Rhetorical Strategies for Composition by Wink Karen A

Author:Wink, Karen A.
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

Sentence Variation

Essentials

What is important to know about sentences? Often, student writers pay more attention to content rather than sentences in their academic essays. Unless they are writing fiction, that is, poetry and short stories, and are particularly creative with words, they focus more on ideas than syntax (sentence structure). Readers also focus on content because they like ideas and information and pay less attention to sentences except when they are either well-crafted or bumpy. Writing sentences that are smooth creates an engaging and fluid reading experience.

How do you know when a sentence is a sentence (not a fragment)? To ensure that a group of successive words is a sentence, the words will fill the blank in a test frame such as “They refused to believe the idea that_________________” or “It is known that_________________” Example 1: They refused to believe the idea that the Earth is flat (sentence). Example 2: It is known that visited Barcelona and saw Christopher Columbus statue. (fragment)

Why vary your sentence patterns? To “shake up” dull and repetitive writing. To avoid boring the reader. To avoid sounding like an amateur. Sentence length can have a great effect on your readers as well as your message to them. Accomplished by writing clear prose with powerful verbs, the goal of varying the sentence patterns is to keep your reader engaged with your argument.

What are examples of unskillful writing?

• Sentences repeatedly beginning with demonstrative pronouns: that, there, this, those

• Repeating sentence patterns: for instance, the pattern of subject, verb, direct object

• Sentences repeatedly beginning with articles: a, an, the.

How can you vary your sentences? Think of attaining this skill as a personal challenge, one which will require you to press, as you seek to improve your sentences, the “pause” button repeatedly in the final phases of your writing process. Today’s readers are bombarded with information. As a result, they want to read clear, direct writing that has powerful verbs and well-edited sentences. If readers have to work too hard, they tend to “turn off” and stop reading.

When are simple sentences appropriate? There is a place for complex sentences, and there is a place for simple sentences. Clear writing often involves a combination of both. The decision whether to use simple or complex sentences depends on the rhetorical situation: audience, purpose, and context. For example, writing a manual with directions to activate a cell phone for an audience of adults with limited technical knowledge will require simple sentences while writing an argument to improve snow removal in a letter to the town council will require more complex sentences.

Which famous authors wrote deceptively simple sentences? Some of the greatest literary writers, including Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club), Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird), and Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man and the Sea), wrote in simple language with clear, direct sentences although the content was sophisticated. An example from The Old Man and the Sea shows this:

The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.

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