What is the Flesch Reading Ease rating? How do I interpret the number shown
in the readability statistics? I'm using Word 2000 and Windows XP.

Quoting from Word 2003 Help:

When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it
can display information about the reading level of the document,
including the following readability scores. Each readability
score bases its rating on the average number of syllables per
word and words per sentence.

Note For some European languages within an English document,
Word displays only information about counts and averages, not
readability.

Flesch Reading Ease score

Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier
it is to understand the document. For most standard documents,
aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease score is:

206.835 €“ (1.015 x ASL) €“ (84.6 x ASW)

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of
8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For
most documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) €“ 15.59

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

A Reading Ease score of less than 50 equates to a 12.0 Grade
Level score in Word. The 12 is coded in, and you can't change
it. To see what grade levels Dr. Flesch intended to equate with
Reading Ease scores of less than 50, see the article he wrote at
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/wri...g/flesch.shtml .

Ann wrote:
What is the Flesch Reading Ease rating? How do I interpret the number shown
in the readability statistics? I'm using Word 2000 and Windows XP.

[MINICooperGirl]

I work creating curriculum and our documents contain bulleted lists, numbered
lists, paragraphs, etc. The bulleted lists generally have no punctuation,
according to standard grammar guidelines. However, it seems these bulleted
lists are throwing off the evaluation of the reading level, giving results
that state the reading level is MUCH higher than it actually is. How do we
get Word to understand that some of these lists are exactly that, lists, and
not long complex sentences?

"garfield-n-odie [MVP]" wrote:

Quoting from Word 2003 Help:

When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it
can display information about the reading level of the document,
including the following readability scores. Each readability
score bases its rating on the average number of syllables per
word and words per sentence.

Note For some European languages within an English document,
Word displays only information about counts and averages, not
readability.

Flesch Reading Ease score

Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier
it is to understand the document. For most standard documents,
aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease score is:

206.835 €“ (1.015 x ASL) €“ (84.6 x ASW)

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of
8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For
most documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) €“ 15.59

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

A Reading Ease score of less than 50 equates to a 12.0 Grade
Level score in Word. The 12 is coded in, and you can't change
it. To see what grade levels Dr. Flesch intended to equate with
Reading Ease scores of less than 50, see the article he wrote at
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/wri...g/flesch.shtml .

Ann wrote:
What is the Flesch Reading Ease rating? How do I interpret the number shown
in the readability statistics? I'm using Word 2000 and Windows XP.

[Jay Freedman]

You can't "get Word to understand" anything. The method it uses for
determining what constitutes a sentence, for the purpose of computing the
reading score, is not configurable.

I think it would be possible, with some difficulty, to write a macro that
(a) adds punctuation to all bulleted and numbered list items, (b) computes
and displays the score, and (c) removes the added punctuation. After that
work is done, you would have to test its results against a hand-computed
score for the same text, to see whether the lack of punctuation really was
the reason for the difference.

It would probably be more efficient to find a third-party program that can
score the text accurately, and ignore the built-in tool.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

MINICooperGirl wrote:
I work creating curriculum and our documents contain bulleted lists,
numbered lists, paragraphs, etc. The bulleted lists generally have no
punctuation, according to standard grammar guidelines. However, it
seems these bulleted lists are throwing off the evaluation of the
reading level, giving results that state the reading level is MUCH
higher than it actually is. How do we get Word to understand that
some of these lists are exactly that, lists, and not long complex
sentences?

"garfield-n-odie [MVP]" wrote:

Quoting from Word 2003 Help:

When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it
can display information about the reading level of the document,
including the following readability scores. Each readability
score bases its rating on the average number of syllables per
word and words per sentence.

Note For some European languages within an English document,
Word displays only information about counts and averages, not
readability.

Flesch Reading Ease score

Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier
it is to understand the document. For most standard documents,
aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease score is:

206.835 - (1.015 x ASL) - (84.6 x ASW)

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of
8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For
most documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) - 15.59

whe

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the
number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of
syllables divided by the number of words)

A Reading Ease score of less than 50 equates to a 12.0 Grade
Level score in Word. The 12 is coded in, and you can't change
it. To see what grade levels Dr. Flesch intended to equate with
Reading Ease scores of less than 50, see the article he wrote at
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/wri...g/flesch.shtml .

Ann wrote:
What is the Flesch Reading Ease rating? How do I interpret the
number shown in the readability statistics? I'm using Word 2000 and
Windows XP.

[MINICooperGirl]

Jay, do you know of any good third party products? The only one I keep
finding is Micro Power and Light and I'm not totally sold on that one.

Thanks for your help!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

You can't "get Word to understand" anything. The method it uses for
determining what constitutes a sentence, for the purpose of computing the
reading score, is not configurable.

I think it would be possible, with some difficulty, to write a macro that
(a) adds punctuation to all bulleted and numbered list items, (b) computes
and displays the score, and (c) removes the added punctuation. After that
work is done, you would have to test its results against a hand-computed
score for the same text, to see whether the lack of punctuation really was
the reason for the difference.

It would probably be more efficient to find a third-party program that can
score the text accurately, and ignore the built-in tool.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

[Jay Freedman]

There are a few tools, but I've never used any of them so I can't say
how good they are. The sidebar to the article at
http://www.wats.ca/show.php?contentid=30 lists three programs,
including the Micro Power and Light product.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 7 Aug 2006 12:47:02 -0700, MINICooperGirl
wrote:

Jay, do you know of any good third party products? The only one I keep
finding is Micro Power and Light and I'm not totally sold on that one.

Thanks for your help!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

You can't "get Word to understand" anything. The method it uses for
determining what constitutes a sentence, for the purpose of computing the
reading score, is not configurable.

I think it would be possible, with some difficulty, to write a macro that
(a) adds punctuation to all bulleted and numbered list items, (b) computes
and displays the score, and (c) removes the added punctuation. After that
work is done, you would have to test its results against a hand-computed
score for the same text, to see whether the lack of punctuation really was
the reason for the difference.

It would probably be more efficient to find a third-party program that can
score the text accurately, and ignore the built-in tool.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

[MINICooperGirl]

I'll check those out. Thanks again!!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

There are a few tools, but I've never used any of them so I can't say
how good they are. The sidebar to the article at
http://www.wats.ca/show.php?contentid=30 lists three programs,
including the Micro Power and Light product.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 7 Aug 2006 12:47:02 -0700, MINICooperGirl
wrote:

Jay, do you know of any good third party products? The only one I keep
finding is Micro Power and Light and I'm not totally sold on that one.

Thanks for your help!