Writing stats oddities

[capri0mni]

A while back, elementalmuse did a post on the statistics of best selling writers (using Neil Gaiman's writing as an example, iirc). Nearly all of the writers can be easily understood by 80% of the population (using a formula created by Dr. Rudolph Flesch in 1940), and have can be understood by a kid between the fifth and sixth grades in the American school system -- about 10-11 years old).

MS Word, it turns out, has a tool that rates your readablity. On a lark, I decided to put the piece I'm writing for teaspoon through its paces. No matter what I tried, with sentances that seemed perfectly clear to me, I couldn't get near the best seller stats. So I decided to simplify, simplify, simplify, and just test one sentance.

I started with this:

The galaxy has billions of stars. and got this result:

Reading ease: 59.7%
Grade level: 6.4

ouch!

I changed one word, to this:

The galaxy has hundreds of stars. and got this result:

Reading ease: 73.8%
Grade Level: 4.4

Better, but still not the 80% of the ideal. So I changed one last word:

The world has hundreds of stars.

Reading Ease: 100%
Grade Level 0.5 (what is that, kindergarten?)

Excuse me, but that can't be right. Is "World," with its triple-consonant blend really easier to sound out and read than "Galaxy?" I really don't think a child under 6 could read the last sentance easily, but it would take a child of over 12 to read the first one.

Makes me wonder if MSWord is really using the same formula developed by Dr. R. Flesch, or whether its coming up with those numbers based on how commonly a particular word is used. And as the program has a clear bias toward business writing (or so it seems to me, based on its preprogrammed templates), that could account (in part) for its dislike of words like "Cosmo-biologists," "space port" and "specieis."

It also makes me wonder how any sci-fi writers get on the best selling lists at all, since you can't really write for the genre without using words like "galaxy," "universe," and techno-babble like: "Anti-matter decompression drive."

Awww, skrew it. I'm not writing for a general audience... I'm writing for Doctor Who fans. And we've been reciting techo-babble to each other longer than nearly anybody! ;-)

Comments

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

'World' is a word you learn early in life, but most people wait a little longer for 'galaxy'. A kid might know a word like 'world' based on word recognition learning, while 'galaxy' would have to be sounded out because it's unfamiliar. So in that case, it would be a familiar word that is recognized on sight vs. an unfamiliar one that has to be read phonetically.

Quite frankly, I always thought the 'reading level' quoted on the backs of kids' books was a load of crap, but then, I was reading when I was three.

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

Isn't Flesch all about total number of letters vs total number of words? I remember having to do Flesch-Kinkaid for text books (you flip to a random page, go to a random paragraph & take a random sentence, count letters & words, put into formula, repeat, average). But it was so long ago, I don't remember specifics anymore.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I think so -- something like that, anyway. Syllables may be a part of it, too, and words per sentance.

But if that's the case, then

The galaxy has billions of stars. and The galaxy has hundreds of stars.

should have the same score, since "hundreds" and "billions" both have the same number of letters and syllables. But instead, there's a difference of 2 whole grade levels, and a rise of %14 readability.

It makes me think that MSWord is incorporating its internal dictionary into the formula, taking into account word meaning, and assuming that grander scales are just harder to understand.

Which, if I'm right, is kinda sad...

[rob-t-firefly.livejournal.com]

I refuse to accept the judgement of a Microsoft product.. these are the poeple who decided it'd be a good idea to use the "Start" button to shut the PC down.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

LOL! true.

'Course, this is all really just morbid curiousity, kinda like watching the early episodes of American Idol, but it does leave you to wonder: "What were they thinking?!"