Someone asked me to rewrite an article for our congregational newsletter - make it more friendly and less intimidating. It was a piece on being a worship associate. I had googled for other UU Worship Associate descriptions and did a nifty cut and paste job.
I was a bit grumpy that I had to take out some big words. And I thought I would check the reading level (a WORD spelling and grammar option). It came out as reading at 10.8 grade level. I shorten some sentences, eliminated some phrases, deleted big words and brought it down to 8.1.
The process made me wonder what is the average grade readibility of UU sermons? So I made a very unscientific review of Borden award sermons for the last three years:
Borden Award |
Passive Sentences |
Reading Level |
Sharing a Journey - Lisa Sargent, Starr King School |
2% |
6.6 |
Music and Mediation: Resolving Conflict in a Warring World - Meadville Lombard ministerial candidate, Bret Lortie 2005 |
2% |
6.5 |
Playing With the Italians - Rev. Edward A. Frost, Atlanta , GA |
8% |
7.1 |
The above is really impressive. Does this mean that anyone with a sixth grade reading level can be affected by a good UU sermon? FYI:
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score 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. The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is: (.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) – 15.59 where: ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences) ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words Humbled is a two syllable word. Meek might be better
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