Sample Reading Levels

Here are some sample reading passages for each of the ten Rewordify.com Readibility Levels. Highlighted words are targeted by the site as difficult, and would be reworded on the actual site.

Our criterion of "clearly understood" means that the reader will clearly understand at least 99.5% of the words.

Level 1: Broadly Accessible

(Percentage of difficult words: <0.5%; clearly understood by >90% of the population)

Have you read the book Uncle Tom's Cabin? Besides being a good read, this influential book is often included in lists of "causes of the Civil War" (1861-65). It has been translated into at least 23 languages, and has been presented on stage and in film. Harriet Beecher Stowe's story first appeared on June 5, 1851, in serial form, a chapter at a time, in a weekly publication called the National Era. It went on to become one of the nation's earliest bestsellers.

Harriet Beecher Stowe cared deeply about human rights. Her family was active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad was a system formed by a group of people who were against slavery. These people helped escaped slaves secretly reach the North.) For 18 years she observed a slave-holding community in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from where she lived in Cincinnati. She didn't like what she saw.

Stowe decided to write a fictional story about slavery and sent it to the editor of an anti-slavery weekly. He paid her $300 for the right to publish her story, and on June 5, 1851, the first chapter appeared in print. Over the next 10 months, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, was published in 40 parts. People started to discuss Uncle Tom's Cabin and pass around the story. In 1852, a Boston publisher issued Uncle Tom's Cabin as a book. It became an instant bestseller. Three hundred thousand copies were sold the first year, and about two million copies were sold by 1857. Before long it seemed that everyone had read it, including the president of the United States!
-from www.AmericasLibrary.gov

 

Level 2: Generally Accessible

(Percentage of difficult words: 0.5%-1%; clearly understood by >80% of the population)

The place to buy canoes is off of rafts laying up at shore. But we didn't see no rafts laying up; so we went along during three hours and more. Well, the night got gray and ruther thick, which is the next meanest thing to fog. You can't tell the shape of the river, and you can't see no distance. It got to be very late and still, and then along comes a steamboat up the river. We lit the lamp, and judged she would see it. Up-stream boats didn't generly come close to us; they go out and follow the bars and hunt for easy water under the reefs; but nights like this they bull right up the channel against the whole river.

We could hear her pounding along, but we didn't see her good till she was close. She aimed right for us. Often they do that and try to see how close they can come without touching; sometimes the wheel bites off a sweep, and then the pilot sticks his head out and laughs, and thinks he's mighty smart. Well, here she comes, and we said she was going to try and shave us; but she didn't seem to be sheering off a bit. She was a big one, and she was coming in a hurry, too, looking like a black cloud with rows of glow-worms around it; but all of a sudden she bulged out, big and scary, with a long row of wide-open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and her monster-like bows and guards hanging right over us. There was a yell at us, and a jingling of bells to stop the engines, a powwow of cussing, and whistling of steam—and as Jim went overboard on one side and I on the other, she come smashing straight through the raft.
-Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

Level 3: Mostly Understandable

(Percentage of difficult words: 1%-2%; clearly understood by >70% of the population)

He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide to get out of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. There was a cautious knock at the door near his head. "Gregor", somebody called - it was his mother - "it's quarter to seven. Didn't you want to go somewhere?" That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it, the words could be made out at first but then there was a sort of echo which made them unclear, leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not. Gregor had wanted to give a full answer and explain everything, but in the circumstances contented himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up now." The change in Gregor's voice probably could not be noticed outside through the wooden door, as his mother was satisfied with this explanation and shuffled away. But this short conversation made the other members of the family aware that Gregor, against their expectations was still at home, and soon his father came knocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. "Gregor, Gregor", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: "Gregor! Gregor!" At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?" Gregor answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each, individual word. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sister whispered: "Gregor, open the door, I beg of you." Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.
-Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

 

Level 4: Somewhat Understandable

(Percentage of difficult words: 2%-3%; clearly understood by >60% of the population)

Did you know that marijuana use among U.S. teens has dropped dramatically since the late 1990s? So... if you were thinking everyone smokes pot, they don't. Statistics show that about 15 percent, or roughly 1 in 7 teens, report past-month marijuana use. In the last few years, however, the decline in marijuana use has stalled, and the reason may be that fewer of you consider marijuana to be a harmful drug.

BUT... that perception is not correct. In 2009, among marijuana users 12 and older, 4.3 million had a marijuana abuse or addiction problem, according to clinical diagnostic criteria. Look inside this booklet to see what else we know, because marijuana is not as harmless as you may think.

Our goal is to give you the straight facts, so you can make smart choices and be your best self—without drugs. And we hope you will continue the conversation and share this information with your peers, parents, teachers, and others.
-from www.drugabuse.gov

Level 5: Partially Understandable

(Percentage of difficult words: 3%-4%; clearly understood by about half the population)

Let no one be surprised if, in speaking of entirely new principalities as I shall do, I adduce the highest examples both of prince and of state; because men, walking almost always in paths beaten by others, and following by imitation their deeds, are yet unable to keep entirely to the ways of others or attain to the power of those they imitate. A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

I say, therefore, that in entirely new principalities, where there is a new prince, more or less difficulty is found in keeping them, accordingly as there is more or less ability in him who has acquired the state. Now, as the fact of becoming a prince from a private station presupposes either ability or fortune, it is clear that one or other of these things will mitigate in some degree many difficulties. Nevertheless, he who has relied least on fortune is established the strongest. Further, it facilitates matters when the prince, having no other state, is compelled to reside there in person.
-Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

 

Level 6: Somewhat Challenging

(Percentage of difficult words: 4%-5%; clearly understood by <50% of the population)

Under these circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that a close intimacy arose between the two little captives. Indeed, they soon became sworn friends. Hop-Frog, who, although he made a great deal of sport, was by no means popular, had it not in his power to render Trippetta many services; but she, on account of her grace and exquisite beauty (although a dwarf), was universally admired and petted; so she possessed much influence; and never failed to use it, whenever she could, for the benefit of Hop-Frog.

On some grand state occasion-I forgot what-the king determined to have a masquerade, and whenever a masquerade or any thing of that kind, occurred at our court, then the talents, both of Hop-Frog and Trippetta were sure to be called into play. Hop-Frog, in especial, was so inventive in the way of getting up pageants, suggesting novel characters, and arranging costumes, for masked balls, that nothing could be done, it seems, without his assistance.

The night appointed for the fete had arrived. A gorgeous hall had been fitted up, under Trippetta's eye, with every kind of device which could possibly give eclat to a masquerade. The whole court was in a fever of expectation. As for costumes and characters, it might well be supposed that everybody had come to a decision on such points. Many had made up their minds (as to what roles they should assume) a week, or even a month, in advance; and, in fact, there was not a particle of indecision anywhere-except in the case of the king and his seven minsters. Why they hesitated I never could tell, unless they did it by way of a joke. More probably, they found it difficult, on account of being so fat, to make up their minds. At all events, time flew; and, as a last resort they sent for Trippetta and Hop-Frog.
-Edgar Allan Poe, Hop-Frog

 

Level 7: Challenging

(Percentage of difficult words: 5%-6%; clearly understood by <40% of the population)

As the hills draw nearer, one heeds their wooded sides more than their stone-crowned tops. Those sides loom up so darkly and precipitously that one wishes they would keep their distance, but there is no road by which to escape them. Across a covered bridge one sees a small village huddled between the stream and the vertical slope of Round Mountain, and wonders at the cluster of rotting gambrel roofs bespeaking an earlier architectural period than that of the neighbouring region. It is not reassuring to see, on a closer glance, that most of the houses are deserted and falling to ruin, and that the broken-steepled church now harbours the one slovenly mercantile establishment of the hamlet. One dreads to trust the tenebrous tunnel of the bridge, yet there is no way to avoid it. Once across, it is hard to prevent the impression of a faint, malignodour about the village street, as of the massed mould and decay of centuries. It is always a relief to get clear of the place, and to follow the narrow road around the base of the hills and across the level country beyond till it rejoins the Aylesbury pike. Afterward one sometimes learns that one has been through Dunwich.
-H. P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror

 

Level 8: More Challenging

(Percentage of difficult words: 6%-7%; clearly understood by <30% of the population)

The convention superseded the old government completely, established a Council of Safety to rule in the interim, and drew up the first state constitution, adopted on September 28, 1776. This provided an Assembly of one house and a Supreme Executive Council instead of a governor. The Declaration of Rights section has been copied in subsequent constitutions without significant change.

Many patriot leaders were bitterly opposed to the new Pennsylvania constitution. Led by such men as John Dickinson, James Wilson, Robert Morris, and Frederick Muhlenberg, they carried on a long fight with the Constitutional party, a radical group. Joseph Reed, George Bryan, William Findley, and other radicals governed Pennsylvania until 1790. Their most noteworthy accomplishments were the act in 1780 for the gradual abolition of slavery and an act of 1779 which took ownership of the public lands away from the Penn family (but with compensation in recognition of the services of the founder). The conservatives gradually gained more strength, helped by the Constitutionalists’ poor financial administration.

The defeat of a mob of undisciplined militia and poor laborers who attacked James Wilson’s private Philadelphia home on October 4, 1779, known as the “Fort Wilson riot,” was a turning point because Constitutional radical leaders like the Supreme Executive Council’s president, Joseph Reed, repudiated the rioters and thus acknowledged that sound financial policies, rather than mob attacks on businesses and commercial entrepreneurs, were needed to win the revolution and preserve a worthwhile society.
-from the web site of the state of Pennsylvania

 

Level 9: Difficult

(Percentage of difficult words: 7%-8%; clearly understood by <20% of the population)

At three o’clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house shortly after eight o’clock in the morning. I sat down beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head.

It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend’s amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Level 10: Very Difficult

(Percentage of difficult words: >8%; clearly understood by <10% of the population)

"How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge. These bleak skies I hail, for they are kinder to me than your fellow beings. If the multitude of mankind knew of my existence, they would do as you do, and arm themselves for my destruction. Shall I not then hate them who abhor me? I will keep no terms with my enemies. I am miserable, and they shall share my wretchedness. Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver them from an evil which it only remains for you to make so great, that not only you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be swallowed up in the whirlwinds of its rage. Let your compassion be moved, and do not disdain me. Listen to my tale; when you have heard that, abandon or commiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve. But hear me. The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned. Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder, and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man! Yet I ask you not to spare me; listen to me, and then, if you can, and if you will, destroy the work of your hands."
-Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

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