So I've become a bit obsessed with online dictionaries as of late and decided to run an Online Dictionary Showdown which really isn't as hard as it sounds. I picked four words:
encyclicals
monitories
poshlost
chattel
What's great is that there is a one stop shop for most online dictionaries...onelook.com.
Here's how they did:
encyclicals = 2 dictionaries had it.
encyclical, however has 22.
monitories = 1 dictionary.
poshlost = 1 dictionary, at Worthless Word of the Day, no less.
chattel = 21 in general and 13 in business categories respectively.
The winner in this impromptu test? Dictionary.com...gah.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Online Text Tools
I thought this should get a separate post because it covers several different things, but this page, has several fun online tools relating to words, text, readability and so on.
Anything from intentionally misspelling your text, to analyzing your text for word usage, readability or complexity, to finding how rare or unusual the words are in a text (or suggesting them).
Anything from intentionally misspelling your text, to analyzing your text for word usage, readability or complexity, to finding how rare or unusual the words are in a text (or suggesting them).
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
While I'm talking about words, especially unknown ones, here's a way to gauge how difficult a text supposedly is. The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test.
It's pretty much the de facto standard for measuring a texts readability and what grade level it's written for. The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read. That seems backwards to me, but...that's me.
If you have the inclination it's fun to measure your own work and see where it stands. There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
Btw this is the score for the text above this line:
Number of characters (without spaces) : 539.00
Number of words : 123.00
Number of sentences : 8.00
Average number of characters per word : 4.38
Average number of syllables per word : 1.49
Average number of words per sentence: 15.38
Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index : 9.40
Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index : 8.06
Flesh Kincaid Grade level : 7.96
ARI (Automated Readability Index) : 6.90
SMOG : 9.71
Flesch Reading Ease : 65.36
List of sentences which we suggest you should consider to rewrite to improve readability of the text :
The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read.
There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
I was just thinking that this would be VERY FUN to do to people's emails to see at what level they write at on average...hmmm
Another version of the test is here.
It's pretty much the de facto standard for measuring a texts readability and what grade level it's written for. The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read. That seems backwards to me, but...that's me.
If you have the inclination it's fun to measure your own work and see where it stands. There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
Btw this is the score for the text above this line:
Number of characters (without spaces) : 539.00
Number of words : 123.00
Number of sentences : 8.00
Average number of characters per word : 4.38
Average number of syllables per word : 1.49
Average number of words per sentence: 15.38
Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index : 9.40
Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index : 8.06
Flesh Kincaid Grade level : 7.96
ARI (Automated Readability Index) : 6.90
SMOG : 9.71
Flesch Reading Ease : 65.36
List of sentences which we suggest you should consider to rewrite to improve readability of the text :
The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read.
There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
I was just thinking that this would be VERY FUN to do to people's emails to see at what level they write at on average...hmmm
Another version of the test is here.
Unknown Words While Reading
I've had this problem for a long time now, ever since I've started reading actually. How to handle words in the text that I don't know. I've tried different things:
Looking them up immediately
Making a list for each chapter and looking them up afterwards
Ignoring them and just flag the page to go back to later
The trouble is I don't like looking up words while I'm reading because it's a hassle and I'm lazy like that. I can get myself to make a list while I read but then I'm looking up the words out of context. Ignoring them and thinking I'm going to get back to them later never works. So what to do?
Overall, probably the best solution is to look them up as I read but that's not always convenient because sometimes I'm reading outside, or in bed or sitting in some room someplace or riding in a car...it's just not convenient to lug around a dictionary. I guess an iPhone would be good for this, then I could access ninjawords or something (btw, ninjawords isn't as comprehensive as dictionary.com or others so far. Unfortunately, dictionary.com has a 100% success rate for me while the other online dictionaries I've tried at best get 99% from me...gah).
I have a HUGE dictionary here on my desk. HUGE. I've had it for a while now and while it's not completely up to date with the latest words like I dunno, blog, woot and ZOMG! it's overall fairly comprehensive. I've been making tick marks next to words I've looked up over the years so when I end up looking them up again I know I should be familiar with it. That's why I dig ninjawords history list so much. In a more perfect world dictionary.com would have a history list.
So I'm open for ideas. I'm thinking the best solution (until I get an iPhone or something) is to look up words right then and there or if I can't for some reason, jot down the word on the bookmark I'm using in the book and look them up later. What words don't I know you say? Here's a small selection from my current list:
Splenetic
Encyclicals
Monitories
Scabious
Missal
Lees
Santonin
Nasturtium
Antiphony
Dalmatic
Faille
Samovar
Looking them up immediately
Making a list for each chapter and looking them up afterwards
Ignoring them and just flag the page to go back to later
The trouble is I don't like looking up words while I'm reading because it's a hassle and I'm lazy like that. I can get myself to make a list while I read but then I'm looking up the words out of context. Ignoring them and thinking I'm going to get back to them later never works. So what to do?
Overall, probably the best solution is to look them up as I read but that's not always convenient because sometimes I'm reading outside, or in bed or sitting in some room someplace or riding in a car...it's just not convenient to lug around a dictionary. I guess an iPhone would be good for this, then I could access ninjawords or something (btw, ninjawords isn't as comprehensive as dictionary.com or others so far. Unfortunately, dictionary.com has a 100% success rate for me while the other online dictionaries I've tried at best get 99% from me...gah).
I have a HUGE dictionary here on my desk. HUGE. I've had it for a while now and while it's not completely up to date with the latest words like I dunno, blog, woot and ZOMG! it's overall fairly comprehensive. I've been making tick marks next to words I've looked up over the years so when I end up looking them up again I know I should be familiar with it. That's why I dig ninjawords history list so much. In a more perfect world dictionary.com would have a history list.
So I'm open for ideas. I'm thinking the best solution (until I get an iPhone or something) is to look up words right then and there or if I can't for some reason, jot down the word on the bookmark I'm using in the book and look them up later. What words don't I know you say? Here's a small selection from my current list:
Splenetic
Encyclicals
Monitories
Scabious
Missal
Lees
Santonin
Nasturtium
Antiphony
Dalmatic
Faille
Samovar
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