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For a dramatic example, think of CLICKBAIT , those provocative headlines or subject lines that are intended solely to grab readers' attention and pull them into an article, regardless of whether they are accurate or not: Man tries to hug mountain lion: guess what happens next! She changed her name for a horrible reason.

Now she tells why. Was Amelia Earhart eaten by coconut crabs? These headlines fairly shout click on me! Marketers tell us that shocking readers is an effective way of getting their attention, though perhaps not always in holding it. And these days, getting and holding attention is sometimes a pretty desperate business. Lady Gaga recalls a time before she was well known and was singing in jazz bars in New York.

One evening she faced a crowd of loud college students who would not be quiet; she just couldn't seem to get their attention. What did she do? Undressed down to her underwear, singing all the time-and getting, in short order, a very attentive audience. Later she said that night marked a kind of turning point for her, when she learned the importance of being able to command attention. Commanding attention is definitely a challenge in a time when we are so frequently drowning in information.

This chapter provides some time-tested strategies for doing so-without taking your clothes off! Glossary CLICKBAIT, 408 On the internet, headlines or links designed to get readers to read something or to increase page views. GETTING ATTENTION In ancient Rome, orators often spoke in large outdoor amphitheaters, without the aid of microphones or visual aids. The technology they used was the human voice, which they trained to perfection so that they could project and be heard by thousands of people.

Researchers are still trying to figure out how they did it, but we can assume that these speakers commanded attention through the sounds and rhythms of their voices as well as of the words they chose to use. So it's important to remember that these words count: getting attention will usually backfire if you don't have anything important, meaningful, or entertaining to say. Fortunately, speakers and writers today have many more tools available for drawing an audience's attention.

Here are some that you may want to take advantage of. Attention-getting titles While you'll want to avoid the kind of exaggerated titles that are not followed up with substance, choosing provocative and memorable titles is a good way to command attention. One student writing about the architecture of her hometown began with a title that was less than inspired: A Brief Look at Chicago's Architecture. That title was certainly clear, but it didn't do much to attract attention.

After some thought and response from friends, she came up with a revision: Sweet Home Chicago: Preserving the Past and Protecting the Future of the Windy City. This title refers to the blues song Sweet Home Chicago, as well as to the well-known saying home sweet home. And the subtitle fills in details of what the essay will be about. See pp. 92-93 for more examples of effective titles.

Here are several other ways that titles can get an audience's attention: A puzzling statement can interest readers in finding out what it means. A science student writing about the need for additional research on Lyme disease chose The Mystery of Post-Lyme Disease Syndrome, thinking that readers might be attracted to the mysterious aspect of her topic. A provocative question can call out to readers.

One student writing about clubs at her university chose Minority Clubs: Integration or Segregation? Here the title states the subject, while the subtitle poses an unexpected question. An intriguing allusion can make readers want to read on. The title of an article in Wired caught my attention with an allusion: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk recalls Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and made me want to find out how the author would connect the two.

Start strong, get readers interested The OPENING sentences in your writing carry big responsibilities when it comes to drawing your readers in by arousing their interest and curiosity. Whether you're writing a college essay or a business report, the way it begins has a lot to do with whether your audience will stay with you.

Georgina Kleege opens the introduction to a collection of essays entitled Sight Unseen with this enigmatic and arresting statement: Writing this book made me blind. Readers immediately want to ask why? Kleege goes on to explain that while she is just as blind as she was before writing these essays, the process of composing them brought her to accept the label blind. Since she began these essays, she says, I have learned to use braille and started to carry a white cane. The way you begin an essay can grab an audience's attention, or not.

Here are some ways of making them interested in what you've got to say-and wanting to read on. WITH A DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE STATEMENT I was 7 years old the first time I snuck out of the house in the dark. -LYNDA BARRY, The Sanctuary of School WITH A PROVOCATIVE QUESTION Have you ever thought about whether to have a child?

-PETER SINGER, Should This Be the Last Generation? WITH A SURPRISING STATEMENT I was transported recently to a place that is as enchanting to me as any winter wonderland: my local post office. -ZEYNEP TUFEKCI, Why the Post Office Makes America Great WITH AN AMUSING IMAGE The seven deadly sins-avarice, sloth, envy, lust, gluttony, pride, and wrath-were all committed Sunday during the twice-annual bake sale at St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception Church.

- THE ONION , All Seven Deadly Sins Committed at Church Bake Sale Each of these sentences is startling, prompting us to read on in order to find out more. And each is brief, leaving us waiting for what is to come. And of course they all make powerful statements, ones that get readers' attention. It usually takes more than a single sentence to open an essay.

Consider, for example, this opening paragraph of an essay on animal rights: The first time I opened Peter Singer's Animal Liberation , I was dining alone at the Palm, trying to enjoy a rib-eye steak cooked medium-rare. If this sounds like a good recipe for cognitive dissonance (if not indigestion), that was sort of the idea. Preposterous as it might seem to supporters of animal rights, what I was doing was tantamount to reading Uncle Tom's Cabin on a plantation in the Deep South in 1852.

-MICHAEL POLLAN, An Animal's Place The first sentence presents an incongruous image that holds our attention: he's eating a steak while reading about animal liberation. Then the rest of the paragraph makes this incongruity even more pronounced, comparing the situation to reading an antislavery novel while on a slave-owning plantation. It's an opening that makes us want to read on. For more on opening sentences see p. 85 .

Since the title and opening lines are the first things your audience will see or hear, it's well worth the effort to make sure they'll draw readers in. And it might be good to keep in mind the admonition of one reader who doesn't have a lot of patience: I give the writer one paragraph, maybe two; if I'm not hooked by then, I stop reading. Your goal is to write openings so compelling that even impatient readers will want to keep going.

Glossary OPENING, 146, 410-12 The way a text begins, which plays an important role in drawing an AUDIENCE in. Some ways of beginning an essay: with a dramatic or deceptively simple statement, with something others have said about your topic, with a provocative question or a startling CLAIM , or with an ANECDOTE . KEEPING ATTENTION Once you've gotten your audience's attention, you need to think about how you can keep them with you.

Fortunately, there are a number of strategies and techniques that will help you to do so. Take a look at how writers use some of these techniques. Tell a story Just as a story or ANECDOTE can draw an audience in, they can enliven much of what you write and keep them with you. Surgeon and author Atul Gawande is well known for his use of stories in the articles and books he has written about how to improve medical care in this country.

In speaking about his special interest in improving end-of-life care, matching it more closely to what patients really want than to keep alive at all cost policies and procedures, Gawande paused to tell a story about one particular patient who, when asked his preferences for end-of-life care, said that he wanted to stay alive as long as he could enjoy chocolate ice cream and watch football on television. This brief narrative brought home the point Gawande was making in concrete, human terms-and kept his audience interested in what he was saying.

See pp. 87-89 for more on narrative. Offer good examples A single good example is often worth a dozen lengthy explanations, says English professor Thomas Cooley. That's for sure: there's no better way to support a generalization or to bring an abstraction to life. It's also a good way to help readers understand and be interested in what you're saying. In a fairly critical review of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody ( Bohemian Rhapsody is a bad movie.

But-boy is it entertaining.), Ann Hornaday details the ways in which the film is bad. But then she uses one memorable example to show why, in spite of it being trite and unforgivably conventional, Rami Malek, the actor who plays Freddie, makes it captivating: If anyone doubted that cinema is an actor's medium, Bohemian Rhapsody arrives as indisputable proof.

Even behind a set of distracting prosthetic teeth simulating Freddie's famous overbite, Malek delivers a committed, thoroughly inhabited performance, which winds up transcending the regrettably thin material at hand. Somewhat shorter than his character, Malek nonetheless masters the muscular swagger and captivating stage presence of a man who, when he sings in front of his first big crowd, announces that he's finally discovered his life's calling.

Even at his most fey and alien-looking, Malek makes that statement utterly credible. -ANN HORNADAY, Review of Bohemian Rhapsody Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. The vivid language in this passage (muscular swagger, captivating stage presence, alien-looking) makes it a persuasive example that holds the reader's attention just as Malek's performance held the attention of filmgoers. See pp. 88-90 for more on examples.

Use an analogy You can use ANALOGIES to help explain an unfamiliar subject by comparing it to a more familiar one. They're one more way to make abstract ideas more concrete, and even to help an audience visualize what you're saying. As such, they're a good way to hold readers' attention when you're writing about something abstract or complicated.

See how Warren Buffett uses an analogy in his annual letter to stockholders to keep their attention on the point he is making: Investors who evaluate Berkshire sometimes obsess on the details of our many and diverse businesses-our economic trees, so to speak. Analysis of that type can be mind-numbing, given that we own a vast array of specimens, from twigs to redwoods. A few of our trees are diseased and unlikely to be around a decade from now. Many others, though, are destined to grow in size and beauty.

Fortunately, it's not necessary to evaluate each tree individually to make a rough estimate of Berkshire's intrinsic business value. That's because our forest contains five groves of major importance, each of which can be appraised, with reasonable accuracy, in its entirety. Four of these groves are differentiated clusters of businesses and financial assets that are easy to understand.

The fifth-our huge and diverse insurance operation-delivers great value to Berkshire in a less obvious manner, one I will explain later in this letter. -WARREN BUFFETT, Letter to Stockholders Here Buffett uses a simple analogy between a forest and his very large company, introducing readers to the groves and individual trees that make it up.

The analogy helps readers visualize the company in a concrete way and paves the way for data that will support Buffett's claim that the fifth grove delivers great value to Berkshire. Appeal to emotion Appealing to an audience's emotions can be a very effective way to both get and keep attention.

Here's Joe Biden in a speech he delivered in 2020 making an appeal that reaches across party lines, noting that despite our differences, we all share certain truths, such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: All of us. The moms and dads in Scranton, where I grew up, who have worked and scraped for everything they've ever gotten in life.

The auto worker in Michigan, who still makes the best automobile in the world, the single mom in Ohio, working three jobs just to stay afloat who'll do anything for her child. Retired veteran in Florida who gave everything he had to this country. . . . White, Black, Latino, Asian American, Native American, everybody. I'm in this campaign for you. No matter your color, no matter your zip code, no matter your politics.

-JOE BIDEN, Speech in Pittsburgh Biden begins this summation with three words: all of us. The examples that follow draw his audience in to the everyday stories of people across many different states and professions and backgrounds. Then, in the last two sentences, he shifts to you and your , speaking directly to his audience, demonstrating that he understands and cares about them. In short, he makes them feel like they matter.

As a writer and speaker, you will need to determine how much you want to stir people's emotions, remembering that too much of a good thing is-too much. So think about your audience and their expectations as you decide when and where to appeal to their emotions. Use a startling contrast Contrasts, especially sharp or startling ones, can create images in readers' minds that capture and hold attention. Consider how columnist Frank Bruni uses such a contrast in a headline-She Went Blind.

Then She Danced.-and then builds on that contrast as he introduces readers to Marion Sheppard: She pitied herself. . . . She raged. . . . She trembled. . . . She spent months wrestling with those emotions, until she realized that they had pinned her in place. Time was marching on and she wasn't moving at all. Her choice was clear: She could surrender to the darkness, or she could dance. She danced. -FRANK BRUNI, She Went Blind. Then She Danced. Marion Sheppard may be blind, but she can dance!

Use reiteration A kind of repetition, reiteration provides emphasis: like a drumbeat, the repetition of a keyword, phrase, or image can help drive home a point. And it's a good way to command attention.

REITERATION is especially powerful in spoken texts-think I Have a Dream and Yes we can! At the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, DC, following the killing of students and staff members at a Florida high school, student Emma Gonzlez provided a powerful example of how reiteration can command an audience's attention.

Telling her audience that among the students and staff at school that day, no one understood what had happened, no one could comprehend the devastating aftermath, or where it would go. Here's the beginning of Gonzlez's answer to that question; note the chillingly effective use of repetition: Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15, and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice. Aaron Feis would never call Kyra miss sunshine . . .

Alyssa Alhadeff would never, Jamie Guttenberg would never, Meadow Pollack would never. -EMMA GONZLEZ, March for Our Lives Consider the power of silence Sometimes silence can be extremely powerful, startling an audience and helping them focus on you and your lack of words. Emma Gonzlez provides an example of the power of silence.

Once her riveting repetitions of would never came to a halt, she stood there, silently, for six minutes and twenty seconds: the amount of time it had taken a killer to take the lives of seventeen innocent people. That silence held the crowd captivated, stunned, and very, very attentive. Conclude strong, leave readers thinking Your CONCLUSION is a chance to leave readers thinking about what you've said.

You might simply restate your main point, but here are some other ways to conclude: WITH A WITTY STATEMENT THAT MAKES YOUR POINT Anyone who believes emoji are having even the slightest effect on English syntax is an utter . -GEOFFREY PULLUM, Emoji Are Ruining English, Says Dumbest Story of the Week WITH A STARTLING IMAGE The next time we go to war, we should truly understand the sacrifices that our service members will have to make.

Which is why, when my colleagues start beating the drums of war, I want to be there, standing on my artificial legs under the great Capitol dome, to remind them what the true costs of war are. -TAMMY DUCKWORTH, What I Learned at War WITH A STATEMENT THAT SHOWS WHY THEY SHOULD CARE The closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it is necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and-perhaps-we all need some measure of unmerited grace.

-BRYAN STEVENSON, Just Mercy WITH A CALL FOR ACTION It's time, it's past time, to pay our Black citizens what they are owed. -JANE SEARLE, On Reparations You can probably think of several other very effective strategies for getting and holding the attention of your audience. It's worth taking the time to do so-and to study the examples we've offered here: we don't see any let-up in the oceans of information and data washing over us 24/7.

In such an atmosphere, the one who can command attention is the one whose words will count. See p. 92 for more ways of concluding. REFLECT! Think about something you've read or seen recently that really held your attention: a book you couldn't put down, an op-ed piece you're still thinking about, something you saw on Facebook or YouTube . Study it now to see if you can figure out how it did that, and then write a short paragraph about how you can do that yourself in your own writing.

Glossary ANECDOTE, 85, 412 A brief NARRATIVE used to illustrate a point. REITERATION Repeating a word, a phrase, or an image in a way that drives home a point. CONCLUSION, 92, 211, 417-18 The way a text ends, a chance to leave an AUDIENCE thinking about what's been said. Some ways of concluding an essay: REITERATING your point, discussing the implications of your ARGUMENT , proposing some kind of action, inviting response.

ANALOGY, 414 A STRATEGY for COMPARISON by explaining something unfamiliar in terms of something that is more familiar. See also FALSE ANALOGY PART 5 LANGUAGE &STYLE / GET ATTENTION Chapter 23 Writing Great Sentences A LOT OF CRITICS THINK I'M STUPID BECAUSE MY SENTENCES ARE SO SIMPLE . . . THEY THINK THESE ARE DEFECTS. NO. -KURT VONNEGUT I LIKE SENTENCES THAT DON'T BUDGE THOUGH ARMIES CROSS THEM.

-VIRGINIA WOOLF When a student asked author Annie Dillard, Do you think I could become a writer? Dillard replied with a question of her own: Do you like sentences? Liking or not liking sentences might not be something you've ever thought about-but we're willing to bet that you know something about how important sentences are.

Anyone who has ever tried to write the perfect tweet or, better yet, the perfect love letter knows about choosing just the right words for each sentence and about the power of the three-word sentence I love you-or the even shorter sentence that sometimes follows from such declarations: I do. In his book How to Write a Sentence , English professor Stanley Fish declares himself to be a connoisseur of sentences and offers some particularly noteworthy examples.

Here's one, written by a fourth grader in response to an assignment to write something about a mysterious large box that had been delivered to a school: I was already on the second floor when I heard about the box. This sentence reminded my of a favorite sentence of my own, this one the beginning of a story written by a third grader: Today, the monster goes where no monster has gone before: Cincinnati.

Here the student manages to allude to the famous line from Star Trek -to boldly go where no man has gone before-while suggesting that Cincinnati is the most exotic place on earth and even using a colon effectively. It's quite a sentence. Finally, here's a sentence that opens a chapter from a PhD dissertation on literacy among young people today: Hazel Hernandez struck me as an honest thief. Such sentences are memorable: They startle us a bit and demand attention. They make us want to read more.

Who's Hazel Hernandez? What's an honest thief, and what makes her one? As these examples suggest, you don't have to be a famous author to write a great sentence. In fact, crafting effective and memorable sentences is a skill everyone can master with careful attention and practice. Sometimes a brilliant sentence comes to you like a bolt of lightning, and all you have to do is type it out. More often, though, the perfect sentence is a result of tweaking and tinkering during your revision stages.

Either way, crafting good sentences is worth the effort it may take. You may not come up with a zinger like the famous sentence John Updike wrote about Ted Williams's fabled home run in his last at bat at Fenway Park-It was in the books while it was still in the sky.-but you can come close. Just as certain effects in film-music, close-ups-enhance the story, a well-crafted sentence can bring power to a piece of writing.

So think about the kind of effect you want to create in what you're writing-and then look for the type of sentence that will fit the bill. Though much of the power of the examples above comes from being short and simple, remember that some rhetorical situations call for longer, complex sentences-and that the kind of sentence you write also depends on its context, such as whether it's opening an essay, summing up what's already been said, or something else.

This chapter looks at some common English sentence patterns and provides some good examples for producing them in your own work. FOUR COMMON SENTENCE PATTERNS We make sentences with words-and we arrange those words into patterns.

If a sentence is defined as a group of words that expresses a complete thought, then we can identify four basic sentence structures: a SIMPLE SENTENCE (expressing one idea); a COMPOUND SENTENCE (expressing more than one idea, with the ideas being of equal importance); a COMPLEX SENTENCE (expressing more than one idea, with one of the ideas more important than the others); and a COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE (with more than one idea of equal importance and at least one idea of less importance).

Simple sentences: one main idea Let's take a look at some simple sentences: Resist! Consumers revolted. Angry consumers revolted against new debit-card fees. Protests from angry consumers forced banks to rescind the new fees. The internet's capacity to mobilize people instantly all over the world has done everything from forcing companies to rescind debit-card fees in the United States to bringing down oppressive governments in the Middle East.

As these examples illustrate, simple sentences can be as short as a single word-or they can be much longer. Each is a simple sentence, however, because it contains a single main idea or thought; in grammatical terms, each contains one and only one MAIN CLAUSE . As the name suggests, a simple sentence is often the simplest, most direct way of saying what you want to say-but not always. And often you want a sentence to include more than one idea.

In that case, you need to use a compound sentence, a complex sentence, or a compound-complex sentence. Compound sentences: joining ideas that are equally important Sometimes you'll want to write a sentence that joins two or more ideas that are equally important, like this one attributed to former president Bill Clinton: You can put wings on a pig, but you don't make it an eagle.

In grammatical terms, this is a compound sentence with two MAIN CLAUSES , each of which expresses one of two independent and equally important ideas. In this case, Clinton joined the ideas with a comma and the COORDINATING CONJUNCTION but . But he had several other options for joining these ideas. For example, he could have joined them with only a semicolon: You can put wings on a pig; you don't make it an eagle.

Or he could have joined them with a semicolon, a TRANSITION like however , and a comma: You can put wings on a pig; however, you don't make it an eagle. All of these compound sentences are perfectly acceptable-but which one seems most effective?

In this case, I think Clinton's choice is: it is clear and very direct, and if you read it aloud you'll hear that the words on each side of but have the same number of syllables, creating a pleasing, balanced rhythm-and one that balances the two equally important ideas. It also makes the logical relationship between the two ideas explicit: but indicates a contrast. The version with only a semicolon, by contrast, indicates that the ideas are somehow related but doesn't show how.

Using and , but , and other coordinating conjunctions In writing a compound sentence, keep in mind that different coordinating conjunctions carry meanings that signal different logical relationships between the main ideas in the sentence. There are only seven coordinating conjunctions. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS China's one-child policy slowed population growth, but it helped create a serious gender imbalance in the country's population.

Most of us bike to the office, so many of us stop at the gym to shower before work. The first two batters struck out, yet the Cubs went on to win the game on back-to-back homers. See how the following sentences express different meanings depending on which coordinating conjunction is used: You could apply to graduate school, or you could start looking for a job. You could apply to graduate school, and you could start looking for a job.

Using a semicolon Joining clauses with a semicolon only is a way of signaling that they are closely related without saying explicitly how. Often the second clause will expand on an idea expressed in the first clause. My first year of college was a little bumpy; it took me a few months to get comfortable at a large university far from home.

The Wassaic Project is an arts organization in Dutchess County, New York; artists go there to engage in art, music, and everything else. Adding a TRANSITION can make the logical relationship between the ideas more explicit: My first year of college was a little bumpy; indeed , it took me a few months to get comfortable at a large university far from home. Note that the transition in this sentence, indeed , cannot join the two main clauses on its own-it requires a semicolon before it.

If you use a transition between two clauses with only a comma before it, you've made a mistake called a COMMA SPLICE . SOME COMMON TRANSITIONS a l s o i n d e e d o t h e r w i s e c e r t a i n l y l i k e w i s e s i m i l a r l y f u r t h e r m o r e n e v e r t h e l e s s t h e r e f o r e h o w e v e r n e x t t h u s REFLECT! Look over something you've written to see if there are any compound sentences joined by and .

If so, does and express the relationship between the two parts of the sentence that you intend? Would but , or , so , nor , or yet work better? Complex sentences: when one idea is more important than another Many of the sentences you write will contain two or more ideas, with one that you want to emphasize more than the other(s). You can do so by putting the idea you wish to emphasize in the MAIN CLAUSE , and those that are less important in SUBORDINATE CLAUSES .

Mendocino County is a place in California where you can dive for abalone . Because the species has become scarce , abalone diving is strictly regulated. Fish and Wildlife Department agents who patrol the coast use sophisticated methods to catch poachers. As these examples show, the ideas in the subordinate clauses (italicized here) can't stand alone as sentences: when we read where you can dive for abalone or who patrol the coast, we know that something's missing.

Subordinate clauses begin with words such as if or because , SUBORDINATING WORDS that signal the logical relationship between the subordinate clause and the rest of the sentence. Some Subordinating Words a f t e r e v e n t h o u g h u n t i l a l t h o u i f w h e n g h a s s i n c e w h e r e b e c a u s e t h a t w h i l e b e f o r e t h o u g h w h o Notice that a subordinate clause can come at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle, or at the end.

When it comes at the beginning, it is usually followed by a comma, as in the second example. If the opening clause in that sentence were moved to the end, a comma would not be necessary: Abalone diving is strictly regulated because the species has become scarce. Grammatically, each of the three examples above is a complex sentence, with one main idea and one other idea of less importance.

In writing you will often have to decide whether to combine ideas in a compound sentence, which gives the ideas equal importance, or in a complex sentence, which makes one idea more important than the other(s). Looking once more at our sentence about the pig and the eagle, for example, Bill Clinton could also have made it a complex sentence: Even though you can put wings on a pig, you don't make it an eagle.

Looking at this sentence, though, I think Clinton made a good choice in giving the two ideas equal weight because doing so balances the sentence perfectly-and tells us that both parts are equally important. In fact, neither part of this sentence is very interesting in itself: it's the balancing and the contrast that make it interesting and memorable.

Compound-complex sentences: multiple ideas-some more important, some less When you are expressing three or more ideas in a single sentence, you'll sometimes want to use a compound-complex sentence, which gives some of the ideas more prominence and others less. Grammatically, such sentences have at least two MAIN CLAUSES and one SUBORDINATE CLAUSE .

We have experienced unparalleled natural disasters that have devastated entire countries, yet identifying global warming as the cause of these disasters is difficult. Even after distinguished scientists issued a series of reports, critics continued to question the findings because they claimed results were falsified; nothing would convince them.

As these examples show, English sentence structure is flexible, allowing you to combine groups of words in different ways in order to get your ideas across to your audience most appropriately and effectively. There's seldom only one way to write a sentence to get an idea across: as the author, you must decide which way works best for your RHETORICAL SITUATION . Glossary SIMPLE SENTENCE, 421-22 A single MAIN CLAUSE , which contains at least a subject and a VERB .

The main clause may stand alone: Citizens vote. The United States holds a presidential election every four years . For sentences with more than a single main clause, see COMPOUND SENTENCE ; COMPOUND -COMPLEX SENTENCE ; COMPLEX SENTENCE . COMPOUND SENTENCE, 421-24 Two or more MAIN CLAUSES joined by a comma and a COORDINATING CONJUNCTION or by a semicolon: The United States holds a presidential election once every four years, but voter turnout is often disappointing .

COMPLEX SENTENCE, 421, 424-26 A single MAIN CLAUSE plus one or more SUBORDINATE CLAUSES : When the United States holds a presidential election once every four years, citizens should vote . COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE, 421, 426-27 Two or more MAIN CLAUSES plus one or more DEPENDENT CLAUSES : When the United States holds a presidential election, citizens should vote, but voter turnout is often disappointing .

MAIN CLAUSE 422, 424-28 A CLAUSE , containing a subject and a VERB , that can stand alone as a sentence: She sang. The world-famous soprano sang several arias . MAIN CLAUSE 422, 424-28 A CLAUSE , containing a subject and a VERB , that can stand alone as a sentence: She sang. The world-famous soprano sang several arias .

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION, 422, 423 One of these words- and, but, or, nor, so, for , or yet -used to join two elements in a way that gives equal weight to each one ( bacon and eggs; pay up or get out ). TRANSITIONS, 424 Words or phrases that help to connect sentences and paragraphs and to guide readers through a text.

Transitions can signal COMPARISONS ( also, similarly, likewise, in the same way ); CONTRASTS ( but, instead, although, however, nonetheless ); examples ( for instance, in fact, such as ); place or position ( above, beyond, near, elsewhere ); sequence ( finally, next, again, also ); SUMMARIES or CONCLUSIONS ( on the whole, as we have seen, in brief ); time ( at first, meanwhile, so far, later ); and more. COMMA SPLICE, 424 Two or more MAIN CLAUSES joined with only a comma: I came, I saw, I conquered .

MAIN CLAUSE 422, 424-28 A CLAUSE , containing a subject and a VERB , that can stand alone as a sentence: She sang. The world-famous soprano sang several arias . SUBORDINATE CLAUSE, 424-27 A clause that begins with a SUBORDINATING WORD and therefore cannot stand alone as a sentence: They feel good when they exercise . My roommate, who was a physics major , tutors students in science .

SUBORDINATING WORDS, 425 Words that introduce a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE and indicate how it relates logically to the rest of the sentence: The ice sculpture melted because the ballroom was too hot . Common subordinating words include although, as, because, if, since, that, which , and why . MAIN CLAUSE 422, 424-28 A CLAUSE , containing a subject and a VERB , that can stand alone as a sentence: She sang. The world-famous soprano sang several arias .

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE, 424-27 A clause that begins with a SUBORDINATING WORD and therefore cannot stand alone as a sentence: They feel good when they exercise . My roommate, who was a physics major , tutors students in science . RHETORICAL SITUATION, 25-28, 81-82 The circumstances that affect writing or other communication, including PURPOSE , AUDIENCE , GENRE , STANCE , CONTEXT , MEDIA , and DESIGN .

Transitions can signal COMPARISONS ( also, similarly, likewise, in the same way ); CONTRASTS ( but, instead, although, however, nonetheless ); examples ( for instance, in fact, such as ); place or position ( above, beyond, near, elsewhere ); sequence ( finally, next, again, also ); SUMMARIES or CONCLUSIONS ( on the whole, as we have seen, in brief ); time ( at first, meanwhile, so far, later ); and more.

Endnotes MAIN CLAUSE Return to text SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Return to text MAIN CLAUSE Return to text SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Return to text MAIN CLAUSE Return to text SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Return to text MAIN CLAUSE Return to text WAYS OF EMPHASIZING THE MAIN IDEA Sometimes you will want to lead off a sentence with the main point; at other times you might want to hold it in reserve until the end. CUMULATIVE SENTENCES start with a main clause and then add on to it, accumulating details.

PERIODIC SENTENCES start with a series of phrases or subordinate clauses, saving the main clause for last. Cumulative sentences: starting with the main point This kind of sentence starts off with a MAIN CLAUSE and then adds details in phrases and SUBORDINATE CLAUSES , extending or explaining the thought. Cumulative sentences can be useful for describing a place or an event, operating almost like a camera panning across a room or a landscape.

The sentences below create such an effect: The San Bernardino Valley lies only an hour east of Los Angeles by the San Bernardino Freeway but is in certain ways an alien place: not the coastal California of the subtropical twilights and the soft westerlies off the Pacific but a harsher California, haunted by the Mojave just beyond the mountains, devastated by the hot dry Santa Ana wind that comes down through the passes at 100 miles an hour and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on the nerves.

-JOAN DIDION, Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream Public transportation in Cebu City was provided by jeepneys: refurbished military jeeps with metal roofs for shade, decorated with horns and mirrors and fenders and flaps; painted with names, dedications, quotations, religious icons, logos-and much, much more. She hit the brakes, swearing fiercely, as the deer leapt over the hood and crashed into the dark woods beyond.

The celebrated Russian pianist gave his hands a shake, a quick shake, fingers pointed down at his sides, before taking his seat and lifting them imperiously above the keys. These cumulative sentences add details in a way that makes each sentence more emphatic. Keep this principle in mind as you write-and also when you revise. See if there are times when you might revise a sentence or sentences to add emphasis in the same way.

Take a look at the following sentences, for instance: In 1979, China initiated free-market reforms that transformed its economy from a struggling one to an industrial powerhouse. As a result, it became the world's fastest-growing major economy. Its growth rates averaged almost 10 percent over the next four decades. These three sentences are clearly related, with each one adding detail about the growth of China's economy.

Now look what happens when the writer eliminates a little bit of repetition, adds a memorable metaphor, and combines them as a cumulative-and more emphatic-sentence: China's free-market reforms led to almost 10 percent average growth from 1979 to 2018, transforming it from a paper tiger to an industrial dragon that is still one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.

Periodic sentences: delaying the main point until the end In contrast to sentences that open with the main idea, periodic sentences delay the main idea until the very end. Periodic sentences are sometimes fairly long, and withholding the main point until the end is a way of adding emphasis. It can also create suspense or build up to a surprise or inspirational ending.

In spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione. -J.

K. ROWLING, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Unprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book. -EDWARD GIBBON, Memoirs of My Life In the week before finals, when my studying and memorizing reached a fever pitch, came a sudden, comforting thought: I have never failed.

Here are three periodic sentences in a row about Whitney Houston, each of which withholds the main point until the end: When her smiling brown face, complete with a close-cropped Afro, appeared on the cover of Seventeen in 1981, she was one of the first African-Americans to grace the cover, and the industry took notice. When she belted out a chilling and soulful version of the Star-Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl, the world sat back in awe of her poise and calm.

And in an era when African-American actresses are often given film roles portraying them as destitute, unloving, unlovable, or just the help, Houston played the love interest of Kevin Costner, a white Hollywood superstar.

-ALLISON SAMUELS, A Hard Climb for the Girl Next Door These three periodic sentences create a drumlike effect that builds in intensity as they move through the stages in Houston's career; in all, they suggest that Houston was, even more than Kevin Costner, a superstar. Samuels takes a chance when she uses three sentences in a row that withhold the main point until the end: readers may get tired of waiting for that point. And readers may also find the use of too many such sentences to be, well, too much.

But as the example above shows, when used carefully a sentence that puts off the main idea just long enough can keep readers' interest, making them want to reach the ending with its payoff. You may find in your own work that periodic sentences can make your writing more emphatic.

Take a look at the following sentence from an essay on the use of animals in circuses: The big cat took him down with one swat, just as the trainer, dressed in khakis and boots, his whip raised and his other arm extended in welcome to the cheering crowd, stepped into the ring. This sentence paints a vivid picture, but it gives away the main action in the first six words.

By withholding that action until the end, the writer builds anticipation and adds emphasis: Just as the trainer stepped into the ring, dressed in khakis and boots, his whip raised and his other arm extended in welcome to the cheering crowd, the big cat took him down with one swat. Glossary CUMULATIVE SENTENCE, 427-28 A sentence that begins with a main idea expressed in a MAIN CLAUSE and then adds details in PHRASES and SUBORDINATE CLAUSES that follow the MAIN CLAUSE .

See also PERIODIC SENTENCE PERIODIC SENTENCE, 427-28 A sentence that delays the main idea, expressed in a MAIN CLAUSE , until after details given in phrases and SUBORDINATE CLAUSES . See also CUMULATIVE SENTENCE MAIN CLAUSE 422, 424-28 A CLAUSE , containing a subject and a VERB , that can stand alone as a sentence: She sang. The world-famous soprano sang several arias .