What is grade six writing?

I read an article that made me laugh - 24 complex words—and their simpler alternatives - because to me the words were not that complicated. There's a general rule in writing for the public, which is try to keep it at a grade six level. Which simply means that if people are reading your writing and don't understand what you are saying, then you are not communicating effectively, hence the need to dumb it down.

So the words listed in this article (with suggestions for simplier words) included:

Advantageous — helpful
Ameliorate — improve
Cognizant — aware
Commence — begin, start
Commensurate — equal
Consolidate — combine
Deleterious — harmful
Disseminate — issue, send
Endeavor — try
Erroneous — wrong
Expeditious — fast
Facilitate — ease, help
Inception — start
Implement — carry out
Leverage — use
Optimize — perfect
Prescribed — required
Proficiencies — skills
Promulgate — issue or publish
Proximity — near
Regarding — about
Remuneration — reward, payment
Subsequently — after or later

I don't know, call me nuts, but those words don't seem that complicated. Ameliorate, commensurate, deleterious and promulgate I'll buy, but the rest don't seem complex to me.

Which brings up the question of what is grade six writing and can you go to far in dumbing down your writing?

I think you can (with the obvious caveat - I mean exception - being if you are writing something for actual kids in grade six, then yes, you want to keep it uber simple).

Additionally, writing at a grade six level doesn't mean you have to use all simple words. What it means though is you don't want to string together endlessly complicated sentences and words such that you have to have a PhD to understand what is being said (technology, academia and medicine are notorious - sorry, scratch that, they are 'well known' - for putting out news releases that no one can understand).

But most people can handle one or two complicated words if the context surrounding those words makes it clear what the word means (provided we are defining complicated words as being words such as proximity or prescribed).

In fact, I'd argue that one or two complicated words, such as caveat,  can actually be a good thing. If you are sending a news release to reporters, they may appreciate you using the 'right' word that best articulates what you are actually trying to say.

Anyway, words that I would consider too complicated for public writing might be:

explicate
inimical
muckracking
numinous
propitiate
resplendent
soporific

(and no I'm not going to define those words - look them up in a dictionary - learning is fun!)

So yes, too complicated does exist, but words like optimized should not be on that list. I think the simply rule to follow would be the following - Ask yourself, is the word you are using something that you would see regularly used in a newspaper? If yes, then go ahead and use it.

Use simpler phrasing if it doesn't water down your message, but don't over simplify just for the sake of it. If we truly were to write at a level that only kids understood, then before long we'd have a pretty unintelligable world (or should I say we'd have a pretty 'dumbed down' world - naw, unintelligable is a better word for what I'm trying to say). There's nothing wrong with writing for an adult audience (just don't assume that people have PhD's and don't use complicated words thinking it makes you look smart).