Simple questions in spaced repetition
In 1999, I recommended that users optimize wording and keep questions simple:
The wording of your items must be optimized to make sure that in minimum time the right bulb in your brain lights up. This will reduce error rates, increase specificity, reduce response time, and help your concentration.
The problem with this approach is that in incremental reading, cost vs. benefit analysis may play differently. There is very little cost to creating cloze deletions. There is substantial cost to simplification. This cost may exceed the benefits.
In addition, there is a substantial overload due to the use of the priority queue. In 2017, it makes more sense to employ incremental optimization of wording. Investment in re-formulating items may be wasted if the item gets relegated to low priority subset.
There is also an added bonus to incremental reformulation. Each edit to a text requires a bit of semantic processing. If this occurs along a spaced schedule, each edit will have some contribution to comprehension, knowledge cohesion, and long-term memory.