How to make sure your material is readable
Clear language is language that is clear to your audience. To be sure that the language is clear, you need to test it.
While preparing your draft, there are some quick and easy checks you can do:
Testing with the Fog Index
There are also various computer and manual readability tests. One manual test is called the Fog Index. It estimates the grade level of your writing. (The computer tests in your word processing software work much the same way.)
If you are testing a long document, take two or more samples.
As an example, let's use the Before and After versions of the memo on harassment from Acme Screw & Gear, found on pages 16 and 17.
100
-:- by the number of sentences
Before version: 3 sentences (100 -:- 3 = 33.3)
After version: 8 sentences (100 -:- 8 = 12.5)
+ the number of words with three or more syllables
Before version: 31 words (33.3 + 31 = 64.3)
After version: 26 words (12.5 + 26 = 38.5)
x .4 = years of education needed to read the sample
Before version: 64.3 x .4 = 25.7 years of education needed
After version: 38.5 x .4 = 15.4 years of education needed