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presidential platforms: metrics
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Mar 12th, 2008 at 08:50pm |
I am preparing more detailed comments on the platforms of the various candidates, but I thought you might be interested in some basic numbers.
Most are self-explanatory. The Flesch-Kincaid metrics use words, syllables, and sentences to estimate the reading difficulty. Grade Level estimates the number of years of education required to comprehend the writing. Ease measures how easy it is to read, on a scale of 1-100 (100 = very easy).
Elections candidates are often encouraged to use the active voice. "I will engage students" is active. "Students should be engaged by candidates" is passive. Passive is usually less concise, and an abundance of passive sentences is undesirable in most non-scientific writing styles.
| Candidate | # Words | # Paragraphs | Flesch-Kincaid
Grade | Flesch-Kincaid Ease | % Passive Sentences |
|---|
| Larkin | 814 | 12 | 13 | 41.6 | 13% | | Gault | 1224 | 62 | 12.9 | 36.3 | 8% | | Hillman | 1604 | 19 | 14.8 | 40.6 | 5% | | Debo | 1055 | 15 | 9.3 | 62.6 | 18% |
Comments:
Disconnected and Lovin' It says:
[Mar 12th @ 09:37pm]
Looks like the Ontario kids who graduated in the double-cohort year or later will be voting for Debo.
Elitist Nerd says:
[Mar 12th @ 09:43pm]
Not to mention anyone working on an Arts degree.
Disconnected and Lovin' It says:
[Mar 12th @ 09:47pm]
Out of curiosity, when was the last time a lady held the position of DSU Pres?
Elitist Nerd says:
[Mar 12th @ 09:53pm]
Like you could trust a woman with that sort of power. Who knows what kind of terror she would wreak when she's riding her menstrual cycle?
Kate says:
[Mar 12th @ 10:01pm]
The bears can smell the menstruation!
mike says:
[Mar 12th @ 10:20pm]
The last woman to hold the office of president was Johanne Galarneau. She was president from May 2002 - May 2003, and was interim president from May '03 to October '03. (An interim president was necessary due to Presidential Crisis '03).
For my money, one of the best presidents of the past decade.
Disconnected and Lovin' It says:
[Mar 12th @ 10:51pm]
Well now, that tells me how much I cared about the DSU in my first year of university. I didn't even know who the President was at the time. Boy how things have changed; can't get enough of the DSU now...*cough*
AEB says:
[Mar 12th @ 11:02pm]
Ahhh... those were the days, back in '02-'03. I remember them well. I was but a wee one then, running around singing hateful anthems about co-ed residences, reading the Gazette religiously to get the next piece of gossip about the DSU impeachment scandal, voting using a paper ballot... Times were simpler then, that's for sure... I hardly recognize that Dalhousie.
John Hillman says:
[Mar 13th @ 01:05am]
Mr. Barry, the TA who underlined every passive sentence in my first university paper, would be proud to see those numbers.
He'd still probably give me a B+ though, just to show me that this isn't high school any more.
mike says:
[Mar 13th @ 01:10am]
That's cuz ur a profushunal jernalism.
JP says:
[Mar 13th @ 08:32am]
I was so proud to see Larkin's numbers until I arrived at the results for passive sentences.
She's hot AND she writes at a grade 13 level? Shit, sign me up for 3 votes. Visions of grammatical union dance in my mind. Comma splices made fun again; the joys of being with someone who can use a semi-colon adroitly.
The passive tense has destroyed our forbidden love. Who wants a partner whose utterances are passive 13% of the time? Can you convince her to climb on top?
This election is draining me of innuendo and lacks dramatic irony. Where is the love?
Gregory Debogorski says:
[Mar 13th @ 04:32pm]
Hey Jp! You have a weird taste in women. I have a big scaly iguanna if you want to mingle with her too.
Polyamorous Coward says:
[Mar 13th @ 05:12pm]
Words fail me.
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- Word of the Day
- obfuscate
To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand.
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