Assessing the readability of a NYTimes.com excerpt.

This month's Fog Index text comes from a January 26 NYTimes.com piece ("Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?" by Erin Griffith). Here's the sample text with longer word italicized:

"Internet companies may have miscalculated in encouraging employees to equate their work with their intrinsic value as human beings. After a long era of basking in positive esteem, the tech industry is experiencing a backlash both broad and fierce, on subjects from monopolistic behavior to spreading disinformation and inciting racial violence. And workers are discovering how much power they wield. In November, some 20,000 Googlers participated in a walkout protesting the company's handling of sexual abusers. Other company employees shut down an artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon that could have helped military drones become more lethal."

--Word count: 97 words
--Average sentence length: 19 words (19, 32, 9, 16, 21)
--Words with 3+ syllables: 23 percent (22/98 words)
--Fog Index: (19+23) *.4 = 16 (16.8, no rounding)

We need to reduce the Fog by 5 points to fall within ideal limits. Looking at our calculations, we see a clear culprit. Nearly a quarter of the words in the sample have 3 or more syllables. Let's see what we can do to reduce the number of longer words and cut through the Fog.

"Online companies may have erred in suggesting that staffers' work reflects their intrinsic value as human beings. After many years in a largely positive spotlight, the tech industry is facing a backlash both broad and fierce. They have been accused of monopolistic conduct, spreading disinformation, and inciting racial violence. And workers are realizing how much power they wield. In November, some 20,000 Googlers joined a walkout protesting the company's handling of sexual abusers. Other staffers shut down an artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon that could have helped military drones become more lethal."

--Word count: 93 words
--Average sentence length: 16 words (17, 19, 13, 9, 15, 20)
--Words with 3+ syllables: 13 percent (12/92 words)
--Fog Index: (16+13) *.4 = 11 (11.6, no rounding)

This was a challenging sample to edit. There were lots of longer words to eliminate, and most sentences weren't easily split up. We cut the number of longer words by 10, nearly half of the original sample. This left us with a Fog index of 12, so we split the second sentence in two to get us the rest of the way to 11.

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