Writing Style

Take an express tour to writing style to make your writing perfect

Writing style is not just a cover style

Sentence Variety

Writing that is overly repetitive is not engaging. By varying sentence length and structure, writers can help keep readers interested (see Sentence Combining below for tips on how to do this). Make sure that your paragraphs contain both short and long sentences. Also, check the opening phrase of each paragraph. Often, writers re-use the same kind of openings in their sentences. Mix it up.

For some examples, see the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University.

Sentence Combining

Sentence combining can help you in a number of ways. It will help vary your sentence structure so that your writing is not repetitive. It will help you emphasize important ideas. And, it can help you create transitions between your points.

After you have written a draft, read through each paragraph and count the number of words in each sentence. If they are all similar, then your essay would benefit from some variety in sentence length. Combine some of your short sentences:

Example: "Maria became a doctor. She didn't become a regular doctor. She became a medical missionary." Notice how choppy this is.

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Combined: "Rather than becoming a regular doctor, Maria became a medical missionary." This combined sentence is more concise and "flows" better than the first example. (McMahan)

If you use a lot of the same words over and over again, sentence combining can help eliminate that problem. Carelessly repetitive writing loses its edge, so you want to avoid it. Note: Sometimes repetition is used deliberately to achieve a certain effect. This is a different situation than the use of careless repetition that is not purposeful.

Example: Dierdre judges all her friends severely. Dierdre always judges according to her own rigid standards.

Combined: Dierdre judges all her friends severely according to her own rigid standards. (McMahan)

For a chart of helpful words and phrases that can be used to combine sentences, look here.

Parallelism

Parallelism is a technique that uses purposeful repetition for emphasis and style. Parts of a sentence (words, phrases) are repeated using the same grammatical form. Parallel ideas need to be balanced; otherwise, the sentence becomes awkward.

Example of faulty parallelism: "Abused children commonly exhibit one or more of the following symptoms: withdrawal, rebelliousness, restlessness, and they are depressed." Do you see how the phrase "they are depressed" clashes with the forms of the other items in the series?

Revised: "Abused children commonly exhibit one or more of the following symptoms: withdrawal, rebelliousness, restlessness, and depression." The last item is changed so that the parallel structure is balanced. (Hacker)

Active and Passive Voice

Sometimes, your writing might seem a little bland. To liven it up, use active voice more often. Novice writers occasionally rely too much on passive voice.

What is passive voice?

In passive voice, something is acted upon. The agent (or actor) is relegated to the end of the sentence. For instance: "The car was driven by my mother."

What is active voice?

In active voice, the sentence is restructured so that the subject is emphasized: "My mother drove the car."

Self-Check: Try this online quiz to see if you understand active and passive voice.

Note: Sometimes it makes sense to use passive voice. There are times when it is desirable to emphasize the object rather than the subject. Further, some disciplines use passive voice more than others.

Works Cited

McMahan, Elizabeth. Here's How to Write Well. New York: Longman, 2002.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.