Improving Sentence Structures
for Academic Writing
UAB
UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER
Basic Features of Strong Sentence Structures
 Clarity – the meaning of the sentence is clear, not
ambiguous
 Concise – each word in the sentence has purpose
and power; no unnecessary words
 Coherent – each sentence is clearly connected
within its phrase, sentence, and paragraph
 Emphasis – each word is situated within the
sentence in a way that clearly indicates its degree of
emphasis in the sentence
Academic Sentence Structures
 Use few prepositional phrases
 Use few relative pronouns (who, whom, whose,
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

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which, that)
Focus on Action; use of passive voice is selective
Use positive structures, instead of negative ones
Employ parallel structures for related ideas
Often employ very straightforward Subject/Verb
syntax
Rarely, if ever, use fragments
Reduce prepositional phrases
 Due to the subject matter of the lengthy report on
biofuels by James Randolph written in 2009 in a
journal about environmental issues, the study on the
local attempts to improve the industry of agriculture
was delayed even more. (9 prepositional phrases)
 James Randolph’s groundbreaking biofuel report
(2009) prompted us to delay our local agricultural
study. (0 prepositional phrases!)
Reduce the number of relative pronouns
 Studies that are focused on individuals who often
use the internet for recreation have revealed an
increase in the use of social networking sites which
has reduced productivity at work.
 Studies on recreational internet use reveal a
corresponding increase in social networking and a
decrease in work-related productivity.
Active vs. Passive Voice
 Passive voice is appropriate…
 When the focus is intentionally on the object of the action, not
the agent of the action
 For surveys, experiments, studies, and other objective
scientific writing
 Active voice is preferred because…
 Active voice verbs are stronger than weak, linking/being verbs
 Puts the agent of the action in the strong subject position of
the sentence
 Active verbs are usually more powerful and engaging that
passive verbs
Using Positive Sentence Structures
 Positive sentence structures are usually clearer and
less wordy than those written with negative
structures.
 Ex. (negative) The studies were not lacking in
relevancy; rather, they were not recent enough to
sustain my biofuels proposal.(18 wds)
 Ex. (positive) Although the studies had some
relevancy, they were conducted five years before
biofuels were developed. (15 wds)
Employ Parallel Structures
 Parallelism: Related ideas or ideas joined in a list
should be presented in the same grammatical
structure (i.e. nouns, phrases, clauses)
 Not parallel: The study participants were asked
about how much weight they had gained recently,
exercising habits, current health status and history,
and if they had seen a medical doctor recently.
 Parallel: The study participants were questioned
about current weight fluctuations, exercise habits,
health status, health history, and recent doctor visits.
Discipline-specific Syntax
 Read and observe the common syntax (word order)
style of discipline-specific writing: journal articles,
abstracts, reports, etc.
 Scientific writing is often very straightforward:
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subject – verb – object.
Ex. We tested the participants for….
 Or passive: Object – passive voice – description
 Ex. The study was conducted in order to determine….
Learn the discourse of your writing community
 Each community of writers/scholars has a unique
discourse or way of communicating.
 Like learning a new language, one must “immerse”
one’s self in that discourse to become “fluent” in it.
 Start by reading articles in the peer-reviewed
journals of that discipline/community
 Beyond the discipline-specific terminology , note the
length and style of sentences, the frequency of
phrasing, and the common forms of expressing
concepts important to that community.