How many pages is 400 words?
400 words make 0.6 pages single spaced, 1.1 pages double spaced and 1.5 pages of a printed novel. They take 2 min to read. Here is what they look like in a real novel.
From
Exactly 398 words, cut at the end of a sentence
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
“Do not you want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife, impatiently.
“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
“He came down to see the place”
This was invitation enough.
“Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”
“What is his name?”
“Bingley.”
“Is he married or single?”
“Oh, single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”
“How so? how can it affect them?”
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome? You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”
“Is that his design in settling here?”
“Design? Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”
“I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go—or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better; for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party.”
“My dear, you flatter me.
Jane Austen, 1813. From chapter I. The author died in 1817: the work is in the public domain. Source: Project Gutenberg #1342. Words are counted the way the Extypis editor counts them: a word is a run of characters holding at least one letter or digit.
What 400 words amount to
In pages
- Novel pages
- 1.5
- A5, the format of Extypis book mode
- A4 pages, single spaced
- 0.6
- Times New Roman 12 pt, 2.5 cm margins, measured on these excerpts
- A4 pages, double spaced
- 1.1
- Times New Roman 12 pt, 2.5 cm margins, measured on these excerpts
In time
- Silent reading
- 2 min
- 236 words a minute (Brysbaert, 2019)
- Reading aloud
- 2 min
- 190 words a minute (Brysbaert, 2019)
When writing
- Typing it out
- 8 min
- 52 words a minute on average
- At NaNoWriMo pace
- 0.2 days
- 1,667 words a day for a month
- Share of a novel
- 0.5%
- Out of 80,000 words
Frequently asked questions
How many pages is 400 words single spaced?
0.6 pages of A4 in Times New Roman 12 pt with 2.5 cm margins, about an inch. We measured it on four classic novels rather than using the 500-words-a-page rule of thumb.
How many pages is 400 words double spaced?
1.1 pages, same font and margins. Double spacing halves the lines on a page, so it doubles the page count.
How long does it take to read 400 words?
2 min reading silently, at 236 words a minute, the average measured for adults reading English (Brysbaert, 2019). Read aloud, at 190 words a minute, 2 min.
How long does it take to write 400 words?
Typing them out takes 8 min at 52 words a minute, the average of 168,000 people tested in 2018. Composing them takes longer: 400 words are 24% of a NaNoWriMo day, which asks for 1,667 words a day.
How much of a novel is 400 words?
0.5% of an 80,000-word novel, the middle of the usual 70,000 to 100,000 words of an adult novel.
How these figures are worked out
The pages were measured, not guessed. We set the four excerpts in Times New Roman 12 pt with 2.5 cm margins and no space between paragraphs, then counted the lines: 727 words a page single spaced, 364 double spaced. The familiar “500 words a page” holds for a wider font or spaced paragraphs.
The novel page is the A5 page of Extypis book mode, 265 words, the density the editor uses to tell you how long your manuscript runs.
Reading time comes from Marc Brysbaert's meta-analysis (2019, 190 studies): 236 words a minute silently for English, 190 aloud.
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