Change the Order of Sentence Structure for Effect

Writing can be boring if sentences always begin with a noun or a pronoun.

 

Oliver looked around. He ran frantically over the bridge. He was muttering under his breath.

 

 

There are many ways of varying the structure of sentences to make them more interesting.

 

Short sentences can be combined in different ways.

 

Oliver looked around, then ran frantically over the bridge, muttering under his breath.

Having looked around, Oliver ran frantically over the bridge, muttering under his breath.

Oliver looked around. Muttering under his breath, he ran frantically over the bridge.

 

 

The word order within a sentence can be changed.

In this example, the adverb has been moved to the beginning.

An adverb is a word that describes a verb. They usually end in -ly.

Frantically, he ran over the bridge, muttering under his breath.

 

This time, the preposition has been moved to the beginning.

Preposition are words such as at, for, in, off, on, over and under. They describe a location, time or place.

Over the bridge he ran, muttering under his breath.

In this example, the adverb has been left out.

 

 

In the sentence below, the subordinate clause has been moved to the beginning of the sentence.

A subordinate clause is the part of a sentence that is dependent on another clause to make sense, it can't stand alone.

Even though her hay-fever was bad, Maya sat patiently in the park.

 

In this activity, you will look at the different ways you can vary your sentence structure to make your writing more interesting. 

 

 

Ready? Let's get started!