Style Worksheet

Style is your personal signature: it creates the person or voice the reader hears in your writing. The components of style include diction, sentence structure and variety, rhythm, and coherence. The best expository writing style is concise, precise, energetic, imaginative, and interesting.

Below is a sequence of exercises to help you improve your style. Choose one paragraph of at least five sentences and complete the sequence.
 

  1. Write a sentence expressing the main point of your chosen paragraph.

    2.  
  2. Type each sentence of your paragraph on a separate line, leaving two double spaces between sentences. Count the words in each sentence and type the number (enclosed in parentheses) at the end. Place an asterisk "*" before the longest sentence and an "@" sign before your shortest sentence.

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  3. Label each sentence according to type: S (Simple); C (Compound); CX (Complex); and CCX (Compound-Complex). Choose a simple sentence and rewrite it as a compound sentence. Then rewrite it as a complex sentence; finally, rewrite it as a compound/complex sentence.

    4.  
  4. Underline the first elements in each sentence and label them; for example:
    Ss (subject of sentence) Tw/Tp (Transitional word /phrase)
    Modifier (perhaps, screaming [participle]) Dependent Clause (When he was young ) 
    Expletive (There, It) Interrogative (Why, how)

    Rewrite two sentences, changing the initial element. Analyze the difference in effect.
     
    Underline all forms of the the verb "to be." Above each, insert a vivid, active verb. If a verb is in the progressive, eliminate the verb "to be"; if it is in passive voice, rewrite the sentence to change it to active voice.

     
  1. Choose two sentences and substitute synonyms for all nouns and adjectives. Compare the connotations of the original and synonym.

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  2. Incorporate a simile or metaphor or analogy into one of your sentences.

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  3. Rewrite the paragraph. Make sure to preserve its main idea and to convey this idea precisely and concisely, in vivid language which evokes images and sensations in the reader's mind. Read the paragraph aloud and listen to its rhythms. Change any words or phrases which disrupt the rhythm. Then print the whole exercise.

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