Key Takeaways
1. Sentences are the Fundamental Units of Great Writing
"I’m absolutely certain that whatever great writing may be, the secret to achieving it has largely to do with learning how to write great sentences."
The essential cell. The sentence is the irreducible core of all writing, the "cell beyond which the life of the book cannot be traced." While larger structures like paragraphs or novels can feel abstract, a sentence is a tangible, essential unit. Focusing on sentence quality is the most direct path to improving overall writing.
Beyond mere words. A sentence is more than just a sequence of words; it's a dynamic entity that unfolds in time, capable of challenging, teasing, surprising, or boring readers. Great sentences possess precision, dramatic impact, pleasing sound, and the ability to direct a reader's thoughts, revealing the writer's unique intellect.
The goal of greatness. Aspiring to write great sentences means moving beyond simply conveying information to crafting language that captivates and moves readers. This pursuit involves understanding how to build, trim, and control sentences to make them more effective, informative, and satisfying, ultimately leading to a distinctive prose style.
2. Prioritize Rhetoric and Impact Over Strict Grammar
"Grammar describes the machinery of the sentence, but it doesn’t teach us how to make the sentence go anywhere or do anything."
Beyond spine counting. Just as identifying a fish by counting its spines misses the "relational reality" of experiencing a live fish, grammatical analysis often treats sentences as dead objects. While grammar defines the rules and parts of speech, it doesn't teach how to make writing effective or impressive.
Motive and impact. Rhetoric, unlike grammar, focuses on the writer's motives and the impact of language on the reader. It's about "doing things with words" – getting and holding attention, shaping it to achieve specific outcomes. Effective writing anticipates and satisfies a reader's need for information, guiding their thinking and assuring them they are in capable hands.
Impressive vs. effective. Effective writing is clear, precise, and informative, meeting the reader's needs. Impressive writing, however, is unusually effective, often displaying an "elegance" that goes beyond mere utility. This elegance is akin to a mathematician's elegant solution: efficient, simple, neat, and clean, even for complex problems, but with an added emotional dimension in writing.
3. Build Sentences by Combining Underlying Propositions
"The basic unit of writing sentences is the proposition, and we build sentences by putting propositions together."
Iceberg of meaning. A sentence is the visible tip of an iceberg, resting on numerous underlying, unstated propositions. For example, "Invisible God created the visible world" implies "God is invisible," "God created the world," and "The world is visible," along with deeper assumptions like "God exists."
Conscious construction. Writers consciously combine these propositions, and the way they are arranged determines the sentence's style and meaning. Every word choice and word order (syntax) subtly alters the content, demonstrating that "form is content; style is meaning."
Three growth strategies. Sentences grow by combining propositions in three fundamental ways:
- Connective: Adding information side-by-side using conjunctions (e.g., "I like to read and I like to write").
- Subordinative: Making one piece of information dependent on another (e.g., "I, who like to write, also like to read").
- Adjectival: Boiling propositions down into modifying words or phrases (e.g., "The young girl raised the flag").
4. Master the Cumulative Sentence for Rich Detail and Flow
"To write a cumulative sentence, all you have to do is turn the period at the end of one of your sentences into a comma, and start adding modifiers."
Generative power. The cumulative sentence, championed by Francis Christensen, is a "generative rhetoric" that encourages writers to add information, detail, and explanation. It starts with a brief base clause and then elaborates it with free modifying phrases, much like a snowball gathering mass as it rolls.
Downshifting and backtracking. Cumulative sentences develop by "downshifting" through increasingly detailed levels of generality. Each modifying phrase points back to the base clause or a preceding phrase, adding specificity and allowing the writer to "go back over the same ground at this lower level." This process reveals the writer's thought process to the reader.
Three patterns of accumulation. Cumulative sentences can follow three logical patterns:
- Coordinate: All modifying phrases refer back to the base clause (e.g., "He grabbed her hand, his heart pounding, his knees shaking").
- Subordinate: Each modifying phrase refers to the immediately preceding clause or phrase, creating a chain of detail (e.g., "His business plan was a joke, little more than a childish dream, first formed when he was eight").
- Mixed: A combination of both coordinate and subordinate patterns, offering flexibility and depth.
5. Harness the Rhythms of Cumulative Syntax for Clarity
"[T]he rhythm of good modern prose comes about equally from the multiple-tracking of coordinate constructions and the downshifting and backtracking of free modifiers."
The ear's wisdom. The distinctive rhythms of cumulative sentences are best understood by reading them aloud. The "stop-and-go" movement, the "flowing and ebbing" action, and the "downshifting and backtracking" of modifiers become apparent to the ear, guiding the writer to smooth out awkwardness and add necessary detail.
Generative rhythm. Once internalized, the rhythm of cumulative sentences becomes a heuristic, prompting the writer to add more modifying phrases. Each new phrase can be seen as answering a potential question a reader might have, making the writing clearer and more satisfying.
Motion without movement. Coordinate cumulative sentences, with their repetitive parallelism, create a sense of "motion without movement." They linger on the base clause, refining and clarifying it with each new phrase, establishing a "continuous present" that slows the reader down and deepens detail. Subordinate cumulatives, conversely, propel the sentence forward, describing processes or unfolding events.
6. Enhance Sentences with Figurative and Speculative Language
"Our choice of similes shows how we process information, how we think about the information we’re passing along to our readers, how we organize it, how we understand it, our attitudes toward it."
Beyond reporting. Great writing goes beyond mere reporting; it processes information, revealing the writer's unique consciousness and perspective. Figurative language, like similes and metaphors, and speculative language are powerful tools for this, adding depth and personality.
Similes as windows. Similes (comparisons using "like" or "as") not only clarify but also express the writer's emotional response to the subject. They offer a "window into the way we feel," making writing more vivid and engaging. Cumulative sentences provide natural slots for these comparisons, often at the end, to sum up or recast previous information.
The power of "possibly" and "perhaps." Speculative language, using words like "possibly," "perhaps," "seem," or "appear," allows writers to move beyond known facts to explore motivations, causes, or consequences. This reveals a mind actively trying to understand, inviting the reader into a shared intellectual journey and strengthening the writer-reader connection.
7. Employ Suspensive Syntax for Emphasis and Dramatic Delay
"Carefully crafted delay can create emphasis or surprise. And the degree of emphasis can be controlled, depending on the writer’s purpose."
The art of postponement. Unlike loose sentences that deliver their main point early, suspensive sentences (formerly "periodic") delay the completion of their core message until the very end. This creates suspense, builds anticipation, and places maximum emphasis on the final words or clause.
Continuum of delay. Suspensiveness is a matter of degree, not an either/or classification. Any sentence can be made more or less suspensive through various delaying tactics:
- Inverted cumulatives: Left-branching modifiers precede the base clause.
- Subject-verb split: Interposing material between the subject and verb.
- Initial qualifiers: Opening with conditional clauses (e.g., "If," "Since," "Although").
- Extended subjects: Long phrases or clauses serving as the sentence's subject.
Purposeful procrastination. Effective suspensive sentences are consciously planned to achieve specific rhetorical effects, whether to build dramatic tension, highlight a crucial revelation, or mirror a complex, unfolding process. Short suspensive sentences can be just as impactful as long ones.
8. Utilize Balanced Forms and Parallelism for Impact
"The matching of phrase against phrase, clause against clause, lends an unmistakable eloquence to prose."
Duple rhythms. Balanced sentences and parallel constructions create a powerful "rhythm of twos," drawing attention to binary pairings and oppositions. This technique involves expressing "like things in like ways," often with repetition of words and syntactic structures in symmetrical arrangements.
Memorable contrasts. Balanced sentences typically hinge in the middle, often with a semicolon, where the second half mirrors the first but introduces a key change or antithesis. This creates tension between repetition and variation, making the statement highly memorable and emphatic, as seen in Churchill's famous pronouncements.
Versatile tool. Parallelism is a foundational tool for focusing attention, emphasizing organization, and providing verbal pleasure. It can appear in:
- Formal balanced sentences: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
- Smaller forms within sentences: "His coat was tattered, frayed from daily wear."
- Conceptual dualisms: "Imagination means individuation."
While excessive use can be "overdone," judicious parallelism adds eloquence and clarity.
9. Leverage the Natural Power of Three-Part Serial Constructions
"The three-part series... create[s] the effect of the normal, the reasonable, the believable, and the logical."
The rhythm of threes. Serial constructions, particularly three-part series, tap into a deep human inclination to organize reality in trios. This rhythm feels inherently natural, progressive, and complete, offering a sense of "unity, progression, or intensification."
Beyond binary. While balance offers certainty and authority through duple rhythms, the three-part series moves beyond simple opposition to suggest a more comprehensive, "true and believable sample." It's the narrative rhythm of "beginning, middle, and end," or the progressive rhythm of "going, going, gone."
Rhetorical enhancements. Serial constructions invite various rhetorical schemes:
- Asyndeton: Omitting conjunctions for speed and simultaneity ("I came, I saw, I conquered").
- Polysyndeton: Repeating conjunctions for emphasis and distinct stages ("and gray and full of sleep").
- Anaphora: Repeating words at the beginning of successive clauses ("I should have gone... I should have lunged... I should have held on...").
- Epistrophe: Repeating words at the end of successive clauses ("government of the people, by the people, and for the people").
- Symploce: Combining anaphora and epistrophe.
10. Craft Master Sentences to Showcase Skill and Depth
"Master sentences are by nature loners—when they form a crowd, they lose most of their impact and can actually reach a point of diminished returns, where they signal a writer’s weakness rather than strength."
Beyond mere length. Master sentences are not just long; they are monumental, enigmatic, and remarkably controlled. They demand attention not simply for their excessiveness but for their originality and the skillful combination of various syntactic moves. Length alone is not a virtue; the way a sentence is made long is what matters.
Purposeful extension. Master sentences serve specific functions:
- Meandering: Suggesting a process with twists and turns, or a duration that doesn't easily end.
- Serpentine: Twisting and turning through complex syntactical moves.
- Radar-guided: Homing in on a final piece of information or conclusion with precision.
- Climactic: Building suspense through delaying tactics to increase the power of a final revelation.
A writer's signature. A master sentence is a reminder to readers that they are in the hands of a skilled writer, someone who directs attention to language and style as well as information. It's a "remarkable hand" capable of extraordinary tasks, reflecting the writer's unique perspective and control over their craft.
11. Embrace Style as a Reflection of the Writer's Unique Mind
"The pervasive emphasis on clarity—on the simple and direct—in American writing instruction Lanham calls the 'Fallacy of Normative Prose': All prose style (as taught in most classrooms) cherishes a single goal and that goal is to disappear."
Beyond transparency. Traditional writing instruction often prioritizes "clarity" and "simplicity" to the point where style is abolished, aiming for prose that "disappears" to leave only "plain facts." This approach, dubbed the "Fallacy of Normative Prose," drains the joy and individuality from writing.
The writer's personality. Style is what distinguishes one writer from another, revealing their unique way of looking at and thinking about the world. It's about "remember[ing] what it was to be me," presenting oneself as an individual consciousness that processes, interprets, and responds to information, rather than merely recording it.
Joy in language. To counteract the "dismal state of stylistic affairs," writers should cultivate a "self-conscious pleasure in words." This involves embracing verbal play, experimenting with different stylistic options (Grammar B), and recognizing that language itself is a subject as interesting and important as the referential world it describes. Our sentences can be a source of pleasure, a celebration of language that lives.
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