How to Improve My Sentences

Examine your sentences line by line to spot problems, such as repetitive sentence structure.

Quality sentence structure is essential to overall good writing that keeps a reader's interest and clearly conveys a message. There are several possibilities for faulty structure, some of which take considerable revision to resolve. Some sentence structure issues can be addressed sentence by sentence. However, more of them can be discovered and fixed in a larger work such as a paragraph or paper.

Instructions

1. Write an eight- to 10-sentence paragraph on any topic that interests you or use a paragraph of this length that you have written for another purpose. Because part of analyzing sentence structure is finding out how your sentences relate to one another, it is important to have a paragraph to work with.

2. Number each sentence in your paragraph. Number a separate sheet of paper to coordinate with the number of sentences in your paragraph. On each line, make note of the following:
   1. Sentence type: simple (She likes going to school.), compound (I speak English and my friend speaks German.), complex (When she arrived at the store, she realized she forgot her list.) or compound-complex (While I like to cook, I don't have the time and I only have a microwave.)
   2. First word
   3. Verb(s) used
   4. Pronoun(s) used

3. Compare the sentence types you've used. If you notice that most of your sentences are compound (She enjoyed the theater and he watched TV.), for example, try varying the types of sentences you're using. (Although he watched TV, she enjoyed the theater.) If possible, avoid using the same type more than twice in the same paragraph.

4. Look at the way you've started your sentences. Do not use the same word to start more than one sentence in your paragraph. Consider using pronouns or rearranging sentences to help vary the starting words. This can also help you resolve any issues with repeating sentence types.

5. Make sure the verbs you have used are precise and vivid. Don't say "went" when what you want to convey is "ran" or "dashed" or "flew."

6. Check the pronouns you've used to ensure that each one has a clear reference. Sentences that use unclear pronouns are difficult and confusing to follow. If you say, "He walked there" but have not previously defined who "he" is or where "there" is, your reader will be lost. If the meaning is unclear, consider something like "Jeremy walked to the library."

References

• Sentences
• The Structure of a Sentence

Resources

• Sentence Structure Writing Practice
• Syntax--English Sentence Structure