Effective sentences need to be concise,
grammatical, and powerful. This might seem like a simple list, but it takes a
lot of practice. Here are three websites and three online sites that can help
you learn more about writing sentences.
"Concise"
means using no more words than necessary to convey your meaning. Here are six ways to achieve conciseness.
1. Avoid redundancy. Look at this table--the words in
parentheses aren't necessary. They say the same
thing as the main phrase.
|
ten
p.m. (at night)
|
tall (in height)
|
|
our (final) conclusion
|
(the month of) June
|
|
square (in shape)
|
to combine (together)
|
|
to ask (a question)
|
a consensus (of opinion)
|
2. Watch out for wordy phrases. Wordiness happens when
you use more words than you need to say something. For example, "in view
of the fact that" means simply, "because."
|
Wordy
|
Concise
|
|
based
on the fact that
|
because
|
|
despite the fact that
|
although
|
|
in the event that
|
if
|
|
at the present time
|
now
|
|
until
such a time as
|
until
|
|
on a weekly basis
|
weekly
|
|
it is
often the case that
|
often
|
|
have the ability to
|
can
|
|
during the course of
|
during
|
|
take under consideration
|
consider
|
|
to be
of the opinion
|
to think
|
|
to make reference to
|
to refer to
|
|
in the final analysis
|
finally
|
3. Make your subject clear and defined.
Unclear:
The practice of revision would improve our writing.
Clear: Revision would improve our writing.
Avoid empty subjects it and there (called expletives)
when possible.
Empty:
There is no way to become a better writer than to practice.
Defined: We can become better writers if we practice.
4. Use strong verbs. Avoid using sentences
that rely overly on some form of the word 'to be' in combination with nouns or
prepositions.
to be +
nouns: What we found was a solution to the problem.
Strong
verb: We solved the problem.
5. Avoid vague words. Words like "thing,"
"stuff," "material," "people," "get,"
or "did" should be replaced with precise nouns or verbs.
Vague: I needed to get some stuff at the store.
Clear: I needed to buy some groceries at the farmer's market.
6. Remove unnecessary modifiers. Too many modifiers weaken
the force of your writing; they bury your main ideas in a mountain of words
that don't mean much. Look for modifiers like "many,"
"really," "quite," "in my opinion," etc. and edit
them out of your writing.
Unnecessary: In my opinion, that movie was really quite good. I'm
very glad we saw it.
Concise: That movie was great! I'm glad we saw it.
In your notebook, and on the discussion boards, practice writing some
powerful, concise sentences. And, of course,
comment on your classmates' sentences.
Websites:
The Purdue OWL (online writing lab): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Revising Prose: http://www.ccp.rpi.edu/resources/revising-prose/
Sentences: Simple, Compound, and Complex: http://eslbee.com/sentences.htm
Books
Effective Sentences: Writing for Success, by Jan Fluitt-Dupuy, University of Michigan Press, 2006.
Gateways to Academic Writing: Effective
Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays, by Alan Meyers,
Pearson Publishing, 2004.
The Well-Crafted Sentence: A Writer's Guide to
Style, by Nora Bacon, Bedford/St. Martins Press,
2012.
Look also at a very good blog post, "Not
Every Sentence Can Be Great But Every Sentence Must Be Good":http://brevitymag.com/craft-essays/every-sentence/, by Cynthia Newberry Martin.
If you know of other good websites or books for
writing effective sentences, add them to the discussion.