Make Your Writing
More Interesting!
Varying sentence
structures
Vary your Sentence
Openings
• If you start too many sentences with the
same word, especially ‘The’, ‘It’, ‘This’, or
‘I’, guess what will happen?
• It was such a coincidence to
meet Molly at the cinema.
How about these:
• When I sat down at the cinema, I realised that,
coincidentally, I was sitting next to Molly.
• Molly and I, without any advance planning, ended up
sitting next to each other at the cinema.
• Unbelievable, I know, but Molly and I ended up sitting
right next to each other at the cinema.
• At the crowded cinema, packed with 300 people, Molly
and I ended up, by sheer coincidence, sitting right next
to each other.
• I have known many coincidences in my life, but none
more surprising than finding myself sitting next to
Molly at the cinema.
• How extraordinary it was to find that I was sitting
right next to Molly at the cinema!
Sentences with the same
rhythm and length can be
very monotonous…
• We went to Chester Zoo. We went to look at
the bats. It was dark in the Bat Cave. The
bats were beautiful. Some bats were flying
around our heads. Some bats were sleeping
upside down. Bethany was scared at first.
Later, she bought a cuddly bat.
Use connectives
• If your sentences are short and the
rhythm does not work, try joining
sentences, clauses and phrases with
connectives:
• and, but, so, or, for, yet, however, in spite of,
etc…..
• Add imagery (similes, metaphors),
adjectives, adverbs, adventurous
vocabulary…
Use short and long
sentences.
• Class Six visited Chester Zoo last summer to
look at the bats. In the darkness of the Bat Cave
they met a variety of beautiful nocturnal
creatures, some fluttering soundlessly around
their ears and others resting upside-down in the
darkest corners. Bethany had been worried, but,
after learning more and seeing the bats in their
home, she became very fond of them. She later
left the zoo clutching a cuddly toy bat.
Use different types of
sentence.
• Simple sentences:
• Alex enjoyed going to
the show with you.
• Henry VIII is famous
for having had six
wives.
• Compound
sentences:
• Henry VIII is famous
for having had six
wives and for having
two of them beheaded.
Complex Sentences
• In his quest for an heir to the throne,
Henry VIII married six different
women, two of whom he divorced, two
he had beheaded, one died and one
survived.
Add an extra clause to
give more information
• Jenny finally made it to the party.
• Jenny, who had spent forty-five minutes waiting for a
taxi, finally made it to the party.
• Six children took part in the dance.
• Six children, each wearing a mask of their own design,
took part in the dance.
• Drop in your extra clause between two
commas- make a ‘comma sandwich’
Recap:
• Vary sentence openings
• Join short sentences, phrases and clauses
with connectives
• Use sentences of different lengths
• Mix different types of sentence- simple,
compound and complex
• Add a clause- make a ‘comma sandwich’