Style

English 0950
March 2009
Style Defined
• Style is an awareness of the options you have as
a writer and how those options affect your
writing
• Style is one step beyond grammar
• Style is based on the constraints of the writing
situation and your own preferences and
personality as a writer
Principles of Style
• Sentence Patterns
• Sentence Openings
• Sentence Length
• Sentence Variety
Sentence Patterns
• Simple sentences embody concision
• Compound sentences showcase similarity or
contrast
• Complex sentences highlight relationships of
cause & effect or time/place
• Compound-Complex sentences demonstrate
intricacy of thought
Sentence Openings
• A sentence can begin with an independent
clause, a dependent clause, or other stuff
• Beginning with an independent clause results in
a direct sentence
• Beginning with a dependent clause sets up the
independent clause
• Beginning with other stuff provides background
before the main idea
Sentence Length
• Short sentences provide emphasis for key ideas
• Short sentences can also seem choppy and
clumsy
• Long sentences tend to let ideas unfold and
connect
• Long sentences can also become unclear and
exhausting
Sentence Variety
• Varying sentence patterns shows an intellectual
flexibility
• Varying sentence beginnings makes a piece of
writing more interesting to read
• Varying sentence length disrupts monotony in
reading