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Fry, Edward – 1982
"Writeability" is concerned with helping writers and editors produce materials on easier readability levels. A major input of most readability formulas is vocabulary difficulty. One way to increase readability is to use simple vocabulary or shorter words since word frequency studies show that more common words are shorter. The other…
Descriptors: Language Styles, Punctuation, Readability, Readability Formulas
Crismore, Avon – 1982
Milton's style of pronominal reference in his essay, "Areopagitica," leads to a lack of comprehension at times and to slow processing. His use of demonstrative pronouns makes it difficult to identify antecedents precisely and quickly. For example, in one case a reader must go back over 400 words to find an antecedent. His use of relative…
Descriptors: Decoding (Reading), Discourse Analysis, Language Processing, Pronouns
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Fry, Edward B. – Journal of Reading, 1989
Argues that readability formulas accurately predict how easily a passage will be understood by considering sentence length and word difficulty. Claims that the misuse of readability formulas as writing guides is responsible for much of the criticism. Challenges the critics to come up with something better. (RS)
Descriptors: Basal Reading, Content Analysis, Prior Learning, Readability
Crismore, Avon – 1982
In the writing of Matthew Arnold, integration, one great impression rather than many great individual lines, is the most important goal. In his essay, "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time," the "blocs" of his thought are in sets of two, three, or even four sentences: in effect, he writes much like a poet, in couplets,…
Descriptors: Cohesion (Written Composition), Discourse Analysis, English Literature, Paragraph Composition
Williams, Pamela Perrigo – Florida Vocational Journal, 1979
Discusses elements other than reading level that can affect ease of understanding vocational materials. Groups these elements into four major areas: (1) vocabulary, (2) sentence structure, (3) organization (the way sentences are arranged into paragraphs), and (4) relevance (the way the author relates the topic to the reader's experience). (LRA)
Descriptors: Guidelines, Instructional Materials, Opinions, Readability
Crismore, Avon – 1982
"The Later Middle Ages: Civilization Reborn" in Ginn's "Our World," a chapter from a sixth grade social studies textbook, was assessed by the author, who used specific evaluation criteria. Although four strengths were indicated, the author dealt primarily with weaknesses of the text and made many suggestions for improvement.…
Descriptors: Evaluation Methods, Grade 6, Intermediate Grades, Readability
Steinberg, Erwin R. – 1985
Intended for writing teachers, this paper shows how "pithy prescriptions" for writing, such as "use definite, specific, concrete language," can be misleading or wrong. To support this thesis, the paper examines a technical writing book advocating short sentences and finds that it has sentences averaging 27.8 words in one section and 30.18 in…
Descriptors: Content Analysis, Expository Writing, Generalization, Higher Education