Sentence Structure I

Strap in, this article will be long. In fact, I had to split the chapters about sentence structure into two parts.

The sentence is the backbone of all prose. Most improvements to your writing will come from the simple tips and techniques explained in this chapter. It will also demonstrate why some of the previous tips (such as punctuation) are so important.

Obviously, don’t see this as intimidating. See it as motivation! These tips might revolutionize your prose.

Vary your sentence length

Ah, the mother of all writing advice.

Throughout this course, I’ve continually shown that simpler and shorter is better. Keep your sentences minimal and concise.

At the same time, I’ve mentioned how a long sequence of (ultra) short sentences feels like stuttering and doesn’t flow at all.

What to do? How do you prevent stuttering prose? How do you a flow without adding lots of filler words?

You vary your sentence length!

Write a short sentence. Then a medium one. Then another short one, followed by a long one. (See what I did there?)

Continue varying the sentence lengths from the start of your story all the way until the end, and your prose will flow.

This isn’t a “formula”. There’s no fixed number for what counts like a “long” sentence or pattern to follow. (Following a pattern would obviously defeat the point of variation.)

It just presents a simple solution. Whenever you notice multiple sentences next to each other with similar length, rewrite to vary the lengths.

As you see, the solution is in the interpunction rules I explained before.

• If you need a longer sentence, combine two sentences using a comma (or semicolon/colon/dash).
• If you need a shorter sentence, split an existing sentence into two (by placing a period).

Finally, the longer you make a sentence, the more you want to lean towards simple words and simple ideas. The reader already has to process the long sentence—don’t make it harder by making the content difficult. Conversely, for shorter sentences, you have more leeway to pick uncommon words or abstract ideas.

Vary your sentence structure

In the examples above, I sneakily applied this technique as well. Why? Because it’s a natural side-effect of trying to vary your sentence length.

Even if your lengths vary, the prose can still sound repetitive if the sentences all sound the same. They either …

• Start with the same word(s)
• Or follow the same structure / template

Again, this is a general guideline. Repetition can be used to great effect to strengthen a message or add rhythm. The most famous speeches in the world all contain repeating structures.

If this is not your goal for a paragraph, however, avoid repetition. When used without skill or purpose, it sounds like a broken record and breaks immersion.

How do you solve this issue? There are a few “cheap” solutions that work, but should be used sparingly.

• One way is to rearrange the sentence. Don’t place the subject at the start, but use some other clause. (“Last night is what he told her about.”)
• Another is through synonyms. Refer to the subject in another way. Use a different verb. (“The partygoer told her about last night.”)

Why is this cheap? Because it adds complexity and makes the sentences less clear. You’re basically muddying your message just to avoid stilted prose.

Better solutions are …

• Combining sentences to prevent repeating the subject. (“He told her about last night and how little he had drunk.”)
• Actually varying the subjects or statements being made. (“He would have more of a headache.” => “The headache would be worse.” In the second sentence, the subject is the headache instead.)

Let’s give a final example to make sure we’re on the same page.

The sentences all follow the same structure “something was something else”. Picking synonyms for “elephant” feels laughable.

Start strong

I mentioned this technique at the very beginning: prefer “branching to the right”. Start a sentence with subject and verb, then leave any further details to a later point in the sentence.

It’s such a simple thing. Yet it goes wrong so, so often.

The start of a sentence should be strong and properly setup the rest. Additionally, it’s the part that is best remembered, combined with the final word.

And if you want the reader to remember something from a sentence, you usually want it to be the actual action and who did it, not just some minor detail.

End strong

A consequence of “branching to the right” is, of course, that the ending of a sentence will usually be some detail. This is fine, especially if you make it a the most important detail you wanted to convey.

There are two situations, however, that generally ruin prose if they appear.

Ending with a preposition

Instead of ending on a preposition, move it closer the verb to which it belongs. (Or remove it entirely, if possible.)

The whole idea of a preposition is in the “pre” part: it should come before the thing to which it relates. If you put it at the end of a sentence, this confuses readers. They might miss that a new sentence has started and think the preposition belongs to the start of that new sentence.

Ending with a linking verb

Linking verbs are a tiny subset of verbs that contain no action: to be, to become or to seem. They instead fulfill the other purpose of a sentence, which is to link two pieces of information as being equal.

If another verb can be replaced by a linking verb in a sentence (and it retains its meaning), it’s also a linking verb in that context.

Why is it bad to end with one? For the same reason as with the prepositions. It leaves the sentence hanging, giving an unfinished feeling and potentially leading readers astray. It also usually means your sentence structure is inefficient and could be shortened.

Don’t repeat the obvious

An easy way to shorten your prose is to literally remove phrases that repeat “obvious” information.

Now, what’s obvious to you might not always be obvious to the reader. If you’re in doubt about clarity, feel free to restate it.

This usually happens, though, with “prepositional phrases”. Phrases that refer back to something mentioned before, but with the full phrase. Things like in the story, in the article, in the movie, …

Consider using a simple pronoun instead, or rewriting so the reference can be removed.

No spliced sentences

I briefly touched on this in the previous chapters. It’s the most common mistake that leads to muddled prose that’s hard to understand, even if the words and ideas are extremely basic.

A spliced sentence means that you haphazardly combined multiple different sentences into one.

You took a few different ideas—maybe related, maybe not—and just threw them together. Maybe with a comma between them, maybe not, it doesn’t matter.

In general, make every sentence about exactly one thing. New action or information? New sentence. Use a period, a full stop, then continue.

In one sentence, we have two pieces of information, complete with two different subjects (the hero, then the dragon).

To solve this, you either

• Turn them into separate sentences.
• Or use a conjunction (and, but, because, though, however, …)

This is common because it represents your train of thought. As you try to put the story from your head into words, your brain will throw all sorts of words, sentences, ideas, and constructions at you. Trying to write them all down … you start combining them at random, throwing in some commas here or there, trying to keep up with your brain!

It’s very common to have loads of spliced sentences in a first draft. The only important part is to remove them during revisions.