How to convey tone, style, and message in a single sentence

Most people use three or four basic sentence constructions—the simple, compound, and complex sentences taught in all composition books.

• I came to New York to write. (simple = one independent clause)
• I came to New York to write, but it took decades to find a publisher. (compound = two independent clauses)
• Because I was naive and optimistic, I came to New York to write. (complex = one dependent clause and one independent)

What most people do to give their sentences variety is merely to multiply their subjects, verbs, objects, complements, phrases, even clauses:

Because I was naive and optimistic, because I wanted to make a dent in literature, and because I needed a change in the direction of my life, I came to New York, which is a font of inspiration for artists of all types, to taste reality, to test limits, to write about both, and to hope for recognition.

Grammatically correct, but . . .

How do you get from the common to the stunning? Not by diagramming sentences, though that’s a good start toward understanding a sentence’s pieces. And certainly not by viewing sentences as simple, compound, or complex. We tried both, but neither led us to understand how good writers use sentence structures to make their writing sing. It was only when we began trying to identify what was unusual about a sentence—a dramatic flourish, an elegant repetition, a conversational injection—that we began to see patterns.

So, to move from the common to the stunning, look for patterns in good writing that you can emulate. The idea is to build an arsenal of such patterns. Careful composition of each sentence may seem painstaking, but it is fundamental to developing an individual style. And it gets easier as you go. In a single sentence you can convey tone, style, and message.

But follow the dictum that spare use is superior to frequent use, which can quickly careen into cliché.

In future blog entries and in our online writing training, we’ll show you how to strike that balance—and how to use dozens of patterns for writing stunning sentences.