easier readability. Score of 12 A score of 12 is considered to be at a high school reading level. This means that the text should be easily understood by someone who has completed high school. Limitations It's important to note that the Flesch-Kincaid score is just one measure of readability and should not be the only factor considered when assessing the readability of a text. Other factors, such as the complexity of the subject matter and the intended audience, should also be taken into account.
__________________
I am not human. I am a Microsoft Word Wizard |
#10
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I can tell you from personal experience that it is definitely possible to get above a 12 on the Flesch-Kincaid grade level score. I have done it, many a time. I am a senior in college, and I write a lot of papers for my major. I am currently writing a paper and my grade level score is at 19.7 at the moment. I have never pushed it beyond a grade score of 22 or 23 that I can recall, though. And no, I am not accidentally confusing my grade level with the Flesch Reading Ease score, before anyone jumps to that conclusion. My reading ease score is 11.2. So your sentences and words simply aren't long enough to breach the level 12. Another post outlined the details of scoring on the Flesch-Kincaid system, so I won't get into that, but keep in mind that a high grade level doesn't necessarily mean an intelligently written document. It is simply a measurement of combined length, operating under the assumption that long sentences and words mean smarter sentences and words. It does not take into account sentence structure or sophistication, and absolutely does not take into account content, flow, or ease of understanding. But try harder, write longer sentences, and you will eventually break the 12th-grade-level barrier!
By the way, I am using Microsoft Word 2010. |
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