Whether writing fiction or non-fiction, a few simple principles are enough to cut clutter, emphasize key ideas, improve flow, and create a natural rhythm.
1. Use simple sentences for clarity and impact
The subject–verb–object (SVO) structure is one of the clearest sentence patterns. Readers instinctively look for the basic who does what relationship. The closer you keep the subject, verb, and object, the easier the sentence is to understand.
Use simple sentences to explain complex ideas, make an important point, or describe a method.
Simple:
Heart disease (S) is (V) the leading cause of death in the United States (O).
Loaded:
Heart disease (S), which is a multifaceted and increasingly prevalent health condition, is (V) widely recognized, among other significant health issues, as the leading cause of death in the United States (O).
The second sentence buries the main idea under unnecessary information. Its impact is diluted, and the meaning takes longer to grasp.
However, a repetition of simple sentences quickly becomes monotonous. It can make prose feel like a list of instructions or a scientific procedure. Short sentences work particularly well at the beginning or end of a paragraph, where they can introduce the main idea or leave the reader with a strong point. Longer sentences can then be used to explain, develop, and support the short sentence.
To make a long sentence easier to follow, put its core idea first and add context afterward.
Loaded:
Due to this fact, we hypothesized that our unskilled athletes, although dependent on the relationship between muscle activation and interaction torque of the wrist, elbow, and shoulder, will ultimately rely more on the interaction torques in the wrist, elbow, and shoulder and less on muscle activation of the wrist, elbow, and shoulder to produce a higher-velocity baseball throw.
Improved:
We hypothesized that unskilled athletes will rely more on interaction torques than muscle torques [core] during high-velocity baseball throws at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints [context].
Put the thing you want the reader to understand first. Everything else can follow.
2. Add complexity to connect ideas
Simple sentences are not always the clearest option. Subordinate clauses can are introduced to connect related ideas by showing that one depends on the other.
Repetitive:
The recycling facility is located between Millville and Darrtown. Both villages use it.
Improved:
The recycling facility, which is located between Millville and Darrtown, is used by both villages.
The second version makes the relationship between the information clearer without adding words.
A compound-complex sentence combines multiple independent clauses with at least one dependent clause:
Productivity is central to controlling inflation; when productivity rises, employers can raise wages without raising prices.
You can also use subordinate clauses to reorganize a sentence that gives every piece of information equal weight.
Loaded:
The river is 100 kilometers long, and it averages 50 meters in width, and its depth averages 3 meters.
Improved:
The river, which is 100 kilometers long and averages 50 meters in width, has an average depth of 3 meters.
Even clearer:
The river is 100 kilometers long. It averages 50 meters in width and 3 meters in depth.
The best choice depends on what you want to emphasize. Complexity should clarify relationships, not simply make a sentence longer.
3. Be concise
Cut words that do not add meaning. One common source of unnecessary length is nominalization: turning verbs or adjectives into nouns.
Wordy:
The implementation of the plan was successful.
Direct:
The plan was implemented successfully.
Better still, when possible, use a stronger verb instead of a form of to be.
Loaded:
One difference between television news reporting and newspaper coverage is the time factor between the actual happening of an event and the time it takes to be reported. The problem is that instantaneous coverage is physically impossible for newspapers.
Improved:
Television news reporting differs from newspaper coverage because television can report events as they happen.
Avoid double negatives
Wordy:
He wasn’t unhappy with his purchase.
Direct:
He was satisfied with his purchase.
Long strings of nouns can be hard to follow. Turn one of the nouns into a verb to make the sentence clearer.
Noun string:
This report explains our investment growth stimulation projects.
Clearer:
This report explains our projects to stimulate growth in investments.
Sometimes reversing the order of two clauses makes a sentence easier to follow by putting the most important information first.
Less direct:
Our models worked well when compared with the calculated values, as evidenced by the percentage errors.
Improved:
The percentage errors show that our models worked well compared with the calculated values.
Turn verbs into adjectives when needed.
Two sentences:
The digital shift indicator failed. It was removed from the device.
More compact:
The failed digital shift indicator was removed from the device.
Concise writing is not about cutting words at random. It is about removing words that add nothing and make the reader work harder.
4. Improve flow
Good writing moves naturally from one idea to the next. The reader should not have to stop and figure out how each sentence relates to the previous one.
One effective way to create flow is to turn each point in your outline into a topic sentence. The rest of the paragraph then supports and develops that idea.
The arithmetic of searching for oil is stark. For all the scientific methods of detection, the only way the oil driller can actually know for certain that there is oil in the ground is to drill a well. The average cost of drilling an oil well is over $300,000, and drilling a single well may cost over $8,000,000. And once the well is drilled, the odds against it containing any oil at all are 8 to 1.
The paragraph begins with its main point and then develops it with increasingly specific information.
Another way to create flow is to move from familiar information to new information. Start with something the reader already knows, then use it to introduce something new.
Lately, most movies I’ve seen have been merely second-rate entertainment, but occasionally there are some with worthwhile themes. One recent movie I saw was about the rapid disappearance of Indian culture.
The second sentence begins with information established by the first: one recent movie. This creates a natural bridge to the new information.
You can use the same technique by repeating the subject or object of the previous sentence.
The body uses hormones to coordinate the metabolism of its many distant cells. A hormone is a chemical that is carried in the bloodstream and gives a message to the cells it contacts. For sugar metabolism, one of these hormone messengers is insulin, and its message is: “take up, use, and store glucose.”
Insulin is a protein made by beta cells, which are clustered inside the pancreas […]
The repeated reference to insulin gives the reader a clear path through the paragraph.
5. Create rhythm
Clear writing can still be dull if every sentence has the same shape. Parallelism creates rhythm by repeating grammatical structures to show that ideas have equal importance.
In science, descriptions must be precise, recipes must be complete, data must be exact, logic must be transparent, and conclusions must be clearly stated. There is no place for ambiguity or froth in the archives of scientific records.
The repeated structure makes the list easier to read and gives the sentence a predictable rhythm.
When using parallelism, keep the grammatical forms consistent. Do not mix gerunds, infinitives, nouns, and adjectives without a reason. A useful trick is to read each item as though it were the beginning of an independent sentence. If the structures do not match, the sentence will often feel awkward.
You can also vary sentence length and structure. Short sentences emphasize. Longer sentences connect and develop ideas. Alternating between them creates movement and prevents the prose from becoming monotonous.
Readers tend to give particular attention to the beginning and end of sentences, as well as the beginning and end of paragraphs. Use those positions for information you want to emphasize.
When in doubt, try the rule of threes: group three related ideas, then use a longer sentence to combine them.
After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over 6 million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years and less foreign oil than we have in 20. Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before.
The goal is not to make every sentence follow a formula. Use these patterns as tools. Clarity comes first; rhythm should support it.