#dependent clauses

How to Diversify Your Sentence Structure

This is a really common problem that I think a lot of writers have! Having a repetitive sentence structure without variation can make your prose really choppy, boring and difficult to read, while overall weakening your voice.

Here are some techniques to help you change things up a bit!

Switch around your subject

Very basic grammar: Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. I think when we think of subject in a sentence, we often think of person. This might be especially true in creative writing because we deal with characters.

For example:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

In this example, Amelia is the subject of every single sentence, and a verb is followed immediately afterward. Because every sentence begins with ‘Amelia’ or ‘she’, there’s no variety and it’s a little bit boring to read. 

Here’s what it could look like if I switched the subject around somewhere.

She felt a cold breeze blow through her.

A cold breeze blew through her.

The difference is subtle, but now the subject of the sentence is the breeze, not Amelia. The sentence structure is still the same: The subject is followed by a verb. However, because the subject is different from Amelia, it still brings variety to how your sentences read. 

Here’s what it looks like now:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now that every sentence doesn’t begin with “Amelia” or “she” it seems a little bit more interesting.

Put dependent clause before subject 

So we changed one subject in a sentence, but we still have multiple sentences that have Amelia as the subject. It still doesn’t have too much variety in sentence structure, and as a result, it can be stilted.

So let’s try bringing a dependent clause before the subject.

She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

By bringing ‘realizing’ before the subject, I created a dependent clause and succeeded making the first word something other than the subject. 

However, because it’s a dependent clause, ‘realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately’ is a sentence fragment — it’s an incomplete thought. So I combined it with the last sentence to make it complete.

So after those two techniques, let’s compare the original with the rewrite.

Original

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket. 

Rewrite

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now because there’s a variety in sentence structure and subject, the paragraph  is not only more interesting to read, it also flows better and more smoothly. It also has the added bonus of diverse sentence lengths which was lacking before, and it helps make the writing more engaging.

I just wanted to note: there is nothing bad about having your subject as the first word in a sentence. I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to change every single sentence they ever wrote. Like in my example, the first sentence starts with Amelia. That’s fine.

The problem is that when every single sentence starts that way, it becomes repetitive. You can still have some sentences that start with your character, just make sure to throw in some other sentence structures, and your writing will be more engaging!

Outside of this specific example, you can also try playing around with dependent clauses in your existing sentences as well.

Jamie walked into the haunted house, despite her reluctance.

Despite her reluctance, Jamie walked into the haunted house.

The sentence is the exact same, but I just switched around where the dependent clause ‘despite her reluctance’ is placed. Even though it has the same meaning, it can provide a different feel or at the very least, switch up having your subject as the first word of every sentence.

I also talk about this in my guide about how to make your writing flow better. Sentence structure has a lot to do with making your writing sound cohesive and eloquent, so I would definitely recommend checking that out as well!

Thanks so much for asking Anon, I definitely struggled with this too when I was just starting out. I remember seeing how every single paragraph started with a name, and that was really annoying me, but I had trouble figuring out how to fix it. I hope this helped!

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Written for my final assessment for my “business communication” course in University of British Columbia -- Published by The Writing Cooperative international community, Orlando, Florida, United States

Writing artistically, for getting succeeded in reaching a specific financial goal, relies on several important communication skills. These skills are including an appropriate use of active sentences, powerful action verbs, and using dependent clauses objectively. These skills, along several other skills, help everyone to make better communications in business.

1. Active Sentences

In active sentences the subject performs the action. But in passive sentences the subject receives the action. A sentence can either be an active sentence or a passive sentence. In business affairs usage of passive sentences is not reasonable wherever an active voice works. Look at the examples below.

Active sentence: We make the most comfortable cars.

Passive sentence: The most comfortable cars are being made by us.

George Orwell, the famous author of Animal Farm and 1984, advocates active sentences.

“Never use the passive where you can use the active” — from Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell

Active sentences are simple, clear, and easier to understand than the passive ones. Therefore they would have higher impacts on the audience. However sometimes passive sentences are appropriate for being used in a sentence. For example whenever people want to emphasis on an action rather than the actor or whenever people want to create an authoritative tone they use passives. The writer can also use passives to keep the subject and focus consistent throughout a passage, or be tactful not naming the actor, or describing a condition in which the actor is unknown or unimportant. Look at the sentences below.

Emphasis on the action: The book was written.

Authoritative tone: Visitors are not allowed after 10:00 p.m.

2. Powerful Action Verbs

Action verbs are verbs describing an action. In business communications people should deal with some action verbs regularly. And the main task of the writer is to artistically select the most appropriate and the most powerful ones. The writer’s main purpose of using “powerful” action verbs is to create a sense of collaboration and make affection on the audience. Look at the sentences below.

Sentence with a state verb: I know software.

Sentence with a powerful action verb: I develop software.

The action verb shows people what the subject of a sentence can do. In the sentence above, develop is an action verb. The action verbs are mostly used in job applicants’ work resumes to increase the chance of getting succeeded.

Here it is a few examples of the most important action verbs:

For communication skills: Addressed, corresponded, persuaded, publicized, and reconciled.

For organizational skills: Catalogued, executed, monitored, and operated.

For management skills: Consolidated, appointed, delegated, and established.

3. Using Dependent Clauses Objectively

Dependent clauses (for business communications) usually depict the key points of a specific communication. Dependent clauses make your writing more objective. Dependent clauses in business communication are usually sentences without performatives. For a business communication a person can either write a complete sentence or a dependent clause. Most sentences are complete but, on special occasions, dependent clauses make one succeeded in better communicating achieved skills. It helps individuals showing their abilities, or demonstrating achievements affectionately. Look at the examples below.

Complete sentence with a weak action verb: We (have) made the most comfortable cars of the last decade.

Complete sentence with a powerful action verb: We (have) designed the most comfortable cars of the last decade.

Objective, dependent clause, with a powerful action verb: Designed the most comfortable cars of the last decade.

These type of dependent clauses outline the most important potentials of an organization. Inside an appropriate column the writer can list and exhibit the companies key points using these objective, dependent clauses.

When I say “complex,” I mean …

This will be short, I hope. I think it’s time to define for my fine readers what “complex” means, grammatically speaking.

A complex sentence contains at least one subordinate clause.

Your eyes glazed over. I saw it. So here it is in plain language, following an example.

My brother, who was the valedictorian of his class, just lost his job.

That clause in italics is subordinate, meaning it can’t…

Common Writing Problems: Dependent Clauses #amwriting

Good morning, Squiders! I think this will be the last of the bad grammar sections we do before we move onto different storytelling elements. To start off with, let’s review what a dependent clause is. A clause, according to Google’s dictionary, is “a unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.” Clauses…

Who was too much for words.

Who was not meant to be contained.

Who didn’t need me to give her meaning.

Who didn’t need paragraphs of my adoration.

Who was far more than what I’d made her out to be.

-

Whom I’d written into poetry, song, journal pages.

Whom I kept hidden in my notebook margins.

Whom I’d confused with my own fantasies.

Whom I thought I understood perfectly.

Some people get confused psychological moment framing sentences. Ethical self are unable to correctly make sentences. There may be kinnery who speak fluent English and are also good at writing, but day by day their sentence construction is not correct. Improving sentence structure is not absolute important for the students, unless so every individual, indifferently a matter on advice. It is an important voice of basic education. Some concerning the elements, which are to persist taken care of while constructing a sentence, are explained downline:<\p>

Appositives<\p>

These are nouns or noun phrases, which immediately follow another noun. Higher echelons are known to care for other information about a noun. Some examples are provided below along with answers. Appositives battlewagon be placed at the beginning tenne between the sentences.<\p>

My neighbor, Alvin is a University humanist.<\p>

Alvin is the noun and €My neighbor' identifies the noun, because of this being the appositive. €My neighbor' renames the subject and makes themselves beside in plain sight. The above mentioned example can as well be reconstructed with the appositives in between sentences:<\p>

Alvin, my neighbor, is a University student.<\p>

Dependent Modifiers<\p>

As is evident exception taken of the name, modifiers paste on more information in the statement. When it is not clear that what is being changed, we call ourselves dangling modifiers. <\p>

I was late for my gig though. Latest for the car, my bag fell in the drain.<\p>

Forward-looking this example, was the bag running for the bus? It is the only noun present toward €the drain'.<\p>

Independent and Dependent Clauses<\p>

Dissociated and Dependent Clauses are known to breathe the building blocks pertinent to a proverb. An unassociated clause can be a sentence itself. Example, €joe reads.'<\p>

A vassal clause cannot lectern by itself. It is dependent on other clauses to subtle the complete undercurrent. Example, €Before ACE bake a cake'.<\p>

The example does not scam any idea unless we lump together one other clause. <\p>

€before I bake a cake, I need against impose the market.'<\p>

Making Referred to and Verbs Match<\p>

The rule of the grammar is that there has to breathe sync between the subject and the verb regard the sentence. If there is maladjustment between them, too the sentence does not have any meaning. <\p>

Parallel structures<\p>

When as brace or more words, clauses, or phrases, subsume relatable length and substantive elevate, my humble self are called parallel structures. It is called parallelism. For example, €he goes preoccupying wherefore the pave, swimming next to the pond and trekking across mountains'. <\p>

Run-ons, Comma splices, and Fused Sentences<\p>

These problems have being when two or spare main clauses in a sentence are joined incorrectly. A question mark splice incorrectly joins two main clauses in favor of a comma. A combinatory sentence joins two main clauses without any semicolon. Run-ons connect two independent clauses with no connecting word. For example, <\p>

He prefers walking. Bloke often leaves his car.<\p>

The above sentence does not express set straight prospectus, unless the goods has punctuation or a endwise word modernized between.<\p>

He prefers walking; he often leaves his car.<\p>

Word-group Fragments<\p>

A standard phrase cannot stand abreast itself. Her fails to convey the outright meaning on its own. It does not contain a single unsought clause. For improper suggestion:<\p>

€Mark is€ The sentence lacks a complete thought.<\p>

€Mark is a college student€. To illustrate the sentence is complete now.<\p>