NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The New York-based Princeton Review says both candidates in the first presidential debate used grade school language skills: Bush 6th grade, Kerry 7th.
The Review gave President Bush points for strong topic sentences with good supporting statements saying he spoke at a level most sixth graders could understand.
Kerry eschewed meandering sentences and the seasoned debater used more vocabulary at the 7th grade level.
Bush's debate with Al Gore in 2000 also was at the 6th grade level.
The famous Nixon-Kennedy debate in 1960 was around 10th grade level and in the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 Abraham Lincoln spoke at 11th grade level, Stephen Douglas at 12th grade level.
Bush received 4 points out of 6 for his closing statement. Kerry's summation scored 3 of 6.
The Princeton Review offers classroom and online test preparation and private tutoring for college and graduate school admissions tests.
