What makes English great?
The five categories of good English
Document Grader’s rating of your document’s English is based on widely recognized principles of effective writing. Clarity, Conciseness, Precision, Engagement, and Consistency are not just arbitrary categories — they are universally acknowledged as critical to crafting writing that is impactful, professional, and easy to understand. Here’s how each category contributes to great English.
Clarity
​Can your reader understand your message easily? Clarity ensures that your writing is straightforward and free of unnecessary complexity. A clear document avoids ambiguous phrasing, convoluted sentences, and jargon, ensuring that your audience quickly grasps your intended meaning.
Conciseness
Does your writing get to the point? Conciseness means expressing your ideas in as few words as necessary, without sacrificing meaning. Concise writing avoids redundancy, repetition, and filler words, delivering information effectively and respecting the reader’s time.
Precision
Are your words accurate and specific? Precision focuses on using the right words to convey your message clearly and accurately. It ensures that your writing avoids vagueness or generalizations and employs specific language to create a sharp and reliable impression.
Engagement
Does your writing hold the reader’s attention? Engagement measures how well your writing connects with and interests the reader. Engaging documents use varied sentence structures, active voice, and a tone appropriate to the audience, keeping readers focused and invested in your content.
Consistency
Is your writing style uniform throughout? Consistency evaluates how well your document maintains uniformity in style, tone, formatting, and language. A consistent document avoids abrupt shifts in tone or style and ensures that details, such as punctuation and grammar, remain steady across all sections.
Rooted in expertise
The style guides
Great writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it’s shaped by timeless rules and best practices. Document Grader draws on some of the most respected style guides in the world. They serve as trusted benchmarks for clear, concise, and professional writing, ensuring that our evaluations are rooted in expertise and industry standards.
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Here are the style guides that Document Grader is currently using:
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The Economist Style Guide
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The Guardian & Observer Style Guide
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The Harvard style guides
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Strunt & White's Elements of Style​
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The Plain English Campaign's guidelines
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The European Commission's style guide
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The Council of Europe's style guides
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The Swiss Confederation's style guide
The power behind Document Grader
How we use AI models
At the heart of Document Grader is cutting-edge artificial intelligence powered by OpenAI's advanced language models. These models are trained on vast amounts of text to understand the nuances of English — grammar, style, tone, and more. By combining this expertise with the trusted principles of the style guides above, Document Grader ensures precise and fair evaluations.
Here is how it works:
Parsing the style guides
The AI incorporates key principles from our style guides, such as avoiding jargon, using clear and concise language, and maintaining consistency. While it doesn’t "memorize" these guides, it applies their guidelines effectively, every time.
Analyzing your document
When you upload a document, the AI evaluates it against five categories: Clarity, Conciseness, Precision, Engagement, and Consistency. Each part of your writing — sentences, paragraphs, and sections — is assessed for alignment with professional standards.
Delivering feedback
The AI generates a score for each category along with clear, actionable comments. Whether simplifying a complex sentence or enhancing engagement, the feedback acts like a digital editor to help you refine and polish your writing quickly and effectively.