Sentence Length
By Paul J. Welsh
Whether in an ad or a letter, how long should a sentence be? Well Rudolf Flesch would tell you it depends on how much you want to communicate.
Twenty years ago I received a copy of Flesch’s book, “How to Write, Speak and Think More Effectively.” In that book, Flesch shares a chart of average sentence length measured by words. He says there are no rules about how long a sentence should be but there was science involved in developing this chart he shared.
Since I was just skimming the book at the time I took this chart quite literally. I questioned the science that suggested sentences of 25 words or more were difficult to read. And 20 years ago I started my own scientific experiment. For two decades, every time I got lost or confused reading a sentence I stopped and counted the words. And every time that happened, my count was 26, 27 or 28 words. I continue to be amazed but the results never change.
In his book, Flesch nuances language about this chart providing plenty of wiggle room. For example, he writes, “long sentences can be used for artistic reasons’ and sites the great French writer, Marcel Proust, as one who built his novels on never-ending sentences.
So I guess the question is, how badly do you want to communicate? For me, if I catch myself writing a sentence longer than 25 words I look at how I can make it two sentences. I do it in letters, brochures, ads—whatever I’m doing where I want to make a point or create a sale.
Start doing your own word counts and see if people don’t think you communicate better.
This article first appeared in the Mark Eimer newsletter. Mark’s website is MarkEimer.com.
By Paul J. Welsh
Whether in an ad or a letter, how long should a sentence be? Well Rudolf Flesch would tell you it depends on how much you want to communicate.
Twenty years ago I received a copy of Flesch’s book, “How to Write, Speak and Think More Effectively.” In that book, Flesch shares a chart of average sentence length measured by words. He says there are no rules about how long a sentence should be but there was science involved in developing this chart he shared.
| Average sentence lengths in words related to ease of comprehension | |
| VERY EASY | 8 or less |
| EASY | 11 |
| FAIRLY EASY | 14 |
| STANDARD | 17 |
| FAIRLY DIFFICULT | 21 |
| DIFFICULT | 25 |
| VERY DIFFICULT | 29 or more |
Since I was just skimming the book at the time I took this chart quite literally. I questioned the science that suggested sentences of 25 words or more were difficult to read. And 20 years ago I started my own scientific experiment. For two decades, every time I got lost or confused reading a sentence I stopped and counted the words. And every time that happened, my count was 26, 27 or 28 words. I continue to be amazed but the results never change.
In his book, Flesch nuances language about this chart providing plenty of wiggle room. For example, he writes, “long sentences can be used for artistic reasons’ and sites the great French writer, Marcel Proust, as one who built his novels on never-ending sentences.
So I guess the question is, how badly do you want to communicate? For me, if I catch myself writing a sentence longer than 25 words I look at how I can make it two sentences. I do it in letters, brochures, ads—whatever I’m doing where I want to make a point or create a sale.
Start doing your own word counts and see if people don’t think you communicate better.
This article first appeared in the Mark Eimer newsletter. Mark’s website is MarkEimer.com.
