Module 2 Instructor Guidance

Experienced writers incorporate sentence variety into their writing by varying sentence style and structure. Using a mixture of different sentence structures reduces repetition and adds emphasis to important points in the text. Read the following example:

During my time in office I have achieved several goals. I have helped increase funding for local schools. I have reduced crime rates in the neighborhood. I have encouraged young people to get involved in their community. My competitor argues that she is the better choice in the upcoming election. I argue that it is ridiculous to fix something that isn’t broken. If you reelect me this year, I promise to continue to serve this community.

In this extract from an election campaign, the writer uses short, simple sentences of a similar length and style. What did you think about this paragraph? Writers often mistakenly believe that this technique makes the text more clear for the reader, but the result is a choppy, unsophisticated paragraph that does not grab the audience’s attention.

Now read the revised paragraph with sentence variety:

During my time in office, I have achieved several goals such as increasing funding for local schools, reducing crime rates in the neighborhood, and encouraging young people to get involved in their community. Why fix what isn’t broken? My competitor argues that she is the better choice, but by electing me, I will continue to achieve great things for this community. Don’t take a chance on someone unknown; vote for the candidate you know has proven success.

In this module we will work on adding variety to our writing by becoming more proficient at using sentence structure. 

Works Cited

Hall, Barbara and Wallace, Elizabeth, "College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing 

        Strategies for Success" (2018). English Open Textbooks. 14. Links to an external site.