Linsear Write
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Linsear Write is a readability metric for English text, purportedly developed for the United States Air Force to help them calculate the readability of their technical manuals.[1] It is one of many such readability metrics, but is specifically designed to calculate the United States grade level of a text sample based on sentence length and the number of words used that have three or more syllables.[2] It is similar to the Fry readability formula.
The standard Linsear Write metric Lw runs on a 100-word sample:[3]
- For each "easy word", defined as words with 2 syllables or less, add 1 point.
- For each "hard word", defined as words with 3 syllables or more, add 3 points.
- Divide the points by the number of sentences in the 100-word sample.
- Adjust the provisional result r:
- If r > 20, Lw = r / 2.
- If r ≤ 20, Lw = r / 2 - 1.
The result is a "grade level" measure, reflecting the estimated years of education needed to read the text fluently.