How to Use the Hemingway App to Improve Your Writing

Ernest Hemingway, known for his simple and direct style of writing, began his career as a news journalist. This may be where he developed his ability to write succinctly. He used simple language to convey deep meaning. His sparse style is so well known that an app has been created in his name to help writers cut extraneous words from their work.

The Hemingway App is a software editor designed to make your writing “bold and clear.” That’s a big claim for a software app to make. Can it deliver its promise?

Don’t expect a software editor to turn you into Hemingway. Yet it can be used as one of many tools available to help clean up your writing and avoid major problem areas.

How Does It Work?

The app has an online interface you can use for free and a for-pay version for $19.99. The only benefit to the paid version is that it can be used offline. Unless you need to work offline, you can save your money by using the online version.

When you go into the online editor, you have a choice to either write within the editor or copy and paste your text. Below is a look at the sample they provide.

The first thing you see is that the readability score for this sample was rated “Good” at a “Grade 6.”

The app also gives us reading time and counts for letters, characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Beyond that we have the following:

• Adverbs (highlighted in blue)
• Passive voice use (highlighted in green)
• Phrases with a simpler alternative (highlighted in purple)
• Hard-to-read sentences (highlighted in yellow)
• Very hard-to-read sentences (highlighted in red)

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 needed 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.

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

Pros and Cons of Using the Hemingway App

Like any editing tool, there are advantages and disadvantages to using this app.

Pros include:

• It identifies all instances of passive voice.
• It highlights messy and complex sentences that your readers will find hard to understand.
• It ensures you don’t overdo it on adverbs.
• It’s useful when you need a certain reading level or a simple, easy-to-understand style. For example, if you’re selling a product or teaching someone how to use something.

Cons include:

• When you split every sentence deemed as “hard to read” or “very hard to read,” you may risk sounding like a robot. Having a mix of short and long sentences provides variety and keeps your writing engaging.
• Not every word has to be simplified. Depending on your writing style and audience, you may want to throw some complex words in there to spice things up.
• An app doesn’t replace human editing. It can point things out, but ultimately, you need to make the call.
• You’re in danger of losing your unique writing voice if you follow it too heavily.
• Writing is subjective, and an app is not.

How Does the Hemingway App Score This Article?

It gives me a “good” rating with a readability level of fifth grade. That’s lower than my usual reading level, but it’s a decent goal for a how-to article. I’m well under the adverb and passive voice goals. I could use a few simpler phrases and shorten some of my sentences. But I’ve gone over them all and decided to leave them as they are. I don’t have a single “very hard-to-read” sentence.

Break the Rules Once You Know Them

Feel free to break the rules. It’s your writing style after all, and no software editor can replace a human’s judgment. But don’t you want to break rules when you know you’re breaking them?

The Hemingway App can help you identify problem areas. I often get the purple highlights for simpler alternatives. And most of the time, I agree with the app: I can use a simpler word. However, I don’t like to split all my “hard to read” sentences, as I feel my writing benefits from some variety. And, as you can see, occasionally, I like to use adverbs, complex sentences, and the word “however.”

While not a perfect solution, I do recommend the Hemingway App to help you tighten up your writing and identify problems. It’s easy to use, helps you spot glaring errors, and simplifies your language.

As Hemingway famously said,

"Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over. — “Ernest Hemingway on Writing” by Larry Phillips