Writing Style and Conventions of Writing

Once you are comfortable with the structural and logical conventions of essay writing, then it’s time to
focus on writing style. The best essays are not only well organized and well argued…they are well
written.

There are several techniques that can improve your writing.

Sentence Variety

Writing that is overly repetitive is not engaging. By varying sentence length and structure, writers can
help keep readers interested (see Sentence Combining below for tips on how to do this). Make sure that
your paragraphs contain both short and long sentences. Also, check the opening phrase of each
paragraph. Often, writers re-use the same kind of openings in their sentences. Mix it up.

For some examples, see the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University.

Sentence Combining

Sentence combining can help you in a number of ways. It will help vary your sentence structure so that
your writing is not repetitive. It will help you emphasize important ideas. And, it can help you create
transitions between your points.

After you have written a draft, read through each paragraph and count the number of words in each
sentence. If they are all similar, then your essay would benefit from some variety in sentence length.
Combine some of your short sentences:

Example: “Maria became a doctor. She didn’t become a regular doctor. She became a medical
missionary.” Notice how choppy this is.

Combined: “Rather than becoming a regular doctor, Maria became a medical missionary.” This
combined sentence is more concise and “flows” better than the first example. (McMahan)

If you use a lot of the same words over and over again, sentence combining can help eliminate that
problem. Carelessly repetitive writing loses its edge, so you want to avoid it. Note: Sometimes
repetition is used deliberately to achieve a certain effect. This is a different situation than the use of
careless repetition that is not purposeful.

Example: Dierdre judges all her friends severely. Dierdre always judges according to her own
rigid standards.

Combined: Dierdre judges all her friends severely according to her own rigid standards.
(McMahan)

For a chart of helpful words and phrases that can be used to combine sentences, look here.

Parallelism

Parallelism is a technique that uses purposeful repetition for emphasis and style. Parts of a sentence
(words, phrases) are repeated using the same grammatical form. Parallel ideas need to be balanced;
otherwise, the sentence becomes awkward.
 Example of faulty parallelism: “Abused children commonly exhibit one or more of the following
symptoms: withdrawal, rebelliousness, restlessness, and they are depressed. “ Do you see how the
phrase “they are depressed” clashes with the forms of the other items in the series?

Revised: “Abused children commonly exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
withdrawal, rebelliousness, restlessness, and depression.” The last item is changed so that the
parallel structure is balanced. (Hacker)

Active and Passive Voice

Sometimes, your writing might seem a little bland. To liven it up, use active voice more often. Novice
writers occasionally rely too much on passive voice.

What is passive voice?

In passive voice, something is acted upon. The agent (or actor) is relegated to the end of the
sentence. For instance: “The car was driven by my mother.”

What is active voice?

In active voice, the sentence is restructured so that the subject is emphasized: “My mother drove
the car.”

Self-Check: Try this online quiz to see if you understand active and passive voice.

Note: Sometimes it makes sense to use passive voice. There are times when it is desirable to emphasize
the object rather than the subject. Further, some disciplines use passive voice more than others.

Works Cited:

McMahan, Elizabeth. Here’s How to Write Well. New York: Longman, 2002.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.

Bridge, Tiffany. The Writing Insight Blog.