How to Use the Hemingway App to Improve Your Writing
By: Jennifer Geer
Tags: Editing, Writing, Writing Tips, Creativity, How To

Readability Grade Levels

The app uses an algorithm to determine the lowest education level needed to understand your writing. For example, when you see a sixth-grade reading level, it doesn’t mean your content is meant for sixth graders. It does mean that the lowest education level to understand the writing is sixth grade.

Writing at a college-grade level doesn’t mean that your writing is going to be better than writing at a sixth-grade level. Indeed, it may be more tedious and filled with jargon difficult for readers to comprehend. According to the Hemingway App, most people read at about the tenth-grade level, which is a good grade to aim for.

If you do content writing for clients, you will often see they are looking for writing around a sixth-grade level. This keeps your writing simple, free from jargon, and ensures most people will understand it.

Adverbs & Weak Phrases

The Hemingway App lets you easily pick out your adverbs by highlighting them in blue. It’s a real benefit if you’re in the Stephen King camp on adverbs.

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops” — Stephen King

You may have a less harsh philosophy on adverbs. Some people think the occasional adverb spices up their writing. Yet it’s still nice to have them highlighted where you can easily spot them.

It also catches weak phrases you can eliminate and highlights them in blue as well. Ironically enough, the Hemingway App alerted me to the use of a weak phrase in King’s quote, see it highlighted below in blue.

Screenshot by author.

In this case “I believe” is redundant. You can just say “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” It gets the point across all the same, but sounds more powerful.

Passive Voice

I’m not going to cover all the reasons experts recommend for not using passive voice. The app does promise “bold” writing, and bold writing doesn’t come from passive phrases. Yet passive voice is not a grammatical error. It’s a stylistic choice, and you may have your reasons for using it.

If you’re trying to eliminate or limit passive voice, this app makes it easy to spot. You’ll see passive phrases highlighted in green.

Phrases with a Simpler Alternative

Not only will the app identify phrases that can benefit from a simpler alternative, it also suggests a replacement word. I tend to overuse the word “however.” The app highlights it in purple, and when I hover over the highlighted word, it provides suggestions. “But” or “yet” are simpler alternatives to my “however.”

Other common simpler words are “use” instead of “utilize” and “goal” to replace “objective.”

Again, you get to make the final call. If you’ve got a reason to use “utilize,” and it works for your style, go for it.

Hard-to-Read and Very Hard-to-Read Sentences

If you have a sentence that is getting complex or long, the app will highlight it in yellow. If it’s very long and complex, you’ll see it in red.

The Hemingway App recommends that you split these sentences up. They advise that you banish all your red sentences. Long sentences can be edited, simplified, and split up until they become easier to comprehend.