At the end of every sentence, we have to know what happened, whose story it has been, how the sentence connects backward and forward to its neighbors, and which of its words are the most important — the starts of the show.

#readerexpectationapproach #readersmind

Rhetoric and real estate have this in common: the three most important things are location, location, and location.

#readerexpectationapproach #stressposition

A piece of writing is in the business of delivery. If it successfully transfers to the reader's mind the thoughts that were in the writer's mind, it is good writing. Quality is to be judged by the success of the attempted delivery.

#betterwriting #readerexpectationapproach

For writers, the primary unit of discourse is the sentence; for readers, the primary unit of discourse is the paragraph.

#readersandwriters #thinkingaboutwriting #readerexpectationapproach

No matter what you are writing, most of your energy, at any given moment, is devoted to the construction of a single sentence.
#thinkingaboutwriting #professionalwriting #readerexpectationapproach

Readers appreciate a writer making a paragraph's point explicitly, in a single sentence, and located near the beginning or end.
#paragraphstructure #ProfessionalWriting #readerexpectationapproach

"Topic sentence"? A paragraph's first sentence cannot always inform readers what to expect from the paragraph as a whole.

#readerexpectationapproach #greatexpectations #betterwriting #professionalwriting #learnenglish

The last sentence of a paragraph can on occasion be used effectively to say something witty, ironic, or even contradictory.

#readerexpectationapproach #paragraphstructure #scientificwriting #legalwriting #professionalwriting #writinghumor

Each sentence in a paragraph will be understood not by itself, but only in the context made for it by the sentence before it.

#readerexpectationapproach #paragraphstructure #scientificwriting #legalwriting #professionalwriting

For readers, a paragraph is not experienced as a series of separate sentences. Each sentence must flow into the next.

#readerexpectationapproach #paragraphstructure #scientificwriting #legalwriting #professionalwriting

Paragraphs have significant beginnings, middles, and ends, but no single, set structure that must be constantly reproduced.

#readerexpectationapproach #paragraphstructure #scientificwriting #legalwriting #professionalwriting

The 5-sentence paragraph taught in school — topic sentence, body, conclusion — rarely exists in professional prose. Forget it.

#professionalwriting #scientificwriting #legalwriting #readerexpectationapproach #paragraphstructure

Whenever an "and" connects two main clauses, it fails to tell a reader how to connect those clauses. Best avoid this structure.

#readerexpectationapproach #betterwriting #professionalwriting #legalwriting #scientificwriting #mainclause

The information in a mere phrase is considered by readers to be less important than the information in a dependent clause.

#readerexpectationapproach #betterwriting #professionalwriting #legalwriting #scientificwriting

The information in a dependent clause is considered by the readers to be less important than the information in the main clause.

#readerexpectationapproach #legalwriting #professionalwriting #scientificwriting

Readers think a main clause — a clause that can stand by itself in a sentence — will contain the writer's main thought.

#readerexpectationapproach #learnenglish #professionalwriting #scientifficwriting #legalwriting

A 130-word sentence can ring clear as a bell; and a 13-word sentence can be hopelessly opaque. The numbers don't matter.
#readerexpectationapproach #ClearWriting #SentenceStructure #ProfessionalWriting #GrantWriting

The number of words in a sentence, taken by itself, is no indication of the sentence's quality.

#ReaderExpectationApproach #ClearWriting #ProfessionalWriting #ScientificWriting #LeagalWritng

Two double-dashes that surround an interruptive comment in a sentence instruct the reader to - "Raise the Voice" - within.

#betterwriting #sentencestructure #learnenglish #readerexpectationapproach #punctuation

Parentheses that surround an interruptive comment in a sentence instruct the reader to ("lower the voice") within.

#BetterWriting #SentenceStructure #LearnEnglish #ReaderExpectationApproach

The semicolon as death: What comes before stands alone as a unit, as does what follows; but together the two make a whole.

#readerexpectationapproach #lifeanddeath #mainclause #semicolon #learnenglish #clearwriting

Since a properly used semicolon produces a Stress position mid-sentence, it should be preceded by a full main clause.

#readerexpectationapproach #maneandclaws #stressposition #clearwriting #learnenglish

If a list is light-weight enough to be read swiftly, it should be introduced by a double-dash and divided by commas.

#makinalist #readerexpectationapproach #clearwriting #englishlanguage

If a list is heavy-weight enough that each item requires emphasis, it should be introduced by a colon and divided by semi-colons.
#readerexpectationapproach #englishwriting #scentificwriting

A colon promises: The preceding clause will either be restated in different terms or be supported by a list of examples. #readerexpectationapproach #EnglishGrammar #betterwriting #promise

By 2035, you will be able to split any infinitive you like. All the people who were trained o care will no longer be in power.

#readerexpectationapproach #revolution #powershift #englishwriting #futureleaders

Like many grammar rules, the split infinitive rule stemmed from our veneration of Latin , where the infinitive is unsplittable.
#readerexpectationapproach #englishgrammar #learnenglish #latininfluence

Feel free to boldly split your infinitive when writing for people that don't care about the split infinitive. Otherwise, don't.
#readerexpectationapproach #splitinfinitive #learnenglish #sentencestructure #englishgrammar

Feel confident in locating short, easily read information between a subject and its verb if you want a reader not to emphasize it.
#readerexpectationapproach #subjectverb #sentencestructure #stressposition #learnenglish

‪Anything that intervenes between a subject and its verb is read by a reader as being less important — merely interruptive.

#readerexpectationapproach #legalwriting #subjectverbagreement
#ClarityInWriting #betterwriting #writingmistakes