3. Sentences — How Do They Impact Readability?

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Before diving into how sentence structure affects readability for people living with dementia, here are a few practical notes and reminders.

Practical Notes:

Libraries Transforming Communities!

The American Library Association and Association of Rural and Small Libraries are offering grants to libraries looking to expand patron outreach and build stronger community partnerships.

Nursing Homes Enriching Lives!

Center of Medicare Services (CMS) Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) Reinvestment Grants are open again! Reading2Connect provides free assistance to all licensed nursing homes in

completing CMP applications. Inquire here.

People Affected by Dementia Taking Action!

There are two wonderful action groups for, and governed by, people living with dementia

that I highly recommend.

• Dementia Action Alliance: forming friendships, exchanging ideas, and working to

create positive community for people living with dementia.

• National Council of Dementia Minds: fostering education and dialogue among people

living with dementia, care partners, healthcare providers, researchers, and policy makers.

Reminder:

Want to see Reading2Connect’s methodology and books in action? Join one of our live Info

Sessions, or watch a recorded Info Session at your convenience.

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Sentences — How Do They Impact Readability?

For people living with neurocognitive disorders, one of the biggest barriers to reading is the

sentence itself—particularly when it is long or complex.

At first glance, sentences may seem like small, simple units of information. But in truth, they demand a lot from the brain.

When reading a sentence in a book or article, we must process:

• Each individual word

• How those words form phrases

• The main idea of the sentence

• How that idea connects to previous sentences

• What it suggests about the sentence to come

• And how it relates to our experiences

How well a reader living with dementia can do this layered processing, obviously, depends on the sentence:

1. Length

2. Complexity

3. Vocabulary

1. Length Matters

Most written English sentences range from 10 to 20 words. Once a sentence exceeds 30 words, it begins to feel too long for many

readers—even those without cognitive decline. For someone with dementia, such length can be a significant roadblock.

2. What Makes a Sentence Complex?

Sentence complexity grows with added clauses, prepositional phrases, and subordinating

conjunctions. Even if you don’t recall grammar terms like these, you likely know the feeling:

some sentences simply have too much going on.

3. Vocabulary Load

Proper nouns—names of people, places, events—create a higher mental load. The more

proper nouns in a sentence, the harder it is to follow and remember.

Here’s an example of a sentence that combines all three challenges:

“With a spectacular victory at the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat becomes the first horse since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.”

This sentence is 32 words long. It’s complex, contains several proper nouns, and would

likely be frustrating or inaccessible for many readers with dementia.

But here’s the good news: we can modify this sentence to be more readable without diluting

the content.

A more accessible version:

“In 1973, Secretariat had a spectacular victory at Belmont Stakes. He won America’s coveted Triple Crown. The Triple Crown consists of three races. The three races are: The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. Secretariat became the first horse in 25 years to win all three races.”

By creating five short sentences, instead of one long sentence, and using direct sentence

structures, and lightening the vocabulary load per sentence, we’ve increased accessibility—

without diluting the content.

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A Note on Respect and Purpose

Making text more accessible is not “dumbing it down.” Readers with dementia

require, deserve, and have a democratic right to reading material that respects

their current processing abilities, while also respecting their inherent intelligence

and lifetime experience.

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Mainstreamed Literature Suggestions for Readers Living with Cognitive Change

(The goal of this section of the blog is to help you identify and evaluate reading material that may be readable and enjoyable for people living with dementia.)

Though not writing specifically for readers with dementia, the styles of the following two

writers could be seen as dementia friendly. Derek Tompson, a contemporary author and

journalist, and Ernest Hemingway, famous 20th century author and journalist, both tend to

use short, direct sentences. This style naturally slows the reader down and provides small

chunks of information at a time. These are good text features for someone living with

cognitive changes.

Below are two sample excerpts from their published works.

NOTE: One’s connection to any kind of writing is personal and individualistic; no literature

is for everyone.

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Derek Tompson, The Atlantic

“For decades, America’s young voters have been deeply—and famously—progressive. In 2008, a youth-quake sent Barack Obama to the White House. In 2016, voters ages 18 to 29 broke for Hillary Clinton by 18 points. In 2020, they voted for Joe Biden by 24 points. In 2024, Donald Trump closed most of the gap, losing voters under 30 by a 51–47 margin. In one recent CBS poll, Americans under 30 weren’t just evenly split between the parties. They were even more pro-Trump than Boomers over 65.”

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

“In the morning, I walked down the Boulevard to the rue Soufflot for coffee and brioche. It was a fine morning. The horse-chestnut trees in the Luxembourg Gardens were in bloom. There was a pleasant early-morning feeling of a hot day. I read the papers with the coffee and then smoked a cigarette. The flower-women were coming up from the market and arranging their daily stock. Students went by going up to the law school, or down to the Sorbonne. The Boulevard was busy with trams and people going to work.”

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