Paragraph & Sentence Construction

Paragraph Beginnings/Middles/Endings Begin with the topic (topic sentence). End by emphasizing the topic or a consequence of the topic. Develop, exemplify, explain the topic in the middle. – Strunk, #9 & #10

Sentence Beginnings/Endings Ending  Put the new, the important, the “punch” at the end.  End well: Prefer “… the scientist is willing to explore.” to “… the scientist is willing to look into.” Beginning:  “The problem is to get [to the end] gracefully.”  Connect to the previous sentence  as a result, therefore, …  Announce the topic of the sentence  as for, turning now to, …  Set the time or place  at that time, in our lab, …  Indicate how to evaluate the thought expressed  perhaps, under these circumstances, … – Williams

Sentence Middles Avoid interruptions  Example: This one principle, because it simply overpowers all other considerations, determines what we will do.  Move them: Because it simply overpowers all other considerations, this one principle determines what we will do.  Omit them: This one principle determines what we will do. Don’t let the middle run on to some other topic. – Williams

Make Text Lively Avoid Monotony  Monotonous if: one short sentence after another; one long sentence after another  Monotonous if: many nominalizations (verbs turned into nouns) Prefer “move” to “movement” Prefer “resist” to “resistance” Prefer “fail” to “failure”  Monotonous if: lots of passive voice  Monotonous if: many sentences begin with “There is …” or “There are …”  Note: break all these rules, but … To avoid monotony, say “what you have to say as clearly as you can.” (Williams)

Use Strong Active Verbs “Those who write the clearest … consistently use their verbs to express the crucial actions that constitute their story.” (Williams) Examples:  Rewrite: We conducted an investigation of …  As: We investigated …  Rewrite: We had a discussion of …  As: We discussed …

State in a Positive Form Negative expressions expressed in positive form  “not very often”  “usually”  “not honest”  “dishonest”  “did not remember”  “forgot”  “did not pay any attention to”  “ignored” Negative words, other than “not” are strong  “… never fails”  “If we negate the …”

Omit Needless Words Revise every sentence with “the fact that”  “owing to the fact that”  “since” (“because”)  “in spite of the fact that”  “though” (“although”)  “unaware of the fact that”  “unaware that”  “the fact that it did not succeed”  “its failure” Combine a series of statements presenting a single complex idea into one. (Macbeth Example)Macbeth Example

Keep Related Words Together “The position of the words in a sentence is the principal means of showing their relationship.”  “Bring related words together.”  “Separate those that are not so related.” Use introductory clauses.  No: “Jones, in his paper, writes …”  Yes: “In his paper, Jones writes …” Put modifiers next to the word they modify.  No: “It only found two errors.”  Yes: “It found only two errors.”