Many writers look forward to revising and editing smaller issues because the results are often dramatic. Turning a weak sentence into a memorable one—or finding exactly the right word to express a thought—can yield great satisfaction and self-confidence.

Sentences

As with life, variety is the spice of sentences.

Sentence length

Too many short sentences, especially one after another, can sound like a series of blasts on a car horn, whereas a steady stream of long sentences may tire or confuse readers. Most writers aim for some variety of length.

Sentence openings

Most sentences in English follow subject-predicate order and hence open with the subject of an independent clause, as does the sentence you are now reading. But opening sentence after sentence this way results in a jerky, abrupt, or choppy rhythm. You can vary sentence openings by beginning with a dependent clause, a phrase, an adverb, a conjunctive adverb, or a coordinating conjunction.

Before student Emily Lesk revised her draft, every sentence in this paragraph opened with the subject: I have a favorite T-shirt, It’s Israel’s standard tourist fare, I waited. . . . In her revision, Emily deleted some examples and varied her sentence openings for a dramatic and easy-to-read paragraph:

Even before setting foot in Israel three years ago, I knew exactly where I could find the Coke T-shirt. The tiny shop in the central block of Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street did offer other designs, but the one with a bright white “Drink Coca-Cola Classic” written in Hebrew cursive across the chest was what drew in most of the dollar-carrying tourists. While waiting almost twenty minutes for my shirt, I watched nearly every customer ahead of me ask for “the Coke shirt, todah rabah [thank you very much].”

Sentences opening with it or there

As you go over the sentences of your draft, look especially at those beginning with it is, it was, there is, there was, there are, or there were. Sometimes these words can create a special emphasis, as in “It was a dark and stormy night.” But they can also cause problems. A reader doesn’t know what it means, for instance, unless the writer has already pointed out exactly what the word stands for. A more subtle problem with these openings, however, is that they may allow a writer to avoid taking responsibility for a statement:

The original sentence avoids responsibility by failing to tell us who believes that fees must increase.

Sentence structure

Using only simple sentences can be dull, but overusing compound sentences may result in a singsong or repetitive rhythm. At the same time, strings of complex sentences may sound, well, overly complex. Try to vary your sentence structure.

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Words

Maybe even more than paragraphs and sentences, word choice—or diction—offers writers an opportunity to put their personal stamp on a piece of writing. Becoming aware of the kinds of words you use should help you get the most mileage out of each word.

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Tone

Word choice is closely related to tone. In examining the tone of your draft, think about the nature of the topic, your own attitude toward it, and that of your intended audience. Does your language create the tone you want to achieve (humorous, serious, impassioned, and so on)? Is that tone appropriate, given your audience and topic?

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