Brands over time

South East Water
over time

Every year keeps its colour across every chart.│ ChatGPT, 30 Nov 2022

232 of South East Water's own blog posts, press releases and announcements, 2015 to 2026, measured sentence by sentence, 11 of them recovered from the Internet Archive. How the writing has moved over the years, how it compares with 9 other water companies, and what it sounds like in its own words.

Pages measured
232
Years covered
2015–26
Archived before ChatGPT
11
Blog · press
119 · 113

01 · Homepage

One capture a year

South East Water's homepage from 2002 to 2026, closest to 1 July, from the Internet Archive. Pick a year or press play. Each headline is quoted from its capture and links to the archived copy.

2026southeastwater.co.uk5 Jul 2026
South East Water homepage, 5 Jul 2026

Screenshot of South East Water’s homepage (southeastwater.co.uk) as archived by the Internet Archive on 5 Jul 2026. © South East Water or its licensors. Shown for comparison and review; not endorsed by South East Water.

Homepage

2026

“What can we help you with?”

Page title

Your Local Water Supplier | Household | South East Water

Open on the Internet Archive
  1. 2006Beat The Drought Cinema Advert
  2. 2017News & Info
  3. 2019Save water, save money
  4. 2021Save water this summer
  5. 2024Going for gold
  6. 2026What can we help you with?

21 captures. Screenshots are rendered from the archive and can pull in images archived later than the page itself; dates come from the capture. Years without a capture are greyed out in the strip.

02 · Measures by year

How the writing moved

Every year’s pages, averaged. Pick a measure. Hatched bars rest on fewer than 10 pages: context, not a finding. The page count sits under each year.

Sentence lengthAverage words per sentence.
6
12
18
Water avg 16.0
10.8
11.9
17.3
15.2
14.6
13.4
12.6
17.2
ChatGPT · Nov 2022
20151 pp
2016no pages
2017no pages
2018no pages
2019no pages
20202 pp
20215 pp
202210 pp
20236 pp
20246 pp
20253 pp
20265 pp
10 or more pagesFewer than 10 pages: context, not a findingSector averageChatGPT released
Show as a table
YearSentence lengthPages
201510.81
202011.92
202117.35
202215.210
202314.66
202413.46
202512.63
202617.25

Years with pages: 2015 (1), 2020 (2), 2021 (5), 2022 (10), 2023 (6), 2024 (6), 2025 (3), 2026 (5). Dates come from page metadata, structured data, the URL, or the month a page was first archived (a latest possible date).

03 · Before and after

2019 to Nov 2022 against 2024 to 2026

The same measures on 17 pages from before ChatGPT launched and 14 pages from 2024 on. A change here is a change in style. It does not show how any page was written: people used every one of these words and shapes long before 2022, and SGR-011 found most of the shift across brands was a trend already under way.

2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Sentence length down 5%

words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Sentence length down 5%. words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Sentence length15.414.6−0.8

Sentence rhythm up 1%

How much sentence length varies (standard deviation over mean). Higher reads less even.

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Sentence rhythm up 1%. How much sentence length varies (standard deviation over mean). Higher reads less even. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Sentence rhythm0.690.70+0.01

Contractions up 18%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Contractions up 18%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Contractions7.58.9+1.3

"You" up 7 pts

share of I/we/you

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

"You" up 7 pts. share of I/we/you. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
"You"17%24%+7%

"We" up 5 pts

share of I/we/you

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

"We" up 5 pts. share of I/we/you. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
"We"68%73%+5%

Questions down 7%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Questions down 7%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Questions1.21.1−0.1

Exclamations up 175%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Exclamations up 175%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Exclamations1.203.31+2.11

Long words up 2 pts

share of words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Long words up 2 pts. share of words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Long words25%26%+2%

Em dashes down 21%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Em dashes down 21%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Em dashes1.841.46−0.38

AI-associated words up 27%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

AI-associated words up 27%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
AI-associated words0.190.25+0.05

AI-era marketing words about the same

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

AI-era marketing words about the same. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
AI-era marketing words0.000.15+0.15

Quieter LLM-favoured words up 11%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Quieter LLM-favoured words up 11%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Quieter LLM-favoured words1.231.37+0.14

AI-associated sentence shapes down 100%

per 1,000 words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

AI-associated sentence shapes down 100%. per 1,000 words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
AI-associated sentence shapes0.250.00−0.25

Page length up 18%

words

  • 2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp
  • 2024 to 2026 · 14 pp

Source: SGR-011

Page length up 18%. words. Source: SGR-011
m2019 to Nov 2022 · 17 pp2024 to 2026 · 14 ppChange
Page length493581+88

Every chart is centred on its before value and shares one relative scale, so a longer bar means a bigger percentage change; the values themselves are in different units and do not compare. Before = 2019 to Nov 2022 (17 pages); after = 2024 to 2026 (14 pages). Method: SGR-011.

04 · Against its sector

South East Water among water companies

Each dot is one brand’s mean across all its measured pages; the tick is the sector average. Only brands with 10 or more measured pages are shown or counted. Select a dot to open that brand.

  1. Em dashes

    56% less than its sector

    0.86 against a sector average of 1.93; 2nd lowest of 10.

  2. Questions

    24% less than its sector

    1.0 against a sector average of 1.4; mid-table, 6th of 10.

  3. Contractions

    21% less than its sector

    8.9 against a sector average of 11.3; 4th lowest of 10.

Sentence length4th lowest of 10
South East Water 15.1
10.720.8
Contractions4th lowest of 10
South East Water 8.9
6.817.1
"You"4th highest of 10
South East Water 23%
3%50%
"We"Mid-table, 5th of 10
South East Water 72%
40%95%
QuestionsMid-table, 6th of 10
South East Water 1.0
0.03.4
Long words3rd lowest of 10
South East Water 25%
24%31%
Em dashes2nd lowest of 10
South East Water 0.86
0.563.24
AI-associated wordsLowest of 10
South East Water 0.53
0.532.20
ExclamationsHighest of 10
South East Water 2.62
0.072.62
Page length2nd lowest of 10
South East Water 514
5141,356

Pages measured: Thames Water 106 · Severn Trent 115 · United Utilities 153 · Anglian Water 26 · Wessex Water 97 · South West Water 185 · Welsh Water 208 · Affinity Water 100 · Scottish Water 16 · South East Water 232. Measures and method: SGR-010; this sector and its brands were added by Brands over time, measured exactly as the studies measured theirs. Sector averages and ranks cover every brand in the sector on this site.

05 · Vocabulary

Words South East Water uses more than its peers

The words this brand reaches for more often than the rest of its sector. This is subject matter more than voice.

abuse33.5 vs 3.0
domestic34.1 vs 3.4
safe45.2 vs 9.9
spaces34.0 vs 6.3
drinking28.6 vs 5.7
proudly32.9 vs 0.1
together38.8 vs 11.7
road24.9 vs 6.1
kent15.4 vs 0.1
South East WaterSector peers

Uses per 10,000 words, ranked by weighted log-odds (Monroe et al. 2008) across 232 pages. Checked for product names and page furniture.

06 · In its own words

What it sounded like

Openings of real pages, quoted word for word, oldest first. Each links to the page, or to the Internet Archive’s copy when it has gone.

201812 Jul · Press
“The wart-biter cricket is endangered in the UK and the threat they could die out remains, but thanks to the team’s hard work and perseverance the cricket now has a brighter future breeding on the South Downs.”
Bowled over by next generation of crickets
2022 · Blog
“I think it keeps us connected and reminds us of how much important our environment is to us. It’s a microcosm of the relationship we have with the earth. Getting the balance right on an allotment is important, as it is with our relationship with the planet.”
Community Garden Week 2022
2024 · Blog
“This year’s theme for National Gardening Week is ‘Knowledge is Flower’. All week, experts at the RHS will be on hand to myth-busting and demystify the wonderful world of gardening, and we’re sharing our top tips to keep your garden glowing, and the taps flowing this spring!”
National Gardening Week

07 · Every page

All 233 pages, by year

The full list behind every number above, with links to the live page or the archived copy. 232 count towards the measures; the rest were not measured (1 under 150 words of text). Pages with no reliable date count in the overall numbers but in no year.

20265 pages
20253 pages
20246 pages
20236 pages
202210 pages
20215 pages
20202 pages
20151 page
In the overall numbers, no year194 pages
Not measured1 page
  • Case studiesundated · blog · 127 wordsUnder 150 words of text: too short to measure

08 · Method

How this was measured

The pages

South East Water's own blog posts, press releases and announcements, fetched from the live site in 2026 and from the Internet Archive for 2015 to November 2022. Homepages are shown as captures; product and help pages are not measured.

The measures

Code counts from ScriptGrain’s writing instruments: sentence length and rhythm, contractions, pronouns, punctuation, long words, and three published lists of AI-associated words. No AI model reads or judges any page.

What it cannot say

These measures describe style. They cannot tell who or what wrote a page, and nothing here says or implies that any brand used AI to write.

Sample sizes

Every number carries its page count. Years under 10 pages, and before-and-after comparisons with under 10 pages on a side, are shown as context only.

Sentence length
Average words per sentence.
Sentence rhythm
How much sentence length varies (standard deviation over mean). Higher reads less even.
Contractions
Contractions (we're, you'll, it's) per 1,000 words. A rough gauge of how conversational the writing is.
"You"
Share of I/we/you pronouns that are "you": how much the writing addresses the reader.
"We"
Share of I/we/you pronouns that are "we": how much the writing talks about the organisation.
Questions
Question marks per 1,000 words.
Exclamations
Exclamation marks per 1,000 words.
Long words
Share of words with seven or more letters.
Em dashes
Em dashes per 1,000 words.
AI-associated words
Words from SGR-007's three AI-associated lists, per 1,000 words. These are style markers that people used long before ChatGPT; a higher rate says nothing about who or what wrote the page.
AI-era marketing words
Marketing words that became more common in AI-era copy (seamless, elevate, unlock...), per 1,000 words. A style measure only.
Quieter LLM-favoured words
Everyday words language models are known to over-use, per 1,000 words. A style measure only.
AI-associated sentence shapes
Sentence patterns such as "not just X, but Y", found by ScriptGrain's cliche checker, per 1,000 words. A style measure only.
Page length
Average words per page.

Studies: SGR-009: Do brands in the same sector sound the same? · SGR-010: How UK brands write · SGR-011: Did brand writing change after ChatGPT?.