Learning Some Tips and Tricks

• Check several sentences in one of your essays to see if you're using the same sentence structure over and over again. If you are, set a goal to vary your writing with different kinds of sentences now and then. As a reminder, there are four kinds of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

Simple sentence = one independent clause and no subordinate clauses (IC)
      
      Great literature stirs the imagination.

Compound sentence = two or more independent clauses but no subordinate clauses (IC + IC)

      Great literature stirs the imagination, and it challenges the intellect.

Complex sentence = one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses (IC + SC)

      Great literature, which stirs the imagination, also challenges the intellect.

Compound-complex sentence = two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses (IC + IC + SC)

      Great literature, which challenges the intellect, is sometimes difficult, but it is also rewarding.

• In addition to varying the kinds of sentences you use, vary the length of those sentences. You don’t need to write long sentences unless you’re comfortable doing that. In fact, inserting a short sentence for emphasis is an effective technique. Here’s an example of varying sentence lengths for effect.

Knowing that reading would put her to sleep no matter how good the story was, Rita yawned, stretched, and reached for the thick novel on her nightstand. Just then, she thought she heard a noise. Barely allowing herself to breathe, she slowly sat up and put on her robe. Then the doorknob began to turn. She froze.

• Don’t forget to edit for parallel construction.
• Reading your compositions aloud, so that your ears as well as your eyes can detect completeness, will help you find sentence-structure errors, especially run-ons. You might also find awkward sentences by reading aloud. If a sentence requires a second reading to be clear, it may need to be rewritten.
• Don’t be surprised if you sometimes find fragments and run-ons in even the best newspapers and magazines. Professional writers may manipulate sentence structure any way they want, but that autonomy is for the professionals. Stick to the accepted conventions of formal writing while you are sharpening your skills as a writer and editor. (Generally, the rules for creative writing are different, but that topic is, as the saying goes, “another can of worms.”)