Editing for SentenceVariety

You will need:A blue marker for intro phrasesA green marker for intro clausesA red, orange, or yellow marker for simple and compound sentences that are not introduced by another phrase or clause

A pen or pencil to write explanations when necessary

Blue for intro phrases Read the text of the essay, minus any quotes

included, and underline or highlight any intro phrases.

At work, Winston displays. . . Understanding his role in the world, John. .

.To better understand human nature,

Bernard studies. . . From the moment of their creation,

citizens of the world feel. . . At the reservation, John and his mother. . .

Green for intro clauses Read the text of the essay, minus any

quotes included, and underline or highlight any intro clauses.

When Lenina steps off of the helicopter at John’s lighthouse, she finds. . .

Because Bernard sees the world differently, he does not. . .

Until Winston pursues a relationship with Julia, he lives a life. . .

Other clause beginnersafter, before, once, since, until, when, whenever, while

as, because, since

so that, that

If, even if, provided that, unless

although, even though, though, whereas

whereverwhether

Use red, orange, or yellow for: Marking simple

sentences. Winston waits for O’Brien’s signal.

Similarly, Linda’s ugliness disgusts Lenina.

Orwell demonstrates Winston’s ideal of the free individual.

Marking compound sentences:

Winston reads the book himself, and then he shares the book with Julia.

The D.H.C. explains the creation of children to the reader, and later, Mustapha Mond explains the inner workings of the government.

With the pencil or pen. . . Put an arrow by any

sentence beginning word that your partner has so far that repeats another beginning word.

Now what?The more green that you have, the more complex and sophisticated your writing is (in general).

What else?What you marked in the hot color should not take up a lot (more than 1/3 to ¼) of the writing.

And…? Look at the words

that begin each sentence.

Are you alternating kinds of beginnings?

Are you using a variety to words to start the beginnings?

Consider. . . Making changes when you were repetitious.

Alternating sentence beginnings to vary the sentence structure. (Use more than just one or two sentence patterns.)

Combining simple sentence and their ideas into complex sentences to reflect the sophistication and complexity of your ideas.