All Questions
Tagged with style sentence-structure
16 questions
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Drafts and Sentence Complexity
Some writing has complex sentence structure. Many times, this is because its authors derived it from drafts that had complex sentence structure already. But I read that writers can combine simpler ...
user25421
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A Question on 'Topical Progression': How to Address Internal Inconsistencies in the Framework
(This question has been moved from English Language Stack Exchange on account of relevancy.)
In my mission to improve my writing, I have come across a concept called 'topical progression' (discussed ...
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Spacing around (and types of) dashes in American English
I'm not a native English speaker, and the way American English texts typically use em-dashes without spaces to separate sentence parts seems very strange and even disruptive for me. For example:
&...
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How do I make my writing flow?
I'm in the skeleton stage, but to get into the rhythm of writing, I write short stories every few days. Upon reviewing them, I've realised that unless I am specifically aiming for abstract and vivid ...
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"morally dialectical" is this phrase usable?
I'm wondering if this phrase can be used to characterize two characters, one who is morally good and one who is bad. Specifically I am trying to say that "I want to examine character A and ...
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Must every sentence be 25 words or less?
Many books that are read today frequently use long sentences, far surpassing the 25 word limit. There is pleasure in reading such sentences, and there is pleasure in comprehending them. But oftentimes ...
user25421
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How to remove filter words from dialogue actions in first POV
While editing my story's first draft, I read a blog about filtering words. When it came to editing, I realised it's not that easy to remove those words when you are editing an action after a dialogue, ...
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Hyphen, Comma or Brackets? What should I use?
Which would be the proper style for a scientific publication:
It is required that a, b, and, depending on a and b, c is given.
It is required that a, b, and - depending on a and b - c is given.
It ...
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Looking For a Simile For Something That Follows You Around [closed]
I'm writing a blog post about the impacts of an autoimmune disease. The sentence I'm trying to construct looks like this:
"The disease importunately follows me around like a god damn..."
I'm ...
3
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2
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Sentence Variety
Writers always talk about the importance of sentence variety in writing, but they never say which sentence type one should use for a specific scenario. So when do I use simple, complex, compound, and ...
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When should you use extra long sentences, never?
I often see world-renowned thinkers and writers, such as Nietszche and Herman Melville, write extremely long sentences. When I was in high school, people said sentences should be as short as possible, ...
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Is sentence in English with long subject bad?
I heard from someone that in English, sentences with a long subject are considered confusing and hard to read. Is it true?
An example for such a sentence:
...(Some statements about how ...
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Which authors' style would be more appropriate for me to write in? [closed]
When I study the style of Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and other authors, I find that they use very simple language and simple words. But when I look at present day authors, such as Stephenie ...
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What is the rule for commas?
How many commas is too many commas?
For example:
By looking at our data we can see a clear pattern, or trend, in our data that, as the steepness of the inclined plane increases, the effort force ...
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How do you use adverbs properly in fiction writing?
How do you use adverbs properly in fiction writing?
In a related question, a reply states:
When to use [adverbs]? When your alternative would be pretentious. There are strong nouns and verbs, that ...
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Very long sentences: personal style or just bad writing?
I'm writing a story targeted towards children in which the protagonist is a young girl. I find that in writing her dialog and the narrative, I'm producing a lot of very long sentences, to the point ...
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