Writing Effective Sentences in Your English

Essay

Effective Writing
1. Has interesting ideas.
2. Uses transition words to link ideas.
3. Convinces the reader with logic.
4. Uses interesting language.
5. Is carefully edited and proof-read.
6. Uses punctuation correctly.

1. Make Your Subjects and Verbs Interesting

Use Subjects and Verbs to state the key actors and actions

 Don't Say: The intention of the company was to expand its

workforce.

 Instead say: The company intended to expand its workforce.

Use strong Verbs (avoid passive voice)

Try to get away from is, am, was were, made, been

 Don't Say: The company is now the leader …Its officers

make speeches…
 Instead say: The company now leads in compliance…Its
officers speak

 Don't say: The 1990 law is seen as fair….costs have been

exaggerated

 Instead say: Businesses see the 1990 law as fair, opponents

have exaggerated

2. Vary Sentence Types

Effective writers use a variety of types of sentences to keep the
reader interested in what they are reading. Here are some of the
different ways to write English sentences:

1. Use Transition Words to connect ideas in sentences.

Pay attention to how you begin and end your sentences. Use
sentence beginnings and endings to cue readers about your most
important point

Readers expect what they already know to be at the beginning of

a sentence and new information at the end. One way to put this
is that the beginning of the sentence or paragraph should
transition/show relationship of a new idea to what you've said
previously.

Everyone knows that teachers earn low wages.  In spite of

meager salaries, most teachers report great satisfaction with their
jobs;  however, most teachers quit after five years.  Is this high
turnover rate caused by the fact that the profession is dominated
by women? No one knows  for sure but statistics indicate---
2. Use Cumulative sentences: start with the main idea and
then add modifiers to amplify or illustrate it.

 Mary Morrison became a teacher because she wanted  to

open minds, instill values and create new opportunities for
students  who lived in poor, inner-city housing projects.

3. Use Periodic sentences: start with the modifiers and put

the main idea at the end.

 Blowing roofs off buildings, knocking down many trees, and

severing power lines,  the storm caused extensive damage.

Use a variation of the periodic sentence which has: subject,

modifiers, verb.

 Raul Martinez, who works in jeans and loafers and likes to

let a question cure in the air before answering it,  never fit in
with the corporate environment.

4. Use Balanced Sentences: two main clauses which are

parallel in their structure are put together. This often works is the
two clauses have a contrasting meaning.

 The fickleness of the women I love is equaled only by the

infernal constancy of the women who love me. (Shaw)

 If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt

thought. (George Orwell)

5. Use different lengths of sentences. Most English

sentences are 1-2 times of printed type. Make your sentences
more interesting by having some sentences which are very short,
and a few that are longer.

6. Use Occasional Questions? Exclamations! or

Commands. Don't overdo this one, but it can be very effective
to occasionally use one of these sorts of sentences to speak
more directly to your reader.

3. Use Lists in Sentences Effectively

When you start to write longer sentences, you often run into the
problem of how to write a long list of items. To make your
sentences effective, you need to make sure you keep the items
in the list in the same form. That is called "parallelism," like
when two lines run next to each other without crossing. Here is
what you need to remember:

1. A series of phrases linked by commas and “and,” “or”

or “but” need to be written using the same format
(examples: all start with an "ing" word; all start with “to—”; all start
with a past tense verb).

 (ing)The horse was running across the meadow, jumping

over the bridge and racing to the finish line.

 (to)To run across the meadow, jump over the bridge and
race to the finish line was the horse’s task.

 (past tense verb)The horse ran across the meadow, jumped

over the bridge and raced to the finish line.
2. The information is listed in either chronological order,
like in the horse example, or in topical order, from least
to most important.

 Don't Say: The storm severed power lines, killed two people
and blew the roof off ten houses.

 Instead say:  The storm blew the roof off ten houses,
severed power lines and killed two people.

4. Use the Right Conjunction

In English, we often put two ideas together in a sentence in this
form: main clause, conjunction main clause.

Effective sentences are careful to use the right conjunction to

show whether you mean to add an idea (and), contrast an idea
(but, or, yet), or show cause or comparison (so, for, as). Here is
a list of the most common conjunctions and their meanings:

 AND—adds one to the other (both—and, not only---but also)

 BUT, YET—substitutes one idea for the other; contrasts ideas

(not---but)

 OR---shows two alternatives (either—or,)

 SO, FOR----makes one cause the other

 AS---comparing/simile

1. Jeremy writes books for St. Martins,  so  he doesn't have

time to help you on your novel.
2. What happened to Emily was a mystery,  and  no one ever
saw her in Stockton again.

3. Will Jeremy take English again to improve his grade,  or  will
he be happy with a "C" ?

4. Helga  completed the paper ahead of time,  yet  she still did
an excellent job of revising all of her grammar errors.

Transition Words
Add: also, furthermore,
Emphasis: indeed, in fact, undoubtedly
Compare and contrast: however, instead, nevertheless, otherwise,
similarly
Cause and effect: accordingly, as a result, consequently
Time: next, meanwhile, thereafter

5. Use Semicolons and Transition Words

A semi-colon combines to separate sentences into one. Using a
semicolon emphasizes the importance of that sentence, so use a
semi-colon sentence sparingly because it makes a sentence seem
more important. I often suggest my students use a semi-colon
sentence in their thesis.

Many students don't know how to use a semi-colon correctly, but

it is actually very easy. Here are the two main ways to use it:

1. main clause; main clause (don’t overdo this one): In

this sort of sentence, you just take out the period and put in a
semicolon:
 Helping people is my job; I don’t ask for gratitude.

 Never underestimate the power of a baby; they can make

the most solemn people look like idiots.

2. Semicolon using a transition word. The advantage of

using this form of the semi-colon sentence is that the transition
word explains the relationship between the two parts of the
sentence:

Main clause; transition (conjunctive adverb), main clause

 Whenever Jason looked in the mirror he had his

doubts; however, he still pretended he believed Melissa’s
comment that he was the best-looking man she’d ever met.

 His parents and friends tried to dissuade him from

dating her; consequently, he was all the more determined not
to break up.

6. Emphasize Important Ideas

Along with showing how ideas relate, you also need to show
which ideas are the most important. That is where "subordination"
comes in. Subordination shows:

1. One idea is less important than another (hey, not

everyone can be top dog). Not that the information
isn't needed but that it isn't the main idea.
Subordination helps you keep the main ideas clear. It also
helps you to show how other ideas relate to the main point
 (Were they the cause? The result? Do they tell the time? The
place? The purpose? Do they describe or identify?).

2. No rules tell you which idea should be the main

clause and which the subordinate one: the decision
depends on upon your meaning. Usually details of time,
cause, condition, purpose, and identification are subordinate to
action.

Kinds of subordinate parts of sentences:

Subordinate clauses may be a main clause which starts with a

word which turns it into an incomplete phrase. They might also
start with a relative pronoun (which, that, what, whatever, who,
whoever) Subordinate clauses are longer and more important than
the other types.

 Although the horse looked gentle, it proved hard to manage.

 Whenever forecasters predict a mild winter, farmers hope for

an early spring.

 Even though she wrote voraciously, she never published.

 Because she spoke haltingly, she could never face speaking

in front of a crowd.

Subordinate phrases include appositives which rename a noun

(her son, Frank,) prepositional phrases such as “in” or “on.” or
verbal phrases (either ing or “to” form of a verb (walking into the
room, to walk into the room,).
 My brother, Gerald, is a lawyer who works for First
American, a title insurance company.

 Having been jobless for six months, Jones could not pay his
bills.

 To pay the rent, he borrowed from his father.

 Jumping over the fence, the horse fell into the water.

 To jump over a fence, the horse must be strong.

 Groomed, stabled and rested, the horse felt better.

 In the morning, we like to fish by the lake.

 Sitting by the lake, we fish every morning.

Avoid these common problems with Subordination:

1. The less important idea is made into the main clause:

 Don't Write: Mrs. Angelo was in her first year of teaching,

although she was a better instructor than others with more
experience.

 Instead, Say:  Although Mrs. Angelo was in her first year of

teaching, she was a better instructor than others with more
experience.

2. Ideas are not logically linked; wrong subordinating

word is used.

 Don't say: Because the horse looked gentle, it was hard to

manage.
 Instead, say: Although the horse looked gentle, it was hard
to manage.

 Don't Say: As the experiment was occurring, the laboratory

was sealed.

 Instead, Say: When the experiment (time) or Because the

experiment (cause)