Tag: word count

How Many Words in a Novel Chapter?

How many words in a chapter?

You’re writing your first novel, and you know you must shoot for around 80 to 95 thousand words. Once you know what your book will be about, it’s time to start planning the structure of the story. What will happen in each chapter, and how much has to happen before you move on to the next chapter? How many chapters will you need before you reach your target word count?

It’s Up to You – Within Reason

Before you decide your average chapter length, it’s a good idea to think about the purpose behind dividing a book into chapters. Think of it as a TV series or a play. Each chapter will consist of one or more scenes that contribute to the development of the story.

Unlike TV series, you aren’t limited to a certain amount of airtime, so some important scenes may require longer chapters. The important thing is to end each chapter at the end of a scene, allowing your reader to save the next “episode” for another time.

However, it doesn’t make much sense to have one chapter that takes up a major part of the book while other chapters are much shorter. Admittedly, some published authors have done just that, but your readers may find it a little odd.

Your audience may also play a role. For example, books for the youth market often have shorter chapters than those intended for adult readers. Again, it isn’t a rule, but if you’re writing for people with a short attention span, shorter chapters make sense.

How Long Are the Chapters in Books by Famous Authors?

Looking at what successful authors have done in the past is always a help. That’s why writers should always be readers too. Best-selling books show us what the public likes, and of course, we’re hoping that our own novels will be liked by the public. Let’s look at some chapter lengths, but remember that these are averages. In any of these books, some chapters are longer than others.

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has an average of 4,560 words per chapter.
  • Twilight uses about 4,580 words per chapter.
  • The Hunger Games uses 3,700-word chapters, dividing each chapter into three parts.

What Do Most Writers See as a Good Average Chapter Length?

The debate is ongoing. Some will tell you 2,500 words is the average, while others will say that 3,000 to 5,000 word chapters are more likely to be the norm. Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words.

All of them agree that the chapter length should be defined by the story and that any chapter length targets you decide on are merely guidelines. Most of them say that trying to keep the chapters within a certain length range is helpful to the reader.

Chapter Length Rule 1: There Are No Rules

Writers sometimes use extra-short chapters such as ones that are a sentence or two long for emphasis. The element of surprise at finding a chapter that consists of a sentence, or even just a word, will make readers sit up and take note. However, use this technique sparingly. It loses its effect if you regularly do it.

There’s also no real rule that says a chapter can’t be longer than 5,000 words. Daniel Defoe wrote the book Moll Flanders without dividing it into chapters at all, so in theory, you could say that the entire book consisted of just one chapter. However, as a new author, I’m not sure you would get away with that.

It’s the Story That Matters Most

Trying to pad out an uneventful chapter with thoughts or events that don’t contribute to your plot will bore your readers leaving them with the impression you’re waffling. Compressing a very exciting scene so you can meet your chapter word count target is also not going to do you any favors.

While the idea of chapters in the 3,000 to 5,000-word range is a good guideline when roughing out your book’s structure, it isn’t a rule, and the story itself should be the primary deciding factor. Build your plot through a series of events or scenes. Then decide for yourself where the chapter divisions will be. You may decide to include two or more scenes in a chapter, or you might stick to one scene per chapter. Just ensure that the division comes at a time when a reader could put the book down if they want a break. Of course, if you keep it exciting enough, your reader will want to know what will happen next, and might have trouble putting the book down at all.

How Many Words Is War and Peace?

How many words is war and Peace?
Leo Tolstoy’s historical novel on the Napoleonic invasion of Russia has become a byword for long books. If someone talks about doing something in the time it takes to read War and Peace, you can be sure that they mean it’s going to take quite a long time, and if your teacher comments that he or she wanted an essay from you, not War and Peace, your essay was way too long.

War and Peace is considered Tolstoy’s masterwork and a significant contribution to literature, but I must admit that though I’ve tried a couple of times, I’ve never made it through the whole thing. The philosophical passages that make up much of the book are heavy going. If you have read this book, give yourself a medal and a pat on the back. You deserve it.

How many words are there in War and Peace?

War and Peace has 587,287 words, making it more than ten times longer than your NaNoWriMo novel. Tolstoy completed his first draft in 1863, but he later spent three years rewriting most of it. One would think after spending so much time on one book, Tolstoy would have been too exhausted to write anymore, but he went on to write Ana Karenina, which was published in 1877, as well as several other novels.

Is War and Peace the longest novel ever?

Remembering War and Peace was written as a four-volume set with two epilogs, it’s fair if we include some series. If we do that, we come across several famously lengthy stories. The Harry Potter series consists of more than one million words. The word count for the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan takes the record: 4,410,036 words! Just imagine writing more than four million words.

Did you think that The Lord of the Rings would be near the top of the list? Think again! Tolkien managed to write his classic in “just” 481,103 words. If it’s one of your favorites, you now know something about it that you didn’t know before.

How Heavy Is War and Peace?

The actual weight of the book depends on the edition and whether or not it’s paperback or hardback. As the above photo shows, the hardback version can weigh almost 4 pounds (3 lbs, 14 oz). Of course, paperbacks would weigh much less.

How Many Pages is War and Peace?

The 587,287 words in War and Peace end up being 1,215 pages. Again, the page number will vary from edition to edition due to different sized pages and print used.

Translating War and Peace

Tolstoy was, of course, a Russian author, so for us to be able to read his novel, it first had to be translated into English. This was done for the first time in 1885 by Clara Bell, who translated it from the French version. This re-translated translation was far from perfect, and ten further translations into English have been done since.

War and Peace has been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Albanian and Czech. You must respect all these brave translators; what a massive job to tackle!

Interestingly, a large portion of the book is written in French, but at the time, the nobility in Russia often spoke French as a matter of course, and some of them could barely speak Russian.

Is War and Peace a novel?

Tolstoy himself said his book was not really a novel in the truest sense of the word. Although he has woven fictional characters into the narrative, he carefully researched real-life events by interviewing people and reading first-hand accounts of the French invasion of Russia. Only the first half of War and Peace deals with fictional characters; the rest consists mostly of essays on war, power, and history.

Tolstoy didn’t agree with the way military history is recorded and tried to get closer to the real events by portraying them through the eyes of real and fictional characters. The names of over 160 people who lived during that time are mentioned in his work.

What makes Tolstoy so special as a writer?

Apart from having written an extremely long book, Tolstoy was admired for his writing style. Just as movie cameras give us an overview of a scene, pan in, and pan out, so Tolstoy took readers from the “big picture” to the personal experiences of his characters and back again. This style of writing was relatively new, and Tolstoy is considered to be its master. In addition, he wanted people to be able to accurately visualize scenes, so he included a wealth of detail.

In the last part of his book, where he increasingly looked at philosophies and facts, he managed to weave his essays into the story. Some abridged versions have taken these, and the second part of the epilog, which consisted solely of essays, out.

Is it literary sacrilege to edit Tolstoy? Well, it’s a long book, and not all of it is really a “story.” Even when Tolstoy was still alive, abridged versions of his work were produced, presumably with his permission.

A little more about the man behind War and Peace

Tolstoy was born Lev Nikolayevitch Tolstoy in 1828. He was born into the privileged aristocratic class and had the title of Count. In his younger days, he was a typical, dissolute aristocrat, but his first-hand experience of war, his travels, and his reading led him to a spiritual crisis and reawakening. He became a fervent Christian and a pacifist whose works inspired the likes of Gandhi. He died in 1910 at the ripe old age of 82.

(Photo courtest of Jill Clardy)

Do Footnotes Count in Word Count?

footnotes as part of word count

When you are writing an essay for a class which has a minimum of maximum word count limit, the question of whether or not footnotes and endnotes should be counted toward this limit can come up. Those who have an essay that is under word count are hoping that their footnotes and endnotes can be counted while those who are over the limit want to make sure that these don’t count. Which one is it?

Footnotes

Do footnotes count when doing a word count? No, footnotes don’t count in the word count in most cases. When a teacher or professor gives an assignment with a minimum or maximum limit, it’s usually done with the intent of being applicable to the topic being assigned. Footnotes are auxiliary information that further clarifies certain points being made in the essay. Since this isn’t a part of the body of the essay, most teachers and professors do not count footnotes as part of the essay’s word count.

This is a general rule of thumb. There can be exceptions depending on the teacher giving the assignment, so the best policy is to ask the person assigning the essay whether or not footnotes should or shouldn’t be included. If this is not possible, it’s best to assume that they are not counted.

Do footnotes count in a page count? Yes, footnotes generally count toward page count. Footnotes are found at the bottom of the page and don’t take up much of the page space in most instances. While it’s relatively easy to exclude footnotes from a word count, it’s much more difficult to exclude them from a page count. For this reason, most professors allow them to be included as part of the overall page count.

Again, counting footnotes as part of the page count is a general rule of thumb, not a definitive answer. It’s always best to ask the person assigning the essay to confirm that this is OK. If you find yourself in a position where this isn’t possible, in most cases it should be acceptable.

Endnotes

Do endnotes count in a word count? No, endnotes don’t count as part of a word count in most cases. Much like footnotes, endnotes give further information to a point made in an essay but aren’t part of the body of the essay. For this reason, endnotes are generally not included in an essay’s word count. The best policy is to ask directly if you aren’t sure about this, but when in doubt, it’s better not to count them.

Do endnotes count in a page count? No, endnotes don’t count as part of a page count most of the time. There is one significant difference between footnotes and endnotes which is endnotes are found at the end of the essay and not at the bottom of each page. Being at the end, it’s much easier to exclude them from a page count than it is to exclude footnotes. For this reason, endnotes aren’t usually counted when doing an assignment with a specific page count.

(Image courtesy of Lohan Gunaweera)

How Many Words in a Paragraph?

How many words in a paragraph
As a writer, you may find yourself pondering the question, “How many words are in a paragraph?” Much like the number of sentences in a paragraph, there’s no single answer to this question. A rule of thumb answer is, “There are usually 100 to 200 words in a paragraph,” but a more accurate answer would be “It depends…” which isn’t particularly helpful. So let’s take a more in-depth look at word count, paragraphs and how it all works.

What does a paragraph usually consist of?

A paragraph usually deals with a single idea. In general, you’ll have an introductory sentence expressing that idea, and several supporting sentences to round it off. Paragraphs are usually about 100 – 200 words long, but there are more exceptions to this rule-of-thumb than you’d expect.

Commercial Writing

Commercial writing breaks all the rules. Whether or not you find it irritating, your task is to hold your readers’ attention and get them to read what you’ve written. The average person doesn’t like to see solid blocks of text. It looks like it’s going to be difficult to get through, and nobody likes to work harder than they have to.

“White Space” is a great way to make your information look easier to master, and one of the best ways to create “white space” is through using paragraphs. For commercial writing, it’s best to keep sentences short and punchy, and the same goes for paragraphs.

People don’t usually like to see paragraphs that are more than three or four lines long. How many words is that? Again, although it’s not helpful, the answer is “It depends…” Font styles and font size will affect paragraph length – at least from a psychological perspective.

For example, this is a blog post, and I want to keep the reader engaged. The longest paragraph under this heading is only 61 words long. This is the shortest one so far, and it only uses 37 words.

I want to get your attention!

The above paragraph is only six words long, and you can count the words in this one if you like.

Dialogues

To make things easy for your reader, you’ll switch paragraphs every time you switch speakers, for example:

“I don’t know how long a paragraph should be,” said Mary, “but I hope to find out by reading this article.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” John replied, “but don’t let that limit your creativity!”

“Really? Can I bend the rules?”

“The rules are really more like guidelines.”

“Cool!”

As you can see, I was able to stop identifying the speakers as soon as the conversation began to flow because John and Mary each had paragraphs to themselves. Neither of them said anything that was even close to 100 words, but it’s still easy to see who said what. Mary’s final paragraph was one word long.

Academic Writing

In academic writing, paragraphs will usually consist of the “standard” 100 – 200 words (Burns, 2002). You will begin the paragraph with an idea and then explain it in the light of currently accepted knowledge (Phillips, 2014) with references. Bear in mind that your tutor will want to see some original thought, but will expect it to be motivated according to your reading (Williams et al, 1994). Smith (2004) supports this concept and confirms that academic writing requires longer paragraphs than those generally found in commercial writing or even story-telling. 200 words is really a bit long for any paragraph and since this one is just over 100 words, you’ll soon see why this should be the case (Me, 2015).

Whew! That was a marathon to read, wasn’t it?

How many words per paragraph? It’s really up to you!

As a takeaway, I’d like to suggest that there are absolutely no hard-and-fast rules as to how many words a paragraph should be.

Making them too short, can look a little odd.

This is an excellent example.

But it can work in some cases.

On the other hand, having really long paragraphs might work for you, but not for your reader. A lot of text without “white space” is hard on the eyes, and the brain. I’ve seen blog posts and web pages with absolutely no paragraphs to speak of. Did I want to read them? Not really. It was too difficult to separate the ideas from one another and there just didn’t seem to be a good enough reason to read them if I could find the same information split up into bite-sized chunks that were easier to digest. So, whatever you do, don’t forget the importance of paragraphs – and keep them a bit shorter than this one, unless you’re trying to baffle the reader.

By the way, the above paragraph is “only” 122 words (656 characters) long. Do you see what I mean when I say that longer isn’t always better? I’m ready to bet that you do.

(Photo courtesy of Enokson)

How Many Words on a Page?

How many words on a page?

For anyone who has taken the time to manually count the number of words on a page of paper, you know it’s both time consuming and frustrating. There has to be a better way. Fortunately, word counters can easily give you the information for your own writing, but what if you need to know the exact number of words for a particular page? Getting this information is a bit more difficult.

There could be a number of reasons you want to know how many words are on a page. Many times it’s because you have an assignment which requires you to write a certain number of pages, so you’d like to know how many words are needed to fill a page. The problem is there’s not a definitive answer to this questions because there are so many factors that go into calculating the number of words on a page.

For those looking for a general rule of thumb, you can estimate that there are about 250 words on a page double spaced, or 500 words on a page single spaced. This is a rough estimate and the true number of words on the page is likely to be more or less. This may not be a big factor for the single page, but if you are estimating for a lot of pages, the actual number can be significantly different than the estimated number.

If you know some basics about the writing and the page, you can get a much more accurate estimate by using a Words per Page calculator. This will allow you to input the font type (Arial, Calibri, Comic Sans MS, Courier, Times New Roman or Verdana), the font size, and whether the page is single or doubled spaced. Using this information and the number of words, the calculator can give a more accurate estimate than using the rule-of-thumb estimate. You also have the option of using the “type your own Words” function to get the estimated number of pages for your writing.

Another reason you may be searching for how many words there are on a page is you may want to know the number of words for a particular page on the Internet. Since web pages aren’t limited to the size of a standard sheet of paper, the actual number of words on the page can vary wildly, and are often much larger than a typical paper page. In cases like this, you can use a Website Page Word Count calculator.

To find out this word count information, you simply input the URL of the website’s page for which you need to know the number of words and the calculator will tell you exactly how many are on that particular page. Even better, it will also give you a list of the words used on the page including how many times each word is used.

(Photo courtesy of Murray Barnes)

Word Counter Details Options

word counter details options

If you came to Word Counter to find out how many words happened to be in a piece you’d written, you’ve likely noticed we offer a lot more information than just word count. While we started out primarily as a simple way for you to be able to count the number of words you had written, we’ve added a number of other Details to the counter over time. Currently, Word Counter offers 10 different “Details” areas located on the top right sidebar which can help you better understand your writing. The 10 Details options include the following:

  • Words: This tells you how many words you have written.
  • Unique Words: This tells you the number of unique words you have written. In the previous sentence, 11 words were written, but only 10 unique words were written because the word “you” was written twice.
  • Characters: This tells you the number of character spots which have been used including the blank spaces between words when writing.
  • Characters (no spaces): This tells you the number of characters you’ve written not counting the blank spaces between words.
  • Sentences: This tells you the number of sentences you’ve written.
  • Avg. Sentence (words): This tells you the average word length of all the sentences you’ve written. For example, if you write two sentences and one is 10 words and the other is 8 words, the average sentence length would be 9 words.
  • Avg. Sentence (chars): This tells you the average number of characters in each sentence. This calculation includes the blank spaces between the words.
  • Paragraphs: This tells you the number of paragraphs you’ve written.
  • Reading Level: Reading level gives an approximation of what grade level the person reading your writing would need to have completed to understand what you have written. You can get a better understanding of reading level here.
  • Reading Time: Reading time gives you an estimate of how long it would take for you to read what you have written. This is based on the average reading speed of 275 words per minute.

There’s a good chance that you aren’t currently seeing all of the above-mentioned Details in your sidebar. That’s because only six are turned on by default when you visit the site. The default Details shown are Words, Characters, Sentences, Paragraphs, Reading Level, and Reading Time. The other four (Unique Words, Characters no spaces, Average Sentence words, and Average Sentence characters) have to be turned on for you to see them.

In order to see all of the above 10 metrics displayed, you can click the “Options” button (at the bottom right of Word Counter writing area). Once in “Options,” you can then choose “Details” at the top. This will show all of the above-mentioned Details options and allow you to turn “off” or “on” the different options. In this way, you can customize the Details you want to be displayed exactly as you desire in the top right sidebar.

We are always looking to improve all parts of Word Counter. If you have suggestions on other Details you think would be valuable to you as a writer to display, please contact us with your suggestions or leave a comment below. many of the Details we display came from writers like you who suggested we add them.

October Writing Challenge: 1000 Words a Day

1000 words a day writing challenge

For all those who are planning to participate in the National Novel Writing Month challenge in November, you may want to try a warm-up word count challenge with me in October. For anyone who isn’t, but who wants to increase the amount of writing they’re producing, there’s no better time to begin than at this moment. Over the next month, I will document my 1000 words a day challenge. 1000 words a day is a great goal for any writer who wants to begin getting into the habit of writing on a daily basis. As part of the challenge, I will explain some of the methods I’ve developed over the years, and I hope others who are also doing this challenge (or who have done a similar challenge in the past), will contribute their insights and tips to the conservation as well.

As I explained in a previous article, there are a number of steps anyone who decides to take up a challenge like this should consider and answer to better define the challenge. Doing so will make it more likely the challenge is completed. Here are my answers to each step:

Step one: How many words will I write each day? 1000.

Step two: What’s the minimum number of words I must write each day? 100.

Step three: How long will the challenge be? One month (during October).

Step four: Will there be any off days? No.

Step five: How will I let others know about the challenge to keep myself honest? I will be doing this by recording it on this blog throughout the month.

Step six: How will I keep track and record my daily word count throughout the challenge? I will do it here on this blog.

If I’m successful with the challenge, I will have written a minimum of 31,000 words by the end of the month. Going by past experience, even if I don’t reach the goal, I should write more than I would have without the challenge as long as I continue it for the entire 31 days. That’s a vitally important point for all these challenges. While you should do your best to achieve the goal, the true benefit from these type of challenges is to get you writing on a daily basis, and to write more than you would have if you hadn’t undertaken the challenge in the first place.

So I put forth this challenge to all those reading this now. Commit to begin a 1000 word a day challenge for a month and see what you can produce. If you have any questions along the way, feel free to ask them in the comments of any challenge article. While I’m doing this to keep me accountable for the number of words I write this month, I also want to try and help any writer who is having problems writing consistently over a period of time.

Below are a list of articles I’ve put together as part fo this challenge on tips and hints you may be able to incorporate into your own writing habits to increase your productivity:

(Photo courtesy of Dennis Skley)

How Many Pages Is 2000 Words?

How many pages is 2000 words?
This is a question we get from time to time. There are instances when you’re given an assignment, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. For example, “Write a paper four pages long.” If you get an assignment to write four pages, one of the first questions that will likely come to mind is, “How many words are in four pages?” If you need to figure out words per page, you can use a words per page calculator.

The truth is there is no definitive answer to this question. The number of words it will take to fill a page will depend on a number of factors including the type of font used, the font size, spacing elements, the margins used on the paper, the paragraph length, etc. For example, if the assignment says the writing should be in 10-point font, it’s going to take a greater number of words to fill a page than if the assignment requires a 12-point font.

For those who need a general rule of thumb, a typical page which has 1-inch margins and is typed in 12 point font with standard spacing elements will be approximately 500 words when typed single spaced. For assignments that require double spacing, it would take approximately 250 words to fill the page. For an assignment that requires you to write four pages, you can make the estimation that you’ll need to write approximately 2000 words for a single spaced paper, or 1000 words if the assignment is double spaced. Again, the type of font used can make the word count higher or lower, but it’s a good rule of thumb for those who are simply looking for a general estimation.

Since there can be a large variation on the number of words needed to fill a page, most papers are no longer assigned by page count. They are instead assigned by word count. That is, an assignment, essay or paper will likely be assigned as 1500 – 2000 words rather than 3 – 4 pages. This way it is much more difficult for the writer to “game the system” by using large fonts and excessive spacing to meet the writing criteria.

If you are given a writing assignment with a page number, the best thing to do is go directly to the person who made the assignment and ask for a word count. This will take away all the variations and help ensure your writing assignment meets expectations. If it’s for something informal and you simply need a general guideline, you can find it below.

How many pages is…

The below list is an approximation, and actual pages will differ depending on a number of factors mentioned earlier in this article. Use the below information for a general reference, but don’t assume it will be the case at all times. Here are basic word to pages conversions:

  • 500 words is 1 page single spaced, 2 pages double spaced.
  • 1,000 words is 2 pages single spaced 4 pages double spaced.
  • 1,500 words is 3 pages single spaced, 6 pages double spaced.
  • 2,000 words is 4 pages single spaced, 8 pages double spaced.
  • 2,500 words is 5 pages single spaced, 10 pages double spaced.
  • 3,000 words is 6 pages single spaced, 12 pages double spaced.
  • 4,000 words is 8 pages single spaced, 16 pages double spaced.
  • 5,000 words is 10 pages single spaced, 20 pages double spaced.
  • 7,500 words is 15 pages single spaced, 30 pages double spaced.
  • 10,000 words is 20 pages single spaced, 40 pages double spaced.
  • 20,000 words is 40 pages single spaced, 80 pages double spaced.
  • 25,000 words is 50 pages single spaced, 100 pages double spaced.
  • 30,000 words is 60 pages single spaced, 120 pages double spaced.
  • 40,000 words is 80 pages single spaced, 160 pages double spaced.
  • 50,000 words is 100 pages single spaced, 200 pages double spaced.
  • 60,000 words is 120 pages single spaced, 240 pages double spaced.
  • 70,000 words is 140 pages single spaced, 280 pages double spaced.
  • 75,000 words is 150 pages single spaced, 300 pages double spaced.
  • 80,000 words is 160 pages single spaced, 320 pages double spaced.
  • 90,000 words is 180 pages single spaced, 360 pages double spaced.
  • 100,000 words is 200 pages single spaced, 400 pages double spaced.

Below are basic pages to words conversions:

  • 1 page is 500 words single spaced, 250 words double spaced.
  • 2 pages is 1,000 words single spaced, 500 words double spaced.
  • 3 pages is 1,500 words single spaced, 750 words double spaced.
  • 4 pages is 2,000 words single spaced, 1,000 words double spaced.
  • 5 pages is 2,500 words single spaced, 1,250 words double spaced.
  • 6 pages is 3,000 words single spaced, 1,500 words double spaced.
  • 7 pages is 3,500 words single spaced, 1,750 words double spaced.
  • 8 pages is 4,000 words single spaced, 2,000 words double spaced.
  • 9 pages is 4,500 words single spaced, 2,250 words double spaced.
  • 10 pages is 5,000 words single spaced, 2,500 words double spaced.
  • 15 pages is 7,500 words single spaced, 3,750 words double spaced.
  • 20 pages is 10,000 words single spaced, 5,000 words double spaced.
  • 25 pages is 12,500 words single spaced, 6,250 words double spaced.
  • 30 pages is 15,000 words single spaced, 7,500 words double spaced.
  • 40 pages is 20,000 words single spaced, 10,000 words double spaced.
  • 50 pages is 25,000 words single spaced, 12,500 words double spaced.
  • 60 pages is 30,000 words single spaced, 15,000 words double spaced.
  • 70 pages is 35,000 words single spaced, 17,500 words double spaced.
  • 75 pages is 37,500 words single spaced, 18,750 words double spaced.
  • 80 pages is 40,000 words single spaced, 20,000 words double spaced.
  • 90 pages is 45,000 words single spaced, 22,500 words double spaced.
  • 100 pages is 50,000 words single spaced, 25,000 words double spaced.

(Photo courtesy of Horia Varlan)

Title Capitalization, Spell Check and More New Word Counter Tools

This word counter tool originally counted words, characters, and letters. As more people found it, we started to get requests of what the users would like to see added to the tool. Over the years, we have added many of these suggestions. We continue to strive to keep this tool updated and to add new features which users have requested which make word counter more beneficial to all. We recently added the following features which you can now use:

Spell and Grammar Check

We’ve added a button to the top left of the Word Counter tool which says “Spell Check” Once you have finished writing, you can click this button and a spell and grammar check will be performed on what you have written and will highlight areas of the writing that may be grammatically incorrect or have spelling issues. It’s important to note that this shouldn’t be exclusively relied upon, and as with all writing, you should proofread what you have written, but it may catch some minor errors you missed or show you an area of your writing which may be able to be more clearly rewritten.

Different Cases

There may be instances where you want to have your writing (or certain portions of your writing) displayed in a certain way. The “Case” button just to the right of the “Spell Check” button gives you four options to display your writing in different ways. There are two ways to use this. You can highlight a certain portion of your writing, and only the highlighted portion will be affected by your choice. For example, if you highlight your first paragraph and choose “Uppercase,” then only the first paragraph will be turned to upper case and the rest of the writing will remain as it was. If you choose one of the options without highlighting any of your writing, the entire writing will be formatted by the choice you made. The four choices available are:

Uppercase: WHEN YOU CHOOSE THIS OPTION, ALL WRITING WILL BE DISPLAYED IN UPPERCASE LIKE THIS. iT’S THE SAME AS PUSHING THE CAPS LOCK ON YOUR KEYBOARD.

Lowercase: when you choose this option, all writing will be displayed in lowercase like this. even after periods, the letters will all be in lowercase.

Title Case: Also referred to as title capitalization, this gives the proper way to capitalize titles for your writing, articles and blog posts. It can often get confusing which words should and shouldn’t be capitalized in the title of the paper, and by choosing this option, it will automatically give you the correct way to display it. For example, the title of this article, “Title capitalization, spell check and more new word counter tools” gets transformed to “Title Capitalization, Spell Check and More New Word Counter Tools” when the title case option is used.

Sentence Case: This options will turn all the writing to a typical sentence construction. This can be convenient if you happen to forget to capitalize after periods, or if you tried some of the other case options, but decide you want to back to normal.

Reading Level

On the right side under “Details”, there is now a section at the bottom that displays Reading Level. The reading level is calculated by using the Dale–Chall readability formula based on 3,000 common words fourth graders understand. This can be useful if you’re writing to a certain age group to make sure your writing isn’t above or below their level.

Keyword Density Options

Under “Options” (top right corner) you can now choose the number of keywords you want displayed for keyword density. The default has been 10 words, but you can choose as few or as many as you wish to fit the particular type of writing you’re doing.

If there are other tools you’d like to see added to word counter, feel free to contact us or to leave a comment. We try to continue to add and update WordCounter.net with things the users would find beneficial.

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