Powerful language does not have to be complicated. I occasionally apply a reading ease test to essays as a way of flagging overly complex language. The idea has been around for decades. It has its limits, but it also has its virtues, one of which is providing a number for comparing members of a class of essays. One class is American presidential inaugural addresses. The table below displays the reading ease numbers for Obama’s inaugural and three others, two of which — FDR’s first and JFK’s — are considered classics.
| FDR’s 1st | JFK | Bush’s 2nd | Obama | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level | 11.54 | 11.44 | 10.38 | 8.77 |
| Flesch Reading Ease Score | 55.48 | 59.13 | 56.21 | 65.74 |
| Sentences | 71 | 52 | 102 | 126 |
| Words | 1,719 | 1,346 | 2,038 | 2,375 |
| Average Syllables per Word | 1.50 | 1.44 | 1.54 | 1.44 |
| Average Words per Sentence | 24.21 | 25.88 | 19.98 | 18.85 |
You can apply this analysis yourself using the open source application Flesh.