Leading parts, type 1

A leading part is a phrase that opens a sentence and describes the subject without directly naming it. It creates a sense of anticipation.

Type 1

The cue for this most basic of edits is two successive sentences (or clauses) with the same subject. When you find two sentences with the same subject, try to move one independent clause in front of the other, folding the two into a single sentence.

From this:

Mr. Gorbachev is esteemed in the West as the statesman who ended the cold war. But he is extremely unpopular in Russia, where he is blamed for allowing the Soviet Union to fall apart and for not having pushed reform of the command economy far enough.

To this:

Esteemed in the West as the statesman who ended the cold war, Mr. Gorbachev is extremely unpopular in Russia, where he is blamed for allowing the Soviet Union to fall apart and for not having pushed reform of the command economy far enough.

Next week: Leading parts, type 2.