Remember KISS

You know what KISS means… keep it simple stupid… and we should apply that to all we do in every area of communication. I was reminded of this the other day when I was out bike riding and passed a sign “Subject to inundation” which was obviously a bureaucrat’s way of saying “May be flooded”. It’s a no brainer to decide that the latter phrase is the simplest and clearest message.

When I finish writing an article I generally make sure that what I have written is simple and easy to understand by checking its “readability”, an inbuilt feature of MS word.

Here’s how to use it if you aren’t familiar with it.

Readability Scores

When you’ve used the check spelling and grammar feature in Microsoft Word, 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. To set up this facility:

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
To use : on the Standard toolbar, click Spelling and Grammar .

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.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score (The one I prefer)

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

A tip

An even easier method of ensuring that things are simple is to use short words (less than 3 syllables) and short sentences (10-15 words).