Sentences that read easily

 I think that I am an average reader.  Most of the sentences I create in essay writing are judged by online editing software to be at about the 10th grade reading level. Not bad, but not great in terms of sentence structure.

But never forget, sentences have to be read without excessive effort and that will vary from reader to reader.  Most editors will advise to simplify sentences rather than make them more complex---but that depends on where you as a writer create your sentences.

I have many books written by Stephen Jay Gould and I find most of the sentences in these books to be consistently hard to read.  Go any of his books on evolutionary biology, open the book at random and read any paragraph.  I find that most of the sentences are so complex and lengthy that by the time the end of the sentence is at hand, I have lost touch with the basic thought of the sentence.

Next go to the book titled Stagecoach Trail and again open it anywhere and read.  You will find a sentence structure that is far too simple to be an interesting read.  Additionally, most of the sentences are simple and short.

Both of these two example books are packed with valuable information, but they are on the extremes of sentence structure and readability.

The objective is to create sentences that are grammatically correct and of just the right level of complexity to make it easy to read and to hold the interest of the reader.

And one more thought, vary the sentence structure to make it interesting.