Writing Tips:

1. Complex Sentences One sign of a sophisticated writing style is the use of lengthy complex sentences. If a period signifies a pause, a paragraph full of short sentences is filled with pauses: A. I went to the store. I had to buy some milk. It cost 3.55 and I only had 3 dollars. I ran into Mike who loaned me a dollar. He was there because he was out of cat food. When we were done shopping, we went and got some coffee. B.I went to the store because I had to buy some milk, but when I got there I found out that I only had 3 dollars and the milk cost 3.55. Luckily, I ran into Mike, who was out of cat food, and he loaned me a dollar. When we were done shopping, we went and got some coffee. Paragraph B only has 3 sentences versus A's 6. The longer sentences in B make it flow more naturally and have the benefit of showing the relationship between the ideas more clearly. If a sentence is a "complete thought", longer, more complex sentences are longer, more complex thoughts. In a college paper, you want to show that you have complex thoughts; the best way to do that is to write in complex sentences. Creating complex sentences usually requires that you use a combination of Conjunctions, and Adverbial and Prepositional Clauses. The conjunctions AND, BUT, and OR can be used to link two complete sentences together, each "half" of the sentence has its own Subject and Verb: I really enjoyed that last story but it left me with a few questions. The orange symbolizes Eva's desire to do as she pleases without the burden of her beauty and the orange tree with the young boy buried beneath it reveals that she believes that only death will set her free. Another useful item for compound sentences is the semi-colon; it allows you to join two thoughts together without a necessary conjunction, just like this. Of course, the more the thoughts have to do with each other, the better the use of the semi-colon. Clauses also help create complex sentences and are used to show relationships and give details about elements of your sentence. When Zwelish learns of Alan's death he regrets the animosity that had grown between them. (Adverbial clause that shows time relationship) By writing his tale in the form of a letter relating a tale told to him, Twain established the basic form of the folk tale or urband myth: the friend of a friend story.

(Prepositional clause) A key thing to remember about Clauses, is that though they may contain nouns and verbs, the ones within the clause do not count as the subject and verb of the sentence. Imagine taking the clause out of the sentence- if the remainder still works as a sentence, then the sentence was written correctly. Complex sentences will also help you with 2. Never use 3 words when two will do. English teachers love words, but we hate useless ones. The point of a paper is to say what you mean clearly and effectively, and even beautifully, and extra words get in the way of all three. The description in the story of the orange tree and how they all had a boy buried underneath could have symbolized how death gives way to life. OR Orange trees and their young dead boys buried underneath symbolize the cycle of life. Both sentences say the same thing. Sentence two just says it clearer and more powerfully. All those extra words weren't only NOT contributing to the sentence, they were actively dragging the reader away from it. Another important point: the phrase "the description in the story" isn't necessary because we know the paper is about a story, so the reader is going to assume that what you're talking about is in the story! 3. Patterns The human mind loves patterns and when we write we need to be conscious of that fact. If you create a pattern in your sentences, paragraphs, or paper, you need to follow through and stick with the patternUNLESS you purposefully deviate from it to draw attention to a point- but that should be rare! If you create an order in your Thesis, for example, you should keep that order when organizing your paper. Lethem used local color and New York colloquialisms to strengthen the idea of 'neighborhood' and therefore increase the impact of learning why Zwelish moved. If you write that, you should organize your paragraphs to talk about things in that order: Local color and then Colloquialisms, and within each of those sections you should describe it and talk about how it strengthens the idea of neighborhood, and then how that affects the impact of Zwelish's move. Patterns also need to work across a list:

The Matrix uses cutting edge special effects, hong kong style action, and making you think about the nature of reality to create a powerful film. The pattern created is The Matrix usesadjective noun, adjective noun, and should follow through with adjective noun to keep the patter, maybe "a philosophical premise". 4. Organization Basic reminders other than to stick to patterns: A Paragraph is a collection of thoughts that are connected to each other. All paragraphs should have a topic or thematic connections that all the details in the paragraph relate to. The only possible exception would be the final sentence of the paragraph that connects to the paragraph but also transitions you to the next paragraph. The order of your paragraphs should make sense. Think about what you want to say first, second, third, last, etc. Try to find an organizational pattern that makes sense- do you discuss the details first and then give a "big picture" analysis? Do you focus on Plot first so that your readers understand the story and then move on to Theme? Do you go chronologically? Spatially (inside to outside, clockwise, etc.)? Within a paragraph, you need to move from idea to idea smoothly. Most of the time this means going from a General Idea into more specific layers of detail, starting big and getting small. Sometimes, it can be useful to go the other way, focusing on a small detail and connecting it to a larger picture. But you need to follow a smooth path from one point to the next. Likewise, your focus should always stay on the subject of your paper or paragraph. This is the "Agent" of your sentences- what the focus is on. In a paragraph about Marquez's use of Imagery, the subject of your sentences should be Marquez, or an Image in the story- even if you want to talk about Eva, rewrite the sentence so that the Image is the subject to keep on focus: A. Throughout the story, Marquez assails the reader with hallucinatory images of decay and disease brought on by Eva's insomnia. She imagines "insects" and "microbes" crawling through her blood. <Focus on Eva> B. Throughout the story, Marquez assails the reader with hallucinatory images of decay and disease brought on by Eva's insomnia. He

populates the story with "insects" and "microbes" crawling through Eva's blood. <Focus on Marquez> C. Throughout the story, Hallucinatory images brought on by Eva's insomnia assail the reader. "Insects" and "microbes" crawl through her blood. <Focus on Imagery> Notice how each sentence above is about the same thing, but the change in Agents (subjects) changes the focus. By controlling your Agents, you can focus a paper or paragraph more directly on what you want to talk about. You can transition smoothly by using the following devices to move from Agent to Agent: Pronouns.: John ran down the street. He couldn't afford to get caught. Synecdoche (a part, piece, or belonging of the Agent is the subject of the next sentence): Joe ran down the street. His gun thumping on his leg. Agent>Action (the action taken in one sentence becomes the Agent in the next sentence): Joe ran down the street as fast as he could. The pace was killing him. Agent>Object (the predicate in the first sentence becomes the focus in the second): Joe ran down the street. Central Avenue seemed longer than usual. Inverse Synecdoche (the Agent in sentence 1 is linked to sentence 2 by being part of something much larger): Joe ran down the street. The whole of humanity seemed to crowd in front of him. Standard Transition (a conjunction or transition phrase is used): Joe ran down the street. Bob, however, cut through the alley. (the however here serves not only to note that Bob did something different, but also to transition the reader from one Agent to the next by showing a relationship between the two sentences: in this case, contrast) In all cases, smooth transitions between Agents help guide the reader from idea to idea, the more each sentence is related the smoother the shift. Remember, though, that maintaining Agents is not the same as starting each sentence the same. Varying sentence opening keeps the reader stimulated and paying attention.: Joe ran down the street as fast as he could. Jumping over the barricade, he made his way to the construction site.

5. Active verbs Agents take actions. Joe runs, Bob cuts. These are active verbs and add meaning to your sentences. Passive verbs are necessary at times (verbs like is, was, were, have, has, had, be, etc.) but think about this: In English there are only 2 components necessary to make a sentence: A subject (noun or pronoun) and a verb. That's it! Joe ran. Complete sentence. This makes verbs at least as important as subjects, so they should MEAN something. Try to write sentences so that your Agent is doing something! Example: Joe is a secret agent for the CIA. (is, blah) Joe undertakes deadly missions for the CIA. (undertakes, good especially since it and deadly remind us of undertakers!) Combine all of these to create dynamic, well organized paragraphs that read smoothly!