Sentence Structure and Argument

Writers of effective arguments know that “variety is the spice of life” when it comes to stylish sentences. A strategy as simple as varying sentence length can keep readers attentive and interested. For instance, the paragraph from the Economist in the preceding section (see “Style and Word Choice”) has sentences as short as four words and as lengthy as thirty-six. Its authors almost certainly didn’t pause as they wrote and think, hmm, we need a little variation here. Instead, as experienced writers, they simply made sure that their sentences complemented the flow of their ideas and also kept readers engaged.

Sentences, you see, offer you more options and special effects than you can ever exhaust. To pull examples from selections earlier in this chapter, just consider how dramatic, punchy, or even comic short sentences can be:

The Internet is never finished. — Alexis C. Madrigal

May the odds be ever in your favor, son! — Jon Dolan

Longer sentences can explain ideas, build drama, or sweep readers along:

With low startup costs and powerful economies of scale, online courses dramatically lower the price of learning and widen access to it, by removing the need for students to be taught at set times or places.

— The Economist

Meanwhile, sentences of medium length handle just about any task assigned without a fuss. They are whatever you need them to be: serviceable, discrete, thoughtful, playful. And they pair up nicely with companions:

But without checks, democratically approved legislation can oppress minority groups. For that reason, our Constitution places limits on what a majority of the people may do. — Sonia Sotomayor

313

Balanced or parallel sentences, in which clauses or phrases are deliberately matched, as highlighted in the following examples, draw attention to ideas and relationships:

Ulysses can be finished. The Internet is never finished.

— Alexis C. Madrigal

When we’re talking about professional athletes, we are mostly talking about males passionately admiring the physical attributes and abilities of other males. It might not be homosexual, but it certainly is homoerotic.

— Sherman Alexie

Sentences with especially complicated structures or interruptions make you pay attention to their motions and, therefore, their ideas:

The low cost of providing courses — creating a new one costs about $70,000 — means they can be sold cheaply, or even given away.

— The Economist

Drake’s latest statement-of-Drakeness casually big-ups his sports bros Johnny Manziel and Andrew Wiggins over a dreamy sample of Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing),” then drops a little Jennifer Lawrence fan fic: “On some Hunger Games sh–t/I would die for my district.”

— Jon Dolan

Even sentence fragments — which don’t meet all the requirements for full sentence status — have their place when used for a specific effect:

Because at least Ulysses has an end, an edge. — Alexis C. Madrigal

Poor Rosaline (or rather, nice bullet-dodging, Rosaline). — Claire Fallon

Cut. Shredded. Jacked. — Sherman Alexie

You see, then, that there’s much more to the rhetoric of sentences than just choosing subjects, verbs, and objects — and far more than we can explain in one section. But you can learn a lot about the power of sentences simply by observing how the writers you admire engineer them — and maybe imitating some of those sentences yourself. You might also make it a habit to read and re-read your own sentences aloud (or in your head) as you compose them to gauge whether words and phrases are meshing with your ideas. And then tinker, tinker, tinker — until the sentences feel right.