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Sentence Variety Some people write short sentences. These sentences are correct. They are free of errors. They have the same structure. They make good points. But they are irritating. You see what I mean. Other people, and who, exactly, these people are is unclear (not that it needs to be clear to make this point), write longer sentences; in fact their sentences are sometimes--though not always--so long and complicated that, if there were to have been other problems with the sentence, these other problems (for example, a problem with awkward verb tense) will have strangely, curiously, in a mystical way, have mixed themselves in with the fact of the sentence's length and awkwardness, resulting in a different sort of irritating experience. The best writing strikes a balance. When you want to be very clear, as I did in that last sentence, a shorter, simpler sentence may be a good idea. But if all your sentences are like that, you lose the effect. There is no precise rule for how to incorporate sentence variety in your writing (like, "Three long sentences for every short one"), but good writing--and good revision--take it into account. It's worth your time. |