Bravo, President Obama!
by Jonathan Clark on January 21, 2009 at 9:33 am
The inauguration is over, and one of America’s greatest speech-makers has taken the oath of office.
I’m not writing to comment on President Obama’s speech. I enjoyed it, and I felt good about the day (even though I did not vote for him in November).
In my classes, I emphasize the simplicity of America’s greatest speeches. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. King’s “I Have a Dream.” Besides addressing critical issues, these speeches resonated with people. They inspired them.
One of the reasons is readability. All three of those speeches check out between eighth and ninth grade level. That means almost anyone can grasp their truths, act them out, and use them as inspiration.
I ran Obama’s address through the readability screen this morning. Here’s what I found:
• His speech contains 4.4 characters per word.
• He averaged 21.8 words per sentence (that surprises me, because so many sentences were so short).
• He used passive voice in 11 percent of his sentences. I challenge my classes to write 15 percent or less.
• The speech has a reading ease score of 64.4. This is superb!
• And its grade level is…8.7.
Thank you, Mr. President, for inspiring us all. And for proving a most important point about good writing and communication. Again!
Heck, I only got a reading ease score of 53.8 for this post!
Very true about the use of short words. I continue to be amazed at how consistent this is in powerful speeches. And no more powerful lesson than Obama’s speech yesterday.