: Re: Is there an objective way to determine that writing is "stilted and cluttered"? For question, see title. For example of supposedly "stilted and cluttered" writing, see below. The Constitutional

Most word processing programs have a way to measure "readability" of your document. There are also free online sites that do the same thing, which you can easily find by searching for document readability. These measures combine average word length, average sentence length, average paragraph length, active vs. passive voice, etc. The numbers obtained are somewhat arbitrary (hence there are numerous measures). Nevertheless, they serve as pretty good guidelines.

For example, when I copy your sample text into Word and run spell/grammar check on it, Word tells me that this text has a Flesch Reading Ease score of 6.3. According to Wikipedia's article, 6.3 is at the far end of "university level" (0 to 30, with 0 being virtually impossible to read). The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 17.5 corresponds to 4.5 years past a high school diploma, i.e., graduate school.

As a counter-example, my latest journal paper has a Reading Ease of 45.3 and a Grade Level of 11.6. Another counter-example is MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, with RE=65.1 and GL=8.8. And, Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" has RE=65.0 and GL=10.9.

So, I'd have to agree that your sample text is hard to read. I don't know if that makes it "stilted and cluttered." (BTW, good points!)

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: Re: Is there an objective way to determine that writing is "stilted and cluttered"? For question, see title. For example of supposedly "stilted and cluttered" writing, see below. The Constitutional

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