Posted on 03/18/2016 7:10:05 PM PDT by markomalley
Donald Trump's use of vocabulary and grammar is more elementary than that of other candidates, according to a new study that compared the candidates' English language skills.
The New York businessman's grammar was comparable to a 5th grader's, lower than the average 6th to 8th grade levels used by Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, as well as Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, according to a newly released Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute study.
Sanders scored highest in vocabulary, and was ranked at the level of an 11th grader. Trump was most comparable to a 7th grader, while Clinton, Cruz and Rubio were all ranked between 9th and 10th grade.
"This analysis shows the changes that candidates make in the level of their speech according to the type of speech," wrote report analysts Elliot Schumacher and Maxine Eskenazi. "It also reflects each candidate's combination of personal delivery style and their analysis of the level of the audience they want to address."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich was not included in the survey, and Rubio has since suspended his campaign following a loss in Florida's primary Tuesday.
The in-depth analysis even compared this year's candidates to previous U.S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan both boasted the highest cumulative speaking skills with averages hovering around a 10th grade level.
George W. Bush's grammar was rated worse than Trump's, ranked between 4th and 5th grade. But where Bush faltered in grammar, he made up for in vocabulary, which was at a 10th grade level.
..Trump’s English skills ranked worst of all candidates...
However his business, management, and organizational skills can’t be matched.
Ain’t it awful?
I’m a Trumpkin, but will pull for Cruz if he’s the nominee.
Just don't tell the mean cruzers. :)
Are we hiring a grammar teacher (dime a dozen) or a strong leader for POTUS?
Maybe that is why I feel so comfortable with Trump. I spent a lot of time with big NYC businessmen. He reminds me of all the older, often Holocaust survivor, Jewish businessmen from my then office’s NYC headquarters.
But wait, Trump was ‘talking down to voters’ from his high horse according to an article I read here yesterday.
Business writing, especially marketing, generally targets and 8th grade level in order to ensure a solid comments denominator of understanding.
I’m certain Trump knows this...
You might want to dwell on it, but I won’t be wasting my time doing it.
He is our nominee, and he is going to be the next president.
I had a better vocabulary before we went into the construction business. Not helpful to come off as sa snob.
For all his supposed greatness in speaking and debating I have yet to see anything from Cruz that I’d consider remarkable. Changing the subject isn’t a technique I admire.
Mozart was so high toned that he wrote for the people frequenting the booze halls.
He was their champion.
What an indictment of the educational level of the American public!
Trump compensates for his speaking skills by winning all the time.
Cruz’s lying skills ranked near the top of any human I’ve seen in 50 years of watching politics.
I’m not talking about diction. I’m talking about vocabulary. His is unbelievably limited. That will put him at a tremendous disadvantage in negotiating with foreign leaders, “Art of the Deal”, notwithstanding. He probably had that ghost written.
I won’t tell if you won’t. :-)
I acknowledge your experience. NYC business is rough and people outside the business don’t understand and get nervous.
I would prefer simple and clear speech when dealing with these gloBULL monsters. How hard is it to say “Shut up or we’ll send in the B-52s”?
I’ve made an extensive study of best sellers using Flesch Reading Ease scales and the Flesch-Kincaid scale using the onboard Readability stats for MS Word. This business about grade levels is nonsense. When I tested corporate writing, using text from the “About Us” tab on corporate websites, the density of the language would sometimes compute in excess of the 20th grade level, whatever that is. (Mind, that was using older versions of Word. Later versions take the scale no higher than 12th grade, and that is no indication of intelligence in writing, believe me.)
It might surprise you to know that the best-selling Misery, by Stephen King, in the samples I chose, came in at around the 4th grade. Nobody would say SK is dumb or worst as that misleading headline did in that story. The Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegman? Samples came in at 6th-grade levels.
The Readability stats would put those two at about 90 percent and 80 percent, respectively. Meaning that percent of all readers would comprehend the writing.
Bottom Line: Trump is the best of these communicators, because more people understand his message, from sixth-graders on up. If I’m not mistaken a similar slimy report once put Obama at the 10th or 11th grade level and polished his apple for high intellect and brilliance. When actually, fewer people understood him because 10th or 11th graders on up would comprehend him. You know, if he actually said anything that made sense.
He talks that way on purpose. Its like he’s having a regular conversation with his audience instead of giving a speech. And its very effective. It makes people feel like they know you.
More like snooty Harvard candidates do not know how to talk to a target audience but Trump does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.