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 How to Write Clearly by Ruth Beechick To make your writing clear and understandable, a most effective technique is to link sentences together. That is, link each sentence to the one before it by tricks of wording that we will look at in this article. Skillful linking raises a paragraph or longer passage from just a collection of sentences to a higher level where sentences are in a sequence. With good sequence, the thoughts flow smoothly for your reader. For you, the thoughts may already seem connected and smooth because you know in your head what you are saying, and it is difficult to read like your readers will. But you can practice that by letting your writing rest awhile, then get it out, pretend to be a reader, and take a close critical look sentence by sentence. Find ways to build in more links. Sometimes a friend or family member can help with that. Echo. A common way to link sentences is to make each sentence pick up—echo—an element from near the end of the preceding sentence. This echo can be different words, but it must echo the thought. Notice how the bold words in this example echo the words at the end of the preceding sentences. Violent earthshakings always have aftershocks. In this Exodus story, the aftershocks lasted for many years. For forty years the Israelites camped in the desert and met with more upheavals. One time the earth opened up and swallowed Korah and his followers who rebelled against Moses and God.That example happens to echo the exact final words of the sentences, but that is not necessary. In this example, the word son does not echo a final word. People in Noah’s time held a fresh memory of the great Flood because old man Noah and his sons told them about it. Son Shem told everybody to fear God and…Compare the following rewrite. All the thoughts are here but they are not related. It is a collection of sentences, not a linked sequence. Notice also that the grammatical subject changes with each sentence, resulting in a choppy read. Noah was an old man. The Flood was recent history, and people heard about it. Noah had sons. Shem preached about fearing God. One of Noah’s sons was Shem.Conjunctions. A simple way to link sentences is to connect with a conjunction like and or but. Young children often overuse and, so somebody tells them not to begin sentences with and although there is no rule against it. It is fine to begin with and now and then when the meaning requires it. It only sounds childish if you overuse that form. If you have too many ands, see if some of them really mean something else. In sentence two of the last example, and really should mean so or another word that relates meanings in the two clauses rather than just hooking them together. There, the connector is between two clauses within a sentence, but the same problem would exist if the and connected two sentences. It would still have a vague meaning. Sometimes a phrase instead of a single word makes a more clear meaning than and. Does this and connection tell you enough? Archeologists find nine layers of Troy and had to guess which one suffered siege and destruction at the hands of the Greeks. And they dated the Trojan War several centuries before Homer.One possible way to eliminate the vague and is to write, “For several reasons they dated….” A writer could proceed from there, giving a few reasons, or none. At least we know that the archeologists did not operate mindlessly. And signals “straight ahead, keep going.” But signals “stop, make a sharp turn.” When the meaning requires it, sentences can begin with these conjunctions. You might have a lesson book that says not to do this, but look at the writings of any good authors and you will find they do not observe this fictitious rule. Other connecting words. Numerous other words connect thoughts and relate them to each other properly. Let the grammarians worry about whether to call them coordinating conjunctions (and, but) or adverbial conjunctions or whatever else they like. As a writer, just select connectors that convey the exact meaning you need. Here are a few of the many possibilities. in additionChoose these words for one purpose only—to help your ideas flow along in a good sequence. They are not for variety, not for decoration. You do not earn a point for using an ly word in each paragraph or for using wherefores and therefores. Your reward is in readers who understand easily what you are trying to communicate. Sentence connectors. Sometimes instead of just a word or two for connectors, you can use a full sentence. After a paragraph that reminds us of many catastrophic events at the Exodus, a writer begins the next paragraph this way. What an event that was! Yet historians still wonder….This first sentence obviously looks backward, not just to one preceding sentence but to all the Exodus descriptions. And it allows the writer to smoothly connect the next sentence with yet. Try the yet by itself to connect with the Exodus paragraph and it is too weak to do the job. The full sentence makes a stronger connection. In an article about sonic booms, I come to this signpost that tells exactly what is coming next. Here’s what you’ll need to make your own sonic boom:After the list of materials and some instructions for making a whip with them, I come to a sign that tells me where I am in the procedure. You now have a short whip.The writer surely does not need that signpost, but it helps the reader. After plowing through the instructions, I appreciated the chance for a quick breath. The sign let me know that I finished reading the instructions for making the whip, and it implies that the article will now proceed to tell me what to do with it. That’s exactly what the article did. Signs can point to what lies ahead and, as in this example, remind readers of where they have been. Signs along the way help the reading to flow smoothly. Linking skillfully is one way to make clear writing. It is good to be interesting, profitable to be accurate, commendable to attend to smaller style matters, but to be clear is absolutely essential. © by Ruth Beechick 2007 Dr. Ruth Beechick is a longtime educator who has written many helpful books for homeschoolers. This article is adapted from her book How To Write Clearly. |
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