The Readability Game

[The Beatles]

Don't troll, please. Just take the game seriously and mock elsewhere if you must.

This site measures readability. I am using it mainly for an important essay I am writing. To relieve the stress of work, I sometimes paste in blocks of text that I admire and see how readable they are. If you find a block of text that you like or admire, quote it here and paste the scores.

http://www.editcentral.com/gwt/com.editcentral.EC/EC.html

The Flesch reading ease score is based on a range of 0-100, with lower values for harder text and higher values for easier text; the other scores show the approximate (US) school grade of the text. Grades 13-16 correspond to college level; grades higher than 16 correspond to graduate school level.

I'll kick off with the pamphlet introducing the NHS in 1948 in the UK.

Everyone – rich or poor, man, woman or child – can use it or any part of it. But it is not a ‘charity’. You are all paying for it, mainly as taxpayers, and it will relieve your money worries in times of illness.

Flesch reading ease score:
low
88.1
Automated readability index:
very low
2.7
Flesch-Kincaid grade level:
very low
4.6
Coleman-Liau index:
very low
3.2
Gunning fog index:
low
7.7
SMOG index:
low
7.5

211 characters
168 non-space characters
157 letters/numbers
44 words
2 complex words
54 syllables
3 sentences
3.57 chars per word
1.23 syllables per word
14.67 words per sentence

[The Beatles]

From a book I just read:

Let me take an average case. Let me take your case, O man or woman of thirty, living in comfort, with some cares, and some responsibilities, and some pretty hard daily work, but not too much of any! The question of mental efficiency is in the air. It interests you. It touches you nearly. Your conscience tells you that your mind is less active and less informed than it might be. You suddenly spring up from the garden-seat, and you say to yourself that you will take your mind in hand and do something with it. Wait a moment. Be so good as to sink back into that garden-seat and clutch that tennis racket a little longer. You have had these “hours of insight" before, you know. You have not arrived at the age of thirty without having tried to carry out noble resolutions -- and failed. What precautions are you going to take against failure this time? For your will is probably no stronger now than it was aforetime. You have admitted and accepted failure in the past. And no wound is more cruel to the spirit of resolve than that dealt by failure. You fancy the wound closed, but just at the critical moment it may reopen and mortally bleed you. What are your precautions? Have you thought of them? No. You have not.

Amazingly, a good score:
Flesch reading ease score:
low
85.7
Automated readability index:
very low
4.2
Flesch-Kincaid grade level:
very low
4.1
Coleman-Liau index:
low
6.6
Gunning fog index:
low
7
SMOG index:
low
7.6

1220 characters
995 non-space characters
960 letters/numbers
226 words
14 complex words
293 syllables
20 sentences
4.25 chars per word
1.3 syllables per word
11.3 words per sentence

[Freenhult]

Just playing around.

Captains are the most respected and powerful Soul Reapers in Soul Society. With one exception (Kenpachi Zaraki), all captains are able to perform the bankai of their zanpakutō. Knowing bankai gives Soul Reapers an average of five to ten times the strength of those Soul Reapers who are unable to perform it. They have also extensively trained with their bankai, allowing them to actually use the enormous power effectively in battle.[3] To achieve the position of captain a Soul Reaper must display great expertise with Soul Reaper abilities and battle tactics, and must be approved by either their fellow captains or the members of their division. All of these factors create an extremely large gap in power between captains and lower-ranked officers, even lieutenants.

Flesch reading ease score:
high
45.9
Automated readability index:
high
14.9
Flesch-Kincaid grade level:
high
13
Coleman-Liau index:
medium
13
Gunning fog index:
high
16.4
SMOG index:
high
14

770 characters
647 non-space characters
631 letters/numbers
124 words
20 complex words
199 syllables
5 sentences
5.09 chars per word
1.6 syllables per word
24.8 words per sentence

Haha, guess its not so simple?