The Basics
Just as a song is built note by note, tone and pitch working together to create a melody, harmony or rhythm that drives the music forward, so too is a paragraph built word by word. Each sentence is chosen with purpose, like a musician selecting the right chord. Together, sentences form the body of a paper—the ideas, arguments, evidence given shape. What shape, depends on you.
Consistent Tense: Maintain the same tense throughout the sentence to avoid confusion.
Incorrect: "She is reading a book when I called her."
Correct: "She was reading a book when I called her."
Avoid Run-On Sentences: Split long sentences into separate, clear statements. Trying to combine too many ideas without proper punctuation or conjunctions can make the sentence confusing and hard to read.
Run-On: "She likes to read she also enjoys writing."
Correct: "She likes to read, and she also enjoys writing."
Use Parallel Structure: When listing items or actions, keep the grammatical structure consistent.
Incorrect: "She likes reading, to write, and swimming."
Correct: "She likes reading, writing, and swimming."
Use Active Voice: Unless instructed otherwise or your genre requires it, use active voice to make your sentences clear and direct.
Passive: “The ball was chased by the dog
Active: “The dog chased the ball”
Less “That”: In a lot of cases, you can cut the word “that” from a sentence to make it clearer.
Original: “I heard that they are moving to a new city."
Revised: "I heard they are moving to a new city."
Mix It Up: To avoid sounding monotone, mix up your sentences. Begin some sentences with introductory phrases or dependent clauses, while letting others start simply and directly. Change the length. The same punctuation in the same places can get stale—like hearing the same note played over and over or seasoning food with just one spice. When you are trying to decide on if a sentence is good or bad, read it out loud.