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The Fog Index

Posted on Monday, September 29, 2014 at 9:44 PM

Assessing the readability of a ScientificAmerican.com article.

This month, we're calculating the Fog Index of a September 26, 2014, ScientificAmerican.com article ("A Guardian 'Agent' to Protect You from Digital Fraud" by Greg Blonder). Here's the excerpt:

"First, we are no longer able to flourish in a complex environment without automated assistance. The revolution is already upon us. Instead of unaided and unpracticed human driving skills, computers prevent our cars from skidding on ice. Soon, autonomous vehicles will replace cab drivers. Anti-virus software scans incoming messages on our behalf, alert for malevolent Trojan horses we might otherwise click on without their intervention. IBM is fielding systems that diagnose disease or provide marketing assistance. These artificial replacements for human instinct and judgment are growing more powerful every year, and will continue to do so for decades. They should be harnessed to protect our privacy, rather than pry ever deeper into our lives."

--Word count: 114 words
--Average sentence length: 14 words (15, 6, 16, 7, 21, 11, 22, 16)
--Words with 3+ syllables: 17 percent (19/114 words)
--Fog Index: (14+17)*.4 = 12 (no rounding)

The writer has done a good job of controlling the fog in this sample. Despite a somewhat high number of longer words, the Fog Index is 12, thanks in large part to the low average sentence length. The Fog-Gunning ideal is a score below 12, so let's see if we can shave off at least a point.

"First, we are no longer able to flourish in a complex environment without automated assistance. The revolution is already upon us. Instead of human driving skills, computers now prevent our cars from skidding on ice. Soon, autonomous cars will replace cab drivers. Anti-virus software scans incoming messages on our behalf, alert for viruses we might otherwise click on. IBM is fielding systems that diagnose disease or provide marketing support. These artificial replacements for human instinct and judgment are growing more powerful every year, and will continue to do so for decades. They should be harnessed to protect our privacy, rather than pry ever deeper into our lives."

--Word count: 107 words
--Average sentence length: 13 words (15, 6, 14, 7, 16, 11, 22, 16)
--Words with 3+ syllables: 12 percent (13/107 words)
--Fog Index: (13+12)*.4 = 10 (no rounding)

We didn't need to do much here. By replacing a few longer words with shorter ones and making a few other tweaks, we reduced our Fog Index by two points.

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