HOW TO MAKE YOUR SENTENCE ALIVE?

Emphatic means “forceful”, “clear” and “strong”. The definition of emphatic is

something that is said or done with strong emotional reaction. In writing and speech,
the emphasis refers to the repetition of key words and phrases or the careful arrangement of
words to give them special weight and prominence. In spoken English we can emphasize
things in a sentence with stress and intonation. In written English there are sentence
structures that permit us to create emphasis. Emphasis makes a sentence alive. There are
different ways to make a sentence alive through emphasis. These ways include:
i. Emphasis by weight
ii. Emphasis of Position
iii. Grammatical weight
iv. Emphasis by separation and isolation
v. Emphasis by repetition
i. Emphasis by Weight:
The reappearance of important words and phrases or the thoughtful arrangement of
words to give them extra weight and prominence is termed as emphasis by weight.
Generally speaking, information placed at the end of a sentence receives most emphasis. This
can be called the end-focus principle. E.g. I worked in a factory. This is where we put new
information. It is also where more weighty parts of a sentence (defined in terms of length or
grammatical complexity) should be placed. This can be called the end-weight principle.
Compare His father owns the largest first class hotel in Lahore. The largest first class hotel in
Lahore belongs to his father. The second sounds awkward and unbalanced but can be defended
on the grounds that the writer wants to place the focus of information on father.

ii. Emphasis of Position:

Emphasis of position refers to the way the writer varies the position and places the
most emphatic words or phrases in a sentence. Two positions in a clause or sentence are
more emphatic than any others — the opening and the closing.” Opening with key words has
much to recommend it. Immediately, readers see what is important. The first position in the

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sentence is familiar territory. Here we tell the reader or listener what we are going to talk
about and for this reason we can call the first element in the clause the topic. In most sentences
it is the subject of the sentence. The Japanese make the best cameras. Here „The Japanese‟ is
the topic. If we want to emphasize 'The Japanese' rather than 'cameras' we can do so by using
the passive: The best cameras are made by the Japanese.

iii. Emphasis by Grammatical Weight

Emphasis by grammatical weight refers to the way emphasis in a sentence is conveyed

by variance of structure, word order and through the usage of various grammatical rules.
The writer may use it-cleft to show emphasis. The cleft sentence with introductory it is useful
for fronting an element as a topic and also for putting focus (usually for contrast) on the
topic element. A cleft sentence is a way of cutting a sentence in half so that we can give
emphasis to the important or new information. It tells the reader or listener what information
they need to pay attention to. For example,

For centuries London had been growing as a commercial port of world importance. But it
was in the north of England that industrial power brought new prosperity to the country.

i. Structure of the it-cleft:

It is/was + the key info we want to emphasize + (that) + the rest of the message.

We are going to rewrite following sentences using an it-cleft.

1. Scientists now believe that human activity is the principle cause.

→ It is human activity that scientists now think is the principle cause.

2. Young people are attracted to science by idealism not by money or career opportunities.

→ It is idealism, not money or career opportunities, that attracts young people to science.

ii. Wh-type clefts sentences (sometimes called pseudo clefts)

I enjoyed the music more than anything else in the film.

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 → What I enjoyed more than anything else in the film was the music.

In this case important information is emphasized by putting it at the end of a

sentence. We put the less important information into a clause at the beginning with what and
open the sentence with this clause. We can then finish with the more important information.
The two parts of the sentence are joined with is or was, since we treat the what clause as
singular.

We can emphasize different things in the sentence.

iii. Emphasizing the noun

What + understood information + is/was + information you want to emphasize

I hated the insects most. → What I hated most was the insects.

His comment upset her. → What upset her was his comment.

iv. Emphasizing the verb

What + subject + do/does/did +is/was + verb They moved us to another hotel →

What they did to use to another hotel

v. Emphasizing the whole sentence or Emphasis through Word Order

Emphatic sentence is a sentence in which the verb gives special stress on its action. Emphatic
sentence is one that is said with emphasis and stress to indicate importance. This expression
used to show writer‟s strong feelings about what he/she is saying. This process is also called
Inversion. We know Sentences usually follow a subject-verb-object order. We can add
emphasis by using the shock factor of changing up or inverting that order and it will be termed
as inversion.

Creating Emphatic Sentences:-

It can be done by adding do, does or did to the main verb of the sentences.

Emphatic Tense:-

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The emphatic tenses of a verb are used to add emphasis

Example:

Simple sentence: We speak the truth.

Emphatic sentence: We do speak the truth.

Simple sentence: I exercise daily.

Emphatic sentence: I do exercise daily.

Simple sentence: We worked hard for our exams.

Emphatic sentence: We did work hard for our exams.

Simple sentence: He helps the poor.

Emphatic sentence: He does help the poor.

Use of Do, Did, Does in Emphatic Sentence:-

Do and Does is used if the action is in the present.

e.g.: He does go to school.

She does look happy.

Did is used if action is in the past.

e.g.: She spoke the truth.

She did speak the truth.

What happens/happened is/was + clause

We got to our hotel and found that the room had been double booked.

→What happened was we got to our hotel and found that the room had been double booked.

iv. Emphasis by Repetition, Isolation and Separation

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 And lastly, emphasis can also be achieved by Separation or isolation. It simply means to
place the main subject separated from all other subjects. Surrounding the main subject with
negative space to maximize its importance also assists to create emphasis.

Repetition

No one wants to read repetitive writing. Often, looking for synonyms and varying
sentence structure is the best choice, but when a writer wants to emphasize something,
repetition can be his/her best friend.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep

(Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening)

Parallel Structure

Parallel structure is similar to repetition, but focuses on phrases and sentences instead of
individual words. For example,

Not parallel: Omar likes reading, writing, and to surf the web.

Parallel: Omar likes reading, writing, and surfing the web.

Parallel: Omar likes to read, write, and surf the web.

ROLE OF EMPHASIS OR SIGNFICANCE OF EMPHASIS IN SENTENCE

If writing is like making a movie, emphasis could be compared to a photographer's zoom

lens, moving in for a close-up one moment and back for a wide-angle shot the next. Emphasis
allows us to create similar special effects by magnifying, reducing, or even eliminating certain
details. By controlling emphasis, we can focus our readers' attention on what is most important.

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In speech we create emphasis by pausing or speaking louder, but in writing we don't have that
opportunity. Still, besides underlining and using exclamation marks, we can focus attention by
using selection, placement, and repetition. Simply because we have different personalities,
purposes, and readers; we see some aspects of our subject as more important than others.

We can use openings and closings as locations for concepts or facts that we want to
highlight. Putting the topic sentence in the first position of a paragraph is a good example of
using placement effectively, as is saving the most important detail for last rather than
sandwiching it between two less important points where it could go unnoticed. Likewise,
getting the most important words of a sentence up front focuses attention on them, while
placing a key word at the end of a sentence will cause it to linger a while in the reader's mind.
Effective repetition can strengthen writing by setting up reader expectations which can be
satisfied or frustrated as we choose. For this reason and also because repetition puts key words
and concepts before our reader more than once, we can use it to center attention on vital facts
and thought patterns.

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