Editing Tip of the Week: Structuring Sentences

Structuring your thoughts into concise sentences is a good idea. Using the same sentence structures to do so is not. Sometimes it’s easy to get into a pattern when the main goal is just to get the words onto paper. But once the writing is finished, pay attention to sentence structures. In Sharon Schuman’s Ten Tips for Effective Writing, she points out that repetitive writing will alienate readers as quickly as incoherent writing. Repeating vocabulary can also undermine the quality of your work.

If you constantly start sentences with She, alternate using the character’s name or begin with the action of the sentence instead of the name or pronoun. When writing a research paper that refers to the data gathered, watch out for sentences that begin with The research shows or any variation thereof. A neat trick is to use the Find feature in the Word document to locate oft-repeated words or phrases. Not only will it keep your writing from sounding dry and brittle, it will allow the concise ideas to take center stage.

For more tips, visit www.uoregon.edu/~sschuman/tentips98 or www.chicagomanualofstyle.org

Define a Word, Donate a Grain

What a great way for writers, editors, and all word lovers to give a little back, at any time of year.