How to write the perfect sentence
Mastering the art of crafting the perfect sentence is no small feat. It's a blend of rhythm, precision, and clarity. Let's delve into the intricacies of sentence construction and explore the secrets behind writing sentences that captivate and inspire.
The sentence is the Ur-unit, the core material, the granular element that must be got right or nothing will be right
It is the shared ground where all writers walk
- A common piece of writing advice is to make your sentences plain, unadorned and invisible
- George Orwell gave this piece of advice its epigram: “Good prose is like a windowpane.”
Make each sentence worth reading, and something in it will lead the reader into the next one
Sentences have become less shackled to each other
- Readers today can link sentences in their heads without lots of thuses and whereupons
- This makes the sentences at the start and end of paragraphs crucial
- Change the whole tone of a sentence by moving it from the end of a paragraph to the start of a new one, and vice versa
Good Sentences
A good sentence imposes a logic on the weirdness of the world
- It gets its power from the tension between the ease of its phrasing and the shock of its thought slid cleanly into the mind
- Sentences are a paring away of options
- Each added word reduces the writer’s alternatives and narrows the reader’s expectations
- Up to the last word, the writer has choices and can throw in a curveball
A memorable sentence makes immediate sense but sounds slightly odd
A sentence is much more than its literal meaning. It is a living line of words where logic and lyric meet – a piece of both sense and sound, albeit the sound is only heard in the reader’s head.
- The word “sentence” comes from the Latin sentire, to feel. A sentence must be felt by the reader, and a feeling is something that grows and fades like anything else that is alive.
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