Sentence Counter
Count sentences and see average sentence length in any text.
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What is a sentence counter?
A sentence counter splits text at full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, then reports the sentence total, word count and average words per sentence. That average is the number worth watching: newspaper prose sits near 20 words per sentence, and anything past 30 starts to strain readers. Ellipses and stacked punctuation are treated as one ending, so they don’t inflate the total.
How to use the Sentence Counter
- 1 Add the passage you want to analyse to the editor.
- 2 Note the sentence count and the average words per sentence.
- 3 Hunt down paragraphs where the average climbs past 25.
- 4 Split long sentences and paste the revision back in to compare.
What you can use it for
- Checking sentence length for clearer writing.
- Counting sentences for an assignment requirement.
- Breaking dense paragraphs into shorter sentences.
- Assessing readability of marketing copy.
Frequently asked questions
How are sentences detected?
A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Consecutive terminators, like “?!” or an ellipsis, close a single sentence rather than several.
What is a good average words per sentence?
15 to 20 suits most web writing. Academic work often runs higher, but once the average passes 30, most readers have to re-read to follow the structure.
Can abbreviations throw off the count?
Occasionally. The period in “Dr.” or “e.g.” can end a sentence early, nudging the count up and the average down. For ordinary prose the effect is small.
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