Fog Index test
Excerpt from “The Future of News: That’s us”
95 words
Why shouldn’t we just sit back and perform the way all of our college textbooks instruct us to? If anyone thinks news is just delivering facts, and that it is a piece of cake, the truth is that creativity and organizational skills need to be of the highest caliber in order to stay with the ever-changing world. We are all striving to play a part in the future of news, so damn right this business is competitive. Writers pull-over, because up and coming journalists are equipped with so much more than a pencil and paper.
Average words per sentence: 23.75
“Hard” word count: 8
23.75 + 8 = 31.75
31.75 x 0.4 = 12.7
My Fog Index = 12.7
First of all, I learned what a Fog Index is. At first I thought it would be some stupid, useless way to rate writing. But it is in fact, an almost perfect way of calculating the readability of my written content.
It is nice to know to shoot for a Fog Index of eight. I think, recently, I have been writing at a fog index of 14, even when I do my best to simplify things.
This was very interesting; I’m pretty sure I will remember how to calculate the Fog Index for the rest of my life; or at least until I become a retired, senile journalist.
I have one question. Do hyphenated words count as one or two words? Because I had two hyphenated words in my excerpt. Just wondering. Thank you!
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I think hyphenated words are counted as one word, but I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, your FOG index is on the high side. It's mostly because of long sentences, but also due to your use of phrases like "in order to" when simply saying "to" would do. So tighten it up and your writing will be even more enjoyable to read.
You can find some FOG Index calculators online -- Google it and try 'em out.
15/15