Small choices, BIG consequences

Word choice and sentence structure are important!

I’m not just talking about showing words vs telling words. Showing words are important, but so is the location of each word within a sentence.  Why is sentence structure so important? Because, a single out-of-place word could change the entire sentence’s meaning.

Beth Hill, in her post about word order, explains how changing the location of a word (within a sentence) can alter the sentence’s meaning. She gives examples on specific word types. An adverb, for example, could modify a different word than intended, if placed in the wrong spot.

     -Billy only came for the food.

     –Only Billy came for the food.

     -Billy came for only the food.

These three sentences all contain the same six words, yet they all have a different meaning.i

Sentences have several essential parts. To make a proper sentence, you must have a subject and a predicate. The subject is a noun or pronoun of the sentence. A predicate (a fancy term for a verb), is what the subject is doing. With these two elements the sentence must form a complete thought. While these rules leave a lot of room to play; there are a few common mistakes that can make your sentence confusing to readers. Award winning author, K. M. Weiland, describes ten common issues and how to fix them. One mistake that I make regularly, is what she calls “Flabby Sentences.” A flabby sentence is one that contains unnecessary words. The fix to these sentences is to replace phrases with a single word, or removing extra words altogether.

The following example is from my own Chapter 1 post.

(Flabby) – Five meters front of us, the forest loomed in the dual midday suns, an eerie silence radiating from the usually rowdy trees.

(Lean) – Just in front of us, the forest eerily stood silent in the dual midday suns.

As you can see, the shorter sentence gives the same (or at least very similar) impression, while being more succinct.

The small choices we make in our writing, can have big consequences in how our piece is perceived.  The easiest ways to make sure you’re conveying the correct message are to have someone else read your work and to read aloud to yourself. If your reader has any confusion, have them highlight or explain what confuses them. Then, revise the confusing areas. Reading aloud to yourself can identify the same areas. Where you struggle reading a sentence, revise!

Make the small choices consciously! Have fun, and write on!