Writing something? An essay? Facebook post? Email? Check out this writing tool: Writer’s Diet. It tests your writing’s “fitness” by running algorithms to detect verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives/adverbs, and “waste words”( like it/this/that/there)––and then, it gives you a ranking: lean, fit & trim, needs toning, flabby, or heart attack.

It’s meant to help you as you trim down those overly-wordy sentences English teachers hate. But of course, there’s a caveat: what if you want your sentences wordy and rife with adjectives, winding complexly to accommodate a few prepositional phrases––and perhaps a few adverbs, too? Let’s take Hemingway for example, a writer known for his terse prose. The first paragraph of For Whom the Bell Tolls, a classic, “needs toning” according to Writer’s Diet. The last few paragraphs of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The Great Gatsby are deemed “flabby.” Yet everything I’ve written above, when entered, receives a rating of “lean.” So remember, it’s a tool. “Lean” doesn’t imply good, nor does “heart-attack” imply bad. This site is meant to give you information on your writing habits, and tips for condensing and consolidating your prose. Try it out!