Abstract: Various methods are disclosed for improving the readability of authored documents. The methods generally involve scanning a sentence to check for specific signs of potential writing problems, and applying associated sign-dependent decision logic to assess whether particular writing problems exist. The methods may be implemented in a computer program that makes editing suggestions to a user and/or makes edits automatically. The program may, in some cases, dim unnecessary language to reveal how the sentence will read with such language removed.

Abstract: A method for editing and enhancing readability of authored documents is presented. The method comprises a stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and stage 4. Stage 1 includes searching for occurrences of first signs, the first signs selected from a list comprising “it,” “there,” “in,” “of,” “as,” “or,” “that,” and the punctuation marks “.” and “;”; removing phrases matching any entry on a list of commonly used unnecessary phrases that begin with or contain “it,” “there,” “in,” “of,” “as,” “or,” or “that.”; replacing common cliches and redundancies with equivalents as found in list; replacing common lengthy construction with equivalents as found in list; and searching for common redundant pairs as found in list and eliminating a first word of the pair.