Make your average sentence 15 words long

Make your average sentence 15 words long

The maximum sentence length for a good level of comprehension is 25 words. Split long sentences up into 2 or 3, or use bullet points.

The Oxford Guide to plain English, GOV.UK and linguists agree:

• 15 word sentences are more likely to be comprehensible
• 25 words is a good maximum sentence length limit
• above 40 words sentences are hard to comprehend easily
  

Example:

This sentence is about 15 words long and is easy to understand.

Avoid complex sentence structures

Dawn helps you follow this advice by flagging any sentence over 25 words.

They are less easy to comprehend quickly. Understanding them requires more cognitive effort than simple sentences.

Example:
This typical extract from a Local Offer has 90 words and a reading age of 16 to 17.

Most children with a special educational need have their needs met by their school with little or no need of support from external agencies. In some cases schools will ask for extra support from services for these children. Schools must identify pupils who have SEN and need extra help and they provide this under the heading of SEN support. Most children who have extra help are supported under SEN Support. Identifying need at the earliest point and then making effective provision improves long term outcomes for children and young people.

After using Dawn and a little thought we can have 56 words.

Schools must identify children who have a special educational need. They try to do this as early as possible. Children who need extra help get support from school. This is called SEN support. Sometimes schools will ask for extra support from outside services.   Good early support improves the long term opportunities for children and young people.

We can argue over some points, I'm sure. And I'd love to get that reading age down. But I hope you agree it's much easier to read.

📝  Look for some wordy paragraphs in your Local Offer. Have a go at cutting them down and show us the before and after in the discussion.