The worst nightmare of essay writers is creating a work where sentences are choppy, repetitive, and difficult to understand. I have written numerous articles and essays which seemed excellent during the process, but their final versions were all bad. This is why thoroughly reading every word you write and making necessary edits is essential. During proofreading and editing, you can implement some sentence variety strategy (in case you haven’t done so while you were writing) and make your work easy to understand. Sentence variety strategies are important for establishing your writing style and voice which represent your identity. Throughout this post, Edusson.com is going to provide useful insight into sentence variety strategies that you can use to improve your work.
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Evaluating sentence variety
When you’re writing an essay, article, or any other type of work you usually do not pay too much attention to sentence style mostly because it disrupts the creative flow. The best thing to do is to implement a strategy to review a variety of sentences in the editing process. This strategy should be focused on sentence beginnings, lengths, and types.
Take a blank piece of paper and create three columns:
- Column #1 – opening words in all sentences
- Column #2 – number of words in each sentence
- Column #3 – types of sentences you used (exclamatory, interrogative, affirmative, etc.).
TIP: Instead of counting words yourself, select sentences one by one and use Microsoft Word’s Word Count option.
These columns will help you identify the problem i.e. sentences too long, repetitive content, or wrong types of sentences. Then, implement the sentence variety strategies below to edit your work. If you need help with sentence variety or even writing an APA paper, there are plenty of online services that can help you pay for APA paper and make your writing shine.
Alternate short and long sentences to vary the rhythm
Writing several sentences of the same length can make your work (or that particular paragraph) seem monotonous and difficult to follow. To bring back liveliness into your work alternate short and long sentences which improve rhythm.
Example: Jane became a member of her friend’s book club to discuss great literary works. She assumed they would read War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and other great books. But, she was disappointed when she realized that nobody read the book and other women just gossiped. She went home without getting to discuss things she read and was sad for having high expectations.
Revision: Jane became a member of her friend’s book club to discuss great literary works such as War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and others great books. She realized that nobody discussed books there. Jane discovered that other women didn’t read books and they just gossiped which is why she had to go home without getting to discuss what she read. High expectations usually disappoint.
If you’re having trouble coming up with fresh ideas for your essay writing, there are now numerous websites and services offering essays for sale online. There are even strategies that can be used to help add variety to your sentences and make your writing more interesting. One of them is to mix simple and compound sentences. A simple sentence has one independent clause, while a compound sentence has two or more.
Sentence openings variety
When multiple sentences start with the same word e.g., It, The, I, etc. some particular work can turn out to be quite boring to an average reader. You can prevent this from happening by varying sentence openings.
Example: George tripped over the step.
Revision: First thing in the morning, George tripped over the step.
Clumsily, George tripped over the step.
On the way to work, George tripped over the step.
When he was heading to his office, George tripped over the step.
Sentence types
Sentences in the English language can be categorized in four different ways. These categories are based on a number of dependent and independent clauses within a specific sentence. Learning to differentiate different types of sentences helps you add variation and complexity to your work.
- Simple sentence (one independent clause/no dependent clauses) – I love reading fiction.
- Compound sentence (multiple independent clauses/no dependent clauses) – The snake hissed and frightened the helpless woman, and she ran off screaming.
- Complex sentence (one independent clause/at least one dependent clause) – John left when his sister arrived.
- Complex-compound sentence (multiple independent clauses/at least one dependent clause) – We decided that the movie was too violent, but our children, who like to watch horror movies, thought that we were wrong.
Fix short, choppy sentences
While we assume that short sentences make it easier for readers to understand the text, that’s not always the case. Multiple short sentences create a choppy rhythm and disturb the “reading flow”. Below, you can see a few tips to fix that:
- Use conjunctions – join complete sentences with but, and, or, nor, for, so, and yet.
Example: David is a thrill seeker. He takes every opportunity to go bungee-jumping.
Revision: David is a thrill seeker so he takes every opportunity to go bungee-jumping.
- Use subordination – link two short, related sentences to each other with connectors such as although, after, as (if), before, because, if, even though, since, that, rather than, while, which, whether, whereas, until, unless.
Example: Sheila likes movies. She goes to the cinema every weekend.
Revision: Sheila likes movies which is why she goes to the cinema every weekend.
When you’re writing a work in which you discuss a particular topic, you might accidentally create repetitive sentences. These sentences, like many other mistakes, contribute to the monotonous effect of the work and make the reader lose interest. To tackle this problem use the techniques listed below:
- Include relative pronouns – embed one sentence inside the other with who, whoever, which, that, and whose.
Example: Our experiment failed due to Murphy’s law. According to this law, if something can go wrong, it will.
Revision: Our experiment failed due to Murphy’s law which states that if something can go wrong, it will.
- Use participles – instead of forms of the verb to be (am, are, is, was, were) include participles (present and past).
Example: Kenny was shocked to see burglars outside his house. He immediately called the police.
Revision: Shocked to see burglars outside his house, Kenny immediately called the police.
- Use prepositions – turn a sentence into a prepositional phrase using about, across, above, after, along, against, behind, beneath, below, by, down, despite, except, for, from, inside, in, off, of, over, past, to, under, up, with.
Example: Lily used her mother’s laptop to play games. This was against her mom’s rules.
Revision: Against mom’s rules, Lily used her laptop to play games.
Sentence variety is one of the most important parts of writing an effective assignment. It helps to keep the reader engaged and makes the text easier to understand. There are several strategies you can use to vary your sentences and make your writing more interesting. For instance, you could use a combination of long and short sentences, use conjunctions to link ideas, or add descriptive words. Another great way to spice up your writing is to write an assignment for you that incorporates the use of rhetorical questions and figurative languages, such as metaphors and similes. With these strategies, you can create an exciting and creative assignment that your reader won’t soon forget.
Solving similar sentence patterns and rhythms
Sentences that have similar rhythms and patterns can make a great work seem dull. Luckily, you can easily fix this problem. For Example:
- Use dependent markers – instead of starting each sentence with a subject, use clauses and phrases such as although, after, whether, while, when, whenever, whatever, until, unless, since, though, in order to, if, even though, even if, because, before.
Example: The entire room became silent when the breaking news revealed that a devastating tsunami killed thousands.
Revision: When the breaking news revealed that the devastating tsunami killed thousands, the entire room became silent.
- Include transitional verbs and phrases – improve the rhythm with transitional verbs or phrases at the beginning of some sentences e.g. accordingly, after all, also, although, meanwhile, afterward, consequently, but, despite, however, for instance, on the contrary, regardless, otherwise, etc.
Example: Pharmaceutical companies are focused on producing highly dependent sleep aids that present temporary solutions to insomnia. The American population faces growing problems with addiction.
Revision: Pharmaceutical companies are focused on producing highly dependent sleep aids that present a temporary solution to insomnia. Meanwhile, the American population faces growing problems with addiction.
When you’re done with writing your article, book or novel, etc. read it thoroughly and start editing your work. Implement sentence variety strategies from this article to enhance the quality.
