Stylistic Writing Tips (Combining Sentences Exercise)

Stylistic writing requires an interesting variety in sentence lengths, word choice, and vocabulary. This skill requires attention to detail and a dedication to self-editing. Here are some recommendations for improving your paragraph and sentence style:

Combining Sentences – One way to communicate complex ideas – and show relationships between them – is to combine sentences by coordinating those ideas. Short, choppy sentences may give the impression that your ideas are not connected. In turn, this may weaken the overall impact of your essay. (See exercise below for practice on combining sentences).

Revising Sentences for Variety – A sentence can be looked upon as a work of art. Just as artists can use a variety of colors and textures to enrich their art, you can use a variety of sentence patterns to enrich your writing. Varied sentences do more than hold a reader attention. They also improve the overall style of writing.

Varying Sentence Length – Repetitive writing can seem robotic and dry. Especially when you write an informative paper, you may feel tempted to state the facts, one after another, in the same fashion. To avoid distracting the reader with repetitive sentences and to add rhythm and variety to your sentences, make sure you vary sentence length.

COMBINING SENTENCES EXERCISE

There are four common methods for combining sentences. Review the notes for each.

1. Compounding Sentence Elements

Subjects: When two or more subjects are doing parallel things, they can often be combined as a compounded subject.

Working together, President Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis convinced Congress to raise money for the expedition.

Objects: When the subject(s) is/are acting upon two or more things in parallel, the objects can be combined.

President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri reached all the way to the Canadian border.
He also believed that meant he could claim all that land for the United States.
President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri might reach all the way to the Canadian border and
that he could claim all that land for the United States.

Verbs and verbals: When the subject(s) is/are doing two things at once, ideas can be combined by compounding verbs / verbals.

In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart the movement of the stars.
He also learned to analyze their movements with mathematical precision.
In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart and to analyze the movement of the stars with mathematical precision.

Modifiers: Whenever it is appropriate, modifiers such as prepositional phrases can be compounded.

Lewis and Clark recruited some of their adventurers from river-town bars.
They also used recruits from various military outposts.
Lewis and Clark recruited their adventurers from river-town bars and various military outposts.

2. Subordinating One Clause to Another

William Clark was not officially granted the rank of captain prior to the expedition's departure.
Captain Lewis more or less ignored this technicality and treated Clark as his equal in authority and rank.
Although William Clark was not officially granted the rank of captain prior to the expedition's departure, Captain Lewis more or less ignored this technicality and treated Clark as his equal in authority and rank

3. Using Appositives to Connect Ideas

A pregnant, fifteen-year-old Indian woman, Sacagawea, one of the wives of the French fur-trader Charbonneau, accompanied the expedition as a translator.

4. Using Verbal Phrases to Connect Ideas

Captain Lewis allowed his men to make important decisions in a democratic manner.
This democratic attitude fostered a spirit of togetherness and commitment on the part of Lewis's fellow explorers.
Allowing his men to make important decisions in a democratic manner, Lewis fostered a spirit of togetherness and commitment among his fellow explorers.

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Exercises: Rewrite the sentences below; vary their structure to add interest. Be sure to use each of the FOUR methods explained aboveat least once.

1. Emily truely believed it.

Her grandfather was innocent.

2.Princess Arista fell in love with a commoner.

The commoner was flat broke.

3.Dee James easily disabled her attacker.

Dee James was a body builder.

4.The pitcher looked up intently.

The pitcher glanced at first base.

Then he threw a hanging curve.

The batter knocked it out of the park.

5.Different as they were

They were different in background.

They were different in personality.

They were different in underlying aspiration.

These two great soldiers had much in common.

(Bruce Catton)

6.The woman stood directly in front of them.

The woman was poised on the edge of the embankment.

The embankment was opposite them.

Her hat was in her hand.

Her hair was lit by the sun.

(Richard Wright)

7.He explained to me with great insistence.

Every question possessed a power.

The power did not lie in the answer.

(Elie Wiesel)

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