MEMORANDUM

To: Language Competency Croup (Al Atkinson October 9, 1974 and Sandra Carpenter)

From: W. L. Day

Dear Language Competency Group:

I was fascinated by your memorandum, and, while this document had only fourteen sentences in it, I decided that I would run a SMOG index on Le.

In the first ten sentences, I counted 31 polysyllabic words. Assuming the same level of bafflement, a document three times as long would have

given us on the basis of 30 sentences, a count of 93, which is pretty close to a square root of 10.

Adding 3 to 10, according to your instructions, gives us a reading level of Grade XLII, which sounds pretty close to first-year college competency.

But I've got a problem!

Does this mean that those who cannot understand The Mad Hatter or this particular article should receive reading assistance, or does it mean that we should reduce the SMOG index in the article?

Your advice and suggestions will be appreciated. _ ne WLD:mc

ce: The Mad Hatter - —