#sentence variation

[scripturient-manipulator]

Me: *looks at long sentence*

Me: *looks at long sentence right before it*

Me: *looks at long sentence right after it*

Me: It counts as sentence variation if I make this next one THE LONGEST OF ALL

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hey there. I notice I have a massively bad writing habit. My sentences tend to start with the subject at the very beginning, meaning the POV character or a pronoun tends to start 90% percent of my sentences. (Ex. "He glanced outside. He had things to do today"). I want to break this bad habit, but can't find any info to help me! Think you guys can help?

Good news! You’re not alone! In fact, there are whole guides out there that teachers use to try to help their students kick this exact habit. (This one is very useful if you feel like you don’t have a great grip on the different ways a sentence CAN be structured, although it will also make you feel like you are taking a 9th grade standardized test.) It’s not as generative as a creative person like me prefers, but it does get me thinking very concretely about what makes a sentence, why I’m choosing the structures I’m choosing, and how I might change that).

Unfortunately, that is my first advice. Some people have a natural feel for sentence rhythm and don’t need to know all the technicalities in order to structure a gorgeous, varied paragraph, but the rest of us tend to benefit from sitting down and doing sentence diagrams.

After you’ve done that, my next big recommendation is this: set your paragraph aside. Stick it in your desk drawer, hide it under your pillow, give it to your cat, minimize the window, whatever you have to do to not be looking at it. Open up a new blank page. Write the paragraph again, from memory. Now that you have gotten the ideas down once, I’ll bet you anything that your sentences come out more natural and less stilted.

If that’s not working for you, you can try what they’ve done over at OWL at Purdue (a great resource for all kinds of technical writing help, by the way) and just write a single sentence in as many ways as possible. Try ten on the first sentence you practice with. See if you can work your way up to being able to spit out 15 or 20. Most of these are gonna be bad, as you can see by the examples on OWL. This exercise is not about writing good sentences necessarily, it’s about figuring out every single way you can possible say a thing so that you get familiar with the huge variety of options open to you. When you’ve done this a few times (and also given yourself a rest), see if the paragraph rewrite trick goes any better.

[fmtpextended]

The Grammar Grind: Sentence Types

When I was first asked to do an article on sentence structure, I wasn't positive how I wanted to approach it. Sentence structure is a rather broad topic that covers many techniques and rules for writing sentences. However, I settled on splitting the topic into several articles rather than one large one. This particular post will cover sentence types and how to incorporate sentence variation into your writing. There are four main types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Each one contains different parts of speech and can be somewhat manipulated to give you a wide variety of sentence structure. As I discussed in a previous post, sentence variation is one of the key elements of good writing. Without it, the writing can by dry and monotonous, so it's important to include each of these throughout your pieces, particularly with longer pieces of fiction. Simple Sentences Simple sentences have one independent clause with no dependent ones. They usually contain little more than a subject and a verb but can vary in length. Example A: The dog barked. Example B: Christopher walked to the store. Example C: Michael fed the chickens in the yard. Compound Sentences Compound sentences contain more than one independent clause and no dependent ones. The clauses are typically joined with a coordinating conjunction. Each clause in a compound sentence must be able to stand on its own. Example A: Jill turned left, and Tommy turned right. Example B: I remembered to pack my lunch, but I forgot to grab my umbrella. Example C: My aunt is coming to visit, so I need to clean my room. Complex Sentences Complex sentences only have one independent clause, but they contain at least one dependent clause. In other words, they contain a clause that relies on the rest of the sentence to make it a complete thought. Dependent clauses used at the beginning of a sentence require a comma after them. Example A: After I brushed my teeth, I was ready for bed. Example B: Samantha gets nervous whenever she has to speak in front of a large group. Example C: As per Miss Haley's instructions, we continued writing our papers until the end of class. Compound-Complex Sentences Compound-complex sentences utilize more than one type of sentence. They contain multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. Example A: The stormy weather knocked out our power last night, and because of the outage, our alarm clocks never sounded. Example B: When one of our tires suddenly went flat, we pulled over, and Dad retrieved the spare from the trunk. As you can see from the above examples, there are many ways to construct each sentence type just by adding or a removing adjectives, adverbs, and phrases. Use the different types to strengthen your writing and flow prose. For further information about sentence types and independent/dependent clauses, you can check out the following resources: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/02/ http://eslbee.com/sentences.htm https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/ http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateclause.htm

[fmtpextended]

Sentence VaRiAtIoN

The topic I’d like to discuss for today deals with the style of writing. One of the biggest amateur mistakes with butchering the writing of a piece (apart from grammar and spelling) is not having enough sentence variation. What do I mean by that? Well, to illustrate, let me start by showing you how not to write a paragraph.

Judy came home. She found her door wide open. Chills ran down her spine. Something seemed off. The lights were out. Nothing looked out of place. Something felt off though. She flipped the switch next to the front door. No lights came on. She grabbed her cell phone. She opened it. She used the faint light from the screen to look around the front room.

What’s wrong with that paragraph? There’s a clear lack of sentence variation. The sentences are short and choppy with the basic structure never changing. Each has a subject and verb (sometimes with an object thrown in) and nothing more. There is never any change to the length of the sentence or the style in which it is written. Now let’s take that same paragraph, add in some strong verbs, some commas, and move the words around a bit.

Judy walked up to her front door, finding it slightly ajar. Chills jolted down her spine. Something seemed off. The lights were out, and nothing seemed out of place, but something felt horribly wrong. She flipped the switch next to the front door; no lights came on. She grabbed her cell phone from her purse and opened it. Using the faint light from the screen, she looked around the front room.

Now we see a plot starting to form, and it’s clear that something bad is going to happen. Suspense has been heightened, and very real sense of the character’s impending danger is developing. All this from sentence variation. Most of the same words were used; all that changed was the style of the sentences.

That’s not to say that all literary problems can be solved by rearranging a few sentences, but there’s certainly something about it that adds to any piece. If you opened a book and saw the original paragraph as the first one in the book, you’d probably close it immediately and never have a second thought about it again. But if you saw the second attempt at the same paragraph, you might be more interested in continuing.

In order to master sentence variation, one needs to study the types of sentences that there are a bit more. I won’t go into great detail with all of these, but here are the main ones:

Simple Sentence: A simple sentence is an independent clause that contains a subject and verb, expressing a complete thought. Example: Jack and Jill ran up the hill to fetch a pail of water. There is a subject (or in this case, two), a verb, and one complete thought. Simple.

Compound Sentence: Much as you’d expect, a compound sentence is two independent clauses that have been joined together by a conjunction, or coordinator. Example: Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. First, Jack fell down the hill and broke his crown, then Jill tumbled down after him. Two ideas joined together using a comma and the conjunction “and.”

Complex Sentence: Complex sentences contain both an independent clause (one that can stand on its own as a complete sentence) and a dependent clause (one that needs an independent clause attached to make it complete). Example: When Jack tripped over the rock at the top of the hill, Jill didn’t notice. The first half of the sentence is actually the dependent clause in this cause. It signifies a specific period of time in which the event happened (when Jack tripped), and therefore, relies on an independent clause to clarify what the event actually was (Jill didn’t notice). The semantics are more complicated and more in-depth than that, but there is the gist of what a complex sentence is.

Of course, you can have variations of these types of sentences within the English language, such as compound complex sentences, but as long as you at least vary between the three main types as you’re writing paragraphs, the style and overall appeal of your will be more desirable. A well-written paragraph will sound almost musical. The length of one sentence has a big influence on the tone of the sentence, and when combined, different types of sentences can build paragraphs of suspense, bliss, and even turmoil.

[kimboboo]

a realization.

everyone on tumblr. types in really short sentences. when they are making text posts. including. me. probably. because they are mad. while they are making them. but EVERYONE does it.

or 

with

like

line

breaks

like

this.

tumblr is an angry place for text posts.

[whenandwhereienter]

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

Gary Provost