to make your language fluid, you must do two things vary sentence rhythms bridge discontinuities...
TRANSCRIPT
To make your language fluid,you must do two things
Vary sentence rhythms
Bridge discontinuities Sentence #1
Sentence #2
Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. A cloud of hot rock
and gas surged northward from its collapsing slope. The cloud
devastated more than 500 square kilometers of forests and
lakes. The effects of Mount St. Helens were well documented
with geophysical instruments. The origin of the eruption is not
well understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid
expansion of steam. Some scientists believe the steam comes
from groundwater heated by the magma. Other scientists
believe the steam comes from water originally dissolved in the
magma. We need to understand the source of steam in
volcanic eruptions. We need to determine how much water the
magma contains.
When sentence openers do not vary, the sentences do not seem to connect Z
Z
Z
Varying sentence openers allows for more kinds of transitions between sentences
Sentence #1 Sentence #2 Sentence #3
Topic of Sentence Subject
Time of action Prepositional Phrase
Location of action Prepositional Phrase
Manner of action Adverb
Subordinate action Dependent Clause
Reason for action Infinitive Phrase
Vary sentence openers to vary rhythm
Mount St. Helens erupted on May…
subject-verb
In minutes, the mountain emitted…
prepositional phrase
Recently, debate has arisen... adverb
Although the exact time of the eruption surprised scientists, evidence had been collected...
dependent clause
In the town below, people…
prepositional phrase
Vary sentence openers to vary rhythm
infinitive phrase To understand the eruption, we have to...
gerundial phrase Calculating the amount of ash will require many assumptions.
dependent clause How the blast occurred remains as subject a mystery.
verb-subject Is it groundwater heated by…
Still other openers exist, but sometimes seem out of place in scientific writing
appositive One of the largest on record in North America, the Mount St. Helens’ eruption killed more than sixty people.
introductory series Seismic activity, cone deformation, electromagnetic changes—all these are precursors of an eruption.
adjective phrase Dark and ominous, the smoke cloud billowed for days.
Varying sentence openers enlivens the writing and allows connections
Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. Its slope
collapsing, the mountain emitted a cloud of hot rock and gas.
In minutes, the cloud devastated more than 500 square
kilometers of forests and lakes. Although the effects of the
eruption were well documented, the origin is not well
understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid
expansion of steam. Recently, debate has arisen over the
source for the steam. Is it groundwater heated by magma or
water originally dissolved in the magma itself? To understand
the source of steam in volcanic eruptions, we need to
determine how much water the magma contains.
If you vary sentence openers, you will vary sentence lengths and structures
Keep average length in teens
Don't fear short sentences (3, 4, or 5words), but avoid stacking
short sentences
Be selective with
long sentences
To make connections, use transitional phrases early in sentences
Also,
Moreover,
First…Second...
For that reason,
Therefore,
and
For instance,
For example,
Strictly speaking,
In other words,
In effect,
or
However,
On the other hand,
Conversely,
Nevertheless,
Otherwise,
but
Continuation Pause Reversal
This shows...This means...
Replace the standalone “this” with a noun phrase that specifies the subject
The finite element modeling technique does not take into account the flexibility of the truss. This results in a low stiffness, which causes the natural frequency to be off.
WeakTransition
…truss. This disregard for flexibility results in a low stiffness causing the natural frequency to be off.
SuccessfulTransition
…truss. Not accounting for the flexibility results in a low stiffness causing the natural frequency to be off.
FluidTransition
Use a variety of long, medium, and short paragraphs
Average paragraphs: 5-6 lines
Short paragraphs: 1-4 linesUse sparingly and don’t stack
Long paragraphs: 8-10 linesTry to avoid long paragraphs
Use lists for easy reading
• Advice or examples• Conclusions/recommendations• Criteria for evaluation• Errors to avoid
• Material for a procedures• Equipment in a procedure• Parts of a mechanism• Steps in a sequence
Items you might list: