Hemingway

The Hemingway App's analysis
of this blog post.

A new web app that debuted last month, Hemingway, is a tool designed to simplify your writing. Created to help business writers keep their writing simple and direct, it highlights aspects of your writing that could be simplified for greater readability.

Is it really in the spirit of Hemingway, as the name implies? The New Yorker ran some passages from Hemingway's novels through the app, and he only rates "O.K." on the readability scale.

For what it's worth, this post rates as readable for a 10th grader ("Good" on the readability scale) - two sentences that are very hard to read, one adverb, one word or phrase that can be simpler, and one instance of the passive voice.

Is simplicity the best way to judge writing? Play around with the app yourself.