The document discusses techniques for writing effective sentences. It emphasizes that sentences are the basic building blocks of writing and good sentences are needed for good writing. It provides tips on how to take control of sentence structure by making sentences longer or shorter in order to make them more informative, effective and satisfying. It discusses different sentence structures like cumulative sentences and provides examples of both short and long, impactful sentences from literature. The overall message is that writers should pay attention to crafting individual sentences with care in order to improve writing.

1. Writing Great Sentences

2. Writing Well
• Sentences are the basic
building block of
writing. Good
sentences are the basic
units of good writing.

3. Represent
• It is important that we
represent ourselves to
the world through
writing that is effective
– clear, precise,
satisfyingly informative
writing that reveals the
individuality,
sophistication and
nuance of our thinking.

4. Revelation
• Writing that reveals not
only to others, but to
ourselves.

5. Sentences
• Our basic unit of
communication is the
sentence.
• How making our
sentences longer or
shorter can make them
more:
– Informative
– Effective
– Satisfying

6. Take Control
• Of building and
trimming our sentences
to improve our writing.
• Style

7. Francis Christensen
• Cumulative sentences
built by adding modifying
phrases to “kernel’
sentences or base
clauses.
• Composition theorist in
the 1960s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PVOiHJn3uA
• Jeffery Johnson

8. Prose Style
• The dance of language
• Spontaneous
• Creative
• Generative

9. The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style is
a prescriptive American
English writing style guide in numerous
editions. The original was composed by
William Strunk, Jr., in 1918 and published
by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight
"elementary rules of usage", ten
"elementary principles of composition",
"a few matters of form", a list of forty-
nine "words and expressions commonly
misused", and a list of fifty-seven "words
often misspelled". It was much enlarged
and revised by E.B. Whitefor publication
by Macmillan in 1959. That was the first
edition of so-called Strunk & White,
which Time magazine named in 2011 one
of the 100 best and most influential
books written in English since 1923

10. CIA Loves ‘The Elements of Style’
It’s no secret that the Central Intelligence
Agency values clarity, so it is no wonder
that the federal agency relies on the
writing tips from Strunk & White’s The
Elements of Style. The CIA gives major
props to the classic American writing
guide in its own stylistic manual: Style
Manual & Writers Guide for Intelligence
Publications. The CIA also stresses in the
190-page guide how excessive and
flowery language hinders the agency’s
ability to protect the nation. "Good
intelligence depends in large measure on
clear, concise writing,” the foreword
states. “The information CIA gathers and
the analysis it produces mean little if we
cannot convey them effectively.” Indeed.

11. Writing
• Is a purpose-driven
activity
• Pay attention to the
ounces and pounds will
take care of
themselves.
• Pay attention to your
sentences, and most
other writing problems
take care of
themselves.

12. Writing Projects
• Autobiography
• Description of
– How you mastered a skill
– Learned a lesson
• Write a profile of
someone who had a
significant impact on
your life.

13. A Sequence of Words
• This is what I mean
when I call myself a
writer, I construct
sentences.
– Don DeLillo

14. Sentences Come in All Shapes and
Sizes
• Lots of different things
can make them great:
• Precision and specificity
• Dramatic impact
• Sound
• Ways in which they
direct the reader’s
thinking
• Ways in which they reveal
the writer’s mind
• Logical progression
• Imagery

15. Thinking about individual sentences
• Not simply as just
another brick in a wall
of words
• Consider the sentence
with the care we bring
to poetry
• Set out in pursuit of
greatness.

16. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
• I’m still hoping to write
a great sentence. If I
do, I’ll let you know
– Michael Cunningham

17. Short sentences
• Jesus wept.
• Shortest verse in the
New Testement

18. Famous Reply
• Offered by General
Anthony McAuliffe,
acting commander of
the 101st
Airborne, when
the Germans demanded
his surrender during the
Battle of the Bulge.

19. Short
• Nuts!

20. How to make sentences longer
• Longer sentences, when
carefully crafted and
tightly controlled, are
essential keys to great
writing.

21. Heart of Darkness
• She was savage and
superb, wild-eyed and
magnificent; there was
something ominous and
stately in her deliberate
progress.
– Joseph Conrad

22. Its not how long you make it, but how
you make it long
• More
– Useful information
– Specific detail
– Explanation
• Informational texture
• Propositional content

23. Practice, Practice, Practice.
• Practice