Emphasis (or how to end sentences)

 Begin sentences with simple grammar subject = a concrete noun (ideally flesh and blood character) verb = the main action  Begin sentences with simple meaning begin with something old/familiar

 Complex grammar can come at end of sentence nominalizations; long complex phrases and clauses  Complex meanings should come at end of sentence end with something new end with any unfamiliar technical terms

 Keep beginnings of sentences simple  Use ends of sentences for complex grammar and new info, particularly unfamiliar terms

The last two or three words of a sentence are especially important – these words will get special emphasis when read. Unfortunately, a healthy person could be devastated by such an early diagnosis. Unfortunately, such an early diagnosis could devastate a healthy person. Unfortunately, such an early diagnosis for a healthy person could be devastating. So end the sentence with the idea you want readers to see as particularly significant

 Read your sentences aloud and, as you read the last three or four words, tap your finger on the desk. Do those words deserve strong emphasis? If not, look for words that do and rewrite sentence to move those ideas to the end.

 Trim the end (cut filler phrases or padding) Sociobiologists claim that our genes control our social behavior in the way we act in situations we are in everyday.

 Move peripheral ideas to the left and important new info right. The Data offered to prove ESP are weak, for the most part. Job opportunities in computer programming are getting scarcer, it must be remembered.

 Shift new information to the right Questions about the ethics of withdrawing intravenous feeding are more difficult.

 There is/there are  Passive voice  What _____is (what we need is) We need a monetary policy that would end fluctuations in money supply, unemployment, and inflation Vs. What we need is a monetary policy that would end fluctuations in money supply, unemployment, and inflation

 Not only X but Y (and end with positive unless you have good reason to end with negative) We must clarify these issues and develop deeper trust. Vs. We must not only clarify these issues but develop deeper trust.

 Don’t end with a word you said earlier in the sentence – replace with pronoun our, if you can, cut. A reader will hear emphasis on the word just before the last words. Vs. A reader will hear emphasis on the word just before it.

 Put the key ideas of passage in the stress position (end of sentence) of the very first sentence in a passage (the topic sentence

 Lesson 3: Make actions the verbs of your sentences.  Lesson 4: Make the characters the subjects of your sentences (and make simple subjects short, concrete, preferably flesh and blood characters)

 Lesson 5: Cohesiveness Something old and something new: begin sentences with information familiar to your readers and end sentences with information your reader cannot predict.  Lesson 5: Coherence The simple/whole subjects of your sentences should be related (they should be on a similar topic and this topic should be the topic of the paragraph)

 Lesson 6: emphasis Arrange sentences so that complex grammar and new info, particularly unfamiliar terms, come at the end of the sentence. Arrange sentences knowing that so that the last two or three words will be stressed by the reader; the reader will read these words as particularly significant.