Five- M in u t e A n a lyst
has a grade level of 7.8, and my June
Five-Minute Analyst column [8] has a
grade level of 8.6. Conversely, “The Cat
in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss, consisting of
short sentences and monosyllabic words,
scores -.36.
Does This Matter?
The writing style of the presidents is
not only a reflection of themselves, but
also of the times that they live and the
audience to which they are speaking. It
should not surprise us that in the modern era, presidents speaking to the entire
electorate in real time via TV and radio
have a lower grade level than Madison,
who was speaking to a smaller audience.
Those who wish for a more “intellectual”
discourse with our leaders should consider the opening paragraph of Madison’s
1809 address:
“At the period of our last meeting I had
the satisfaction of communicating an adjustment with one of the principal belligerent nations, highly important in itself, and
still more so as presaging a more extended accommodation. It is with deep concern
I am now to inform you that the favorable
prospect has been over-clouded by a refusal of the British government to abide by
the act of its minister plenipotentiary, and
by its ensuing policy toward the United
States as seen through the communications of the minister sent to replace him.”
It will be interesting in future years to
see if the apparent difficulty of texts stabilizes, increases or decreases. At this moment, I would believe all three outcomes.
Harrison Schramm (harrison.schramm@gmail.
com) is an operations research professional in the
Washington, D.C., area. He is a member of INFORMS
and a Certified Analytics Professional (CAP).
Notes & REFERENCES
1. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php#menu
2. Kincaid, J. P., 1975, “Derivation of New Readability
Formulas for Navy Enlisted Personnel,” Research
Branch Report 8-75, Millington, Tenn.
3. The closing of “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles
Dickens.
4. A sentence I just made up for this purpose.
5. http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/koRpus/
index.html
6. http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/
speeches/gettysburg.htm
7. As translated by George Long: http://www.ptypes.
com/enchiridion.html
8. http://www.analytics-magazine.org/july-august2014/1080-five-minute-analyst-probabilistic-parkingproblems
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