1. Skills Development Using Word’s grammar checker to determine if writing is at an appropriate reading level for the intended audience

2. Word’s grammar checker performs several functions:  Checks spelling  Checks grammar  Checks for some formatting errors, such as extra spaces  Performs a readability check

3. What is readability?  A statistic that lets you know what grade level you are writing at  Helps you determine if you are writing at the level of your intended audience  The function does not operate by default in Word—you must turn it on

4. How do I enable the readability feature?  Open Word  At the toolbar, go to TOOLS, down to OPTIONS  Select the GRAMMAR and SPELLING tab  Check the box SHOW READABILITY STATISTICS

5. Make sure the box “SHOW READABILITY STATS” is checked

6. Test it  Open up a document in Word  Run the grammar check on the writing  When the checker is done, Word displays the readability statistic

8. How do I interpret the readability statistic?  Flesch Kincaid score gives U.S. grade school reading level of the document  10-12 (twelfth grade) is appropriate for most academic writing  Aim for 8-10 for most business writing  Aim for 6-8 for general audiences

9. How can I change my writing to meet my reader’s level?  Adjust sentence length  Adjust word length

10. Some final advice about using a grammar checker  Never turn off your grammar checker because it is distracting  Don’t change a sentence if you doubt Word’s recommendation  Print your work, highlight problems, and discuss them with your instructor  Never trust the grammar checker to find all your errors—use a human proofreader, too!