EMPHASIS

Lesson 6

SOME FAMOUS QUOTES

Beginning and end shake hands with each other. – German Proverb

In the end is my beginning. – T.S. Eliot

All’s well that ends well. – William Shakespeare

UNDERSTANDING HOW SENTENCES END

How you end your sentences affects how readers judge, not only the clarity and strength of individual sentences, but also their collective cohesion and coherence.

COMPLEX GRAMMAR

Which of these two sentences do you prefer?

2a. Lincoln’s claim that the Civil War was God’s punishment of both North and South for slavery appears in the last part of the speech.

2b. In the last part of his speech, Lincoln claims that God gave the Civil War to both North and South as a punishment for slavery.

COMPLEX MEANING (TECHNICAL TERMS)

Here’s the point: Your readers want you to organize your sentences to help them manage two kinds of difficulty:

• Long and complex phrases and clauses• New information, particularly unfamiliar technical

terms

The general principle is to carry the reader not from complexity to simplicity, but from simplicity to complexity.

STRESS

You can sense that when you hear your voice rise at the end of a sentence to emphasize one syllable more strongly than the others:

BUT…

It also depends on the stress given to a syllable, word, or phrase in speaking:

I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.

The last few words of a sentence are also particularly important…

EXAMPLE

Global warming could raise sea levels to a point where much of the word’s low-lying coastal areas would disappear, according to most atmospheric scientists.

TWEET…

How would you rewrite that sentence to put emphasis on the main problem?

HERE’S THE POINT…

Just like we look at the first few words of a sentence for point of view, we look at the last few words for emphasis.

THREE TACTICAL REVISIONS

1. Trim the end.2. Shift peripheral ideas to the left.3. Shift new information to the right.

TRIMMING THE END

Sociobiologists claims that our genes control our social behavior in the way we act in situations we are in every day.

Since social behavior means the way we act in situations, we can eliminate everything after behaviour.

Sociobiologists claim that our genes control social behaviour.

SHIFTING PERIPHERAL IDEAS TO THE LEFT

Job opportunities in computer programming are getting scarcer, it must be remembered.

Particularly avoid ending with anticlimactic metadiscourse.

It must be remembered, job opportunities in computer programming are getting scarcer.

SHIFTING NEW INFORMATION TO THE RIGHT

Questions about the ethics of withdrawing intravenous feeding are more difficult [than something just mentioned]

A more common way to manage stress is by moving new information to the end of a sentence.

More difficult [than something just mentioned] are questions about the ethics of withdrawing intravenous feedings.

SIX DEVICES TO EMPHASIZE THE RIGHT WORDS

1. There shift2. Passives (for the last time)3. What shift4. It shift5. Not only X, but (also) Y (as well)6. Pronoun substitution and ellipsis

THERE SHIFT

Example:

Several syntactic devices let you manage where in a sentence you locate units of new information.

There are several syntactic devices let you manage where in a sentence you locate units of new information.

PASSIVES (FOR THE LAST TIME)

Example:

Some claim that our genes influence aspects of behavior that we think are learned. Our genes, for example, seem to determine…

Some claim that aspects of behavior that we think are learned are in fact influenced by our genes. Our genes, for example, seem to determine…

WHAT SHIFT

Example:

We need a monetary policy that would end fluctuations in money supply, unemployment, and inflation.

What we need is a monetary policy that would end fluctuations in money supply, unemployment, and inflation.

IT SHIFT

Example:

That oil prices would be set by OPEC once seemed inevitable.

It once seemed inevitable that oil prices would be set by OPEC.

NOT ONLY X, BUT (ALSO) Y (AS WELL)

Example:

We must clarify these issues and develop trust.

We must not only clarify these issues, but also develop trust.

PRONOUN SUBSTITUTION AND ELLIPSIS

A sentence can end flatly when you repeat a word that you used just a few words before at the end of a sentence.

To avoid that kind of flatness, rewrite or use a pronoun instead of repeating the word at the end of the sentence.

TWEET…

Tweet an example using one of the “six devices to emphasize the right words.”

TO RECAP

The ending of a sentence is just as important as the beginning. While the beginning introduces the topic, the ending puts emphasis on the subject matter.

Know when to revise and what the right words are.

THANK YOU!MERRY CHRISTMAS