Style

Style English 0950 March 2009

Style Defined • Style is an awareness of the options you have as a writer and how those options affect your writing • Style is one step beyond grammar • Style is based on the constraints of the writing situation and your own preferences and personality as a writer

Principles of Style • • • •

Sentence Patterns Sentence Openings Sentence Length Sentence Variety

Sentence Patterns • Simple sentences embody concision • Compound sentences showcase similarity or contrast • Complex sentences highlight relationships of cause & effect or time/place • Compound-Complex sentences demonstrate intricacy of thought

Sentence Openings • A sentence can begin with an independent clause, a dependent clause, or other stuff • Beginning with an independent clause results in a direct sentence • Beginning with a dependent clause sets up the independent clause • Beginning with other stuff provides background before the main idea

Sentence Length • Short sentences provide emphasis for key ideas • Short sentences can also seem choppy and clumsy • Long sentences tend to let ideas unfold and connect • Long sentences can also become unclear and exhausting

Sentence Variety • Varying sentence patterns shows an intellectual flexibility • Varying sentence beginnings makes a piece of writing more interesting to read • Varying sentence length disrupts monotony in reading