Module 2: Section 3

Organizing Sentences, Paragraphs and Essays

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A good writer can make any type of story interesting, from a lengthy essay to the shortest sentence! It might seem like our favorite authors pull together novels and stories with very little work, but in reality, most writing undergoes many revisions before it’s published! Let’s take a look at how you can organize your writing to make it clearer and add variety!

Part I: Writing Clear Sentences
The most basic way to organize words into complete ideas is in sentences. Complete, clear sentences produce complete, clear ideas. Likewise, faulty communication occurs with faulty sentence construction. How does lack of punctuation affect the meaning of the following sentences?

  • woman without her man is nothing
  • don't stop
  • that's my car which is the one you want
  • they saw the wild flowers climbing up the hill
  • that's my dog bowser he's a gorgeous guy

Now, see how the meaning of the sentences changes with punctuation and a little editing:

  • Woman: without her, man is nothing.
  • Woman without her man is nothing.
  • Don’t! Stop!
  • That’s my car. Which is the one you want?
  • That’s my car, which is the one you want.
  • They saw the wild flowers while climbing up the hill.
  • That’s my dog, Bowser! He’s a gorgeous guy.

tv View the Sentence Ambiguity tutorial.

A writer will be much more successful organizing sentences if he/she understands the various purposes for which sentences are used. Each type of sentence has distinguishing features.

Part II: Sentence Purpose and Structure

tv View the Sentence Purposes tutorial.

You just saw how we can classify sentences according to their purposes. We can also classify sentences according to their basic structures. Let's learn about the 4 basic structural patterns of sentences.

tv View the Sentence Structure tutorial.

Part III: Adding Variety and Interest with Prepositional Phrases
Another good way to enhance sentences is to add prepositional phrases. These can contribute a great deal of information to your writing. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. A preposition relates that noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence. Using prepositional phrases generously will help you to develop detail in your writing.

tv View the Prepositional Phrases tutorial to learn more about prepositions.