Explain how electronic tools aid in making computations and identifying changes that can improve readability.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. The grammar and style checker feature of leading word-processing software calculates readability measures to aid you in writing for quick and easy reading and listening. The Fog Index, a popular readability index developed by Robert Gunning, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level calculator available in Microsoft Word consider the length of sentences and the difficulty of words to produce the approximate grade level at which a person must read in order to understand the material. For example, a grade level of 10 indicates a person needs to be able to read at the tenth-grade level to understand the material. Fortunately, you do not have to calculate readability manually, but understanding the manual calculation of the Fog index will illustrate clearly how sentence length and difficulty of words affect readability calculations and guide you in adapting messages.The value of calculating a readability measure lies in the feedback you gain about average length of sentences and the difficulty of the words. Revise and recalculate the readability index and continue revising until you feel the reading level is appropriate for the intended audience.The grammar and style feature in word processing programs also locates grammatical errors, including misspellings and common usage errors, such as the use of fragments, run-on sentences, subject-verb disagreement, passive voice, double words, and split infinitives. Because it can only guess at the structure of a sentence and then apply a rigid set of rules, a grammar and style checker, such as a spell checker, must be used cautiously. It is not a reliable substitute for a human editor who has an effective writing style and is familiar with the rules the software displays. Allow the software to flag misspellings and writing errors as you write, accept or reject the suggested changes based on your knowledge of effective writing, and use the readability measures to adjust your writing levels appropriately. REJ: Please see the section "Improve Readability" for more information.