Long sentences can carry beautiful ideas. They can also bury them. On the web, short sentences nearly always win.
Why shorter sentences win
Studies on reading comprehension show that average sentence length above ~25 words drops comprehension sharply — and that shows up immediately as a lower Flesch score. On a phone screen, the cliff is even steeper.
How to shorten sentences without sounding choppy
Look for the second 'and', 'but' or 'which' in any long sentence — that's usually a clean place to split.
Vary length deliberately. A short sentence after a long one creates rhythm. Like this. A quick pass through a readability checker will confirm the rhythm is working.
FAQ
What is a good average sentence length?
For web writing, 14–18 words on average is a healthy target.
The Textorum.io Team
Writing & SEO research
We build Textorum.io — a private, browser-based writing analytics tool — and write about clarity, readability and SEO writing.
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