The Need For Sentence Variety in Written Expression
What is Sentence Variety?
Why do we need sentence variety in writing?
Sentence Variety is where students and writers use a combination of sentence types to make their writing interesting and intriquing as the reader reads their writing.
In order to achieve good sentence variety, you need to remember the basic types of sentence structure because you will need these to achieve your goal.
So what are the basic types of sentence structure? Let's review them!
The most basic type of sentence structure is the Simple Sentence. In this type of sentence, there is a simple subject and a simple verb.
For example: The boy walks his dog. "The boy" is the simple subject and "walks" is the simple verb in the predicate part of the sentence.
Another type of basic sentence structure is the Compound Sentence . In this type of sentence structure, the writer combines two or more simple/independent sentences to add distinction and variety. These sentences are usually joined by a coordinating conjunction such as "and" "but" "or." Remember to use the correct conjunction to depict the idea most effectively.
For example : The boy walks his dog but the dog is reluctant to go.
Sentence 1: The boy walks his dog.
Sentence 2: The dog is reluctant to go.
These two sentences combine for greater variety using the conjunction "but."
The final basic type of sentence structure is the Complex Sentence. In this type of sentence, the writer uses an independent sentence and combines this with an independent clause. Remember that an independent clause is not a sentence although it might have a subject and a verb. It depends on the independent sentence to complete the idea.
For example: Whenever Maria is off, she walks the dog much better than the boy.
In this case, the first part of the sentence is the clause (it cannot stand on its own) while the second part that begins with "She" introduces the independent sentence. In this way, there is disctinction and variety added to the writing.
So, lets combine these three sentences to see how we can add interest to the ideas.
The boy walks his dog. The boy walks his dog but the dog is reluctant to go. Whenever Maria is off, she walks the dog much better than the boy.
Obviously, we might still need to make changes to our ideas as we edit because our ideas might have faults in construction. Read the ideas again and tell me what changes you might make to your composition without changing the sentence types?
How would you say your ideas have improved?
