Effective Sentences

Writing Effective Sentences

Richard Marius, in A Writer's Companion (3rd ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), advises writers to construct sentences this way: "name your subject, and make a statement about it" (101). He shows how to expand this "core statement" by adding phrases, clauses, or other modifiers but warns against overloading it with too much information or too many details for the reader to assimilate (102). Marius describes three types of statements which English sentences characteristically make:

A sentence tells that the subject does, did, or will do something.

A sentence describes a condition--the state of the subject's existence.

A sentence describes an action committed on the subject.

Important: as you read texts, study sentences that persuade, move, or inspire you and use these sentences as models for your own writing.

Guidelines for Writing Good Sentences

Use the active voice.
Make most of your verbs assert action rather than tell a condition.
Don't digress in a sentence; support your basic statement.
Combine thoughts to eliminate choppy sentences.
Avoid a proliferation of dependent clauses in a single sentence.
Begin most sentences with the subject.
When you do not begin with the subject, begin with some form of adverb--a word, a phrase, or a clause.
Avoid beginning sentences with there.
Avoid participial sentence openers.
Be economical with adjectives.
Don't use nouns as adjectives.
For sentence variety, occasionally use free modifiers and absolutes.
Use compound verb phrases for variety.
Use appositives to speed the pace of your sentences.
When you must write long sentences, balance them with short sentences to give readers some relief.

Callaway North 205A | (404) 727-0886


	Writing Effective Sentences Richard Marius, in A Writer's Companion (3rd ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), advises writers to construct sentences this way: "name your subject, and make a statement about it" (101). He shows how to expand this "core statement" by adding phrases, clauses, or other modifiers but warns against overloading it with too much information or too many details for the reader to assimilate (102). Marius describes three types of statements which English sentences characteristically make: A sentence tells that the subject does, did, or will do something. A sentence describes a condition--the state of the subject's existence. A sentence describes an action committed on the subject. Important: as you read texts, study sentences that persuade, move, or inspire you and use these sentences as models for your own writing. Guidelines for Writing Good Sentences Use the active voice. Make most of your verbs assert action rather than tell a condition. Don't digress in a sentence; support your basic statement. Combine thoughts to eliminate choppy sentences. Avoid a proliferation of dependent clauses in a single sentence. Begin most sentences with the subject. When you do not begin with the subject, begin with some form of adverb--a word, a phrase, or a clause. Avoid beginning sentences with there. Avoid participial sentence openers. Be economical with adjectives. Don't use nouns as adjectives. For sentence variety, occasionally use free modifiers and absolutes. Use compound verb phrases for variety. Use appositives to speed the pace of your sentences. When you must write long sentences, balance them with short sentences to give readers some relief. Callaway North 205A \| (404) 727-0886