Effective Use of Sentence Length

The issue of sentence length leaves many writers scratching their heads. Short, long, medium length sentences - which are better? Does it make a difference? Why should we pay attention to sentence length anyway?

For one, it adds as much meaning to a text as the words you choose. Sentence length conveys a specific mood and rhythm and matches the actions being described. For example, if you were writing a tense car race, shorter sentences may help heighten the suspense of the scene. On the other hand, longer sentences may work better when writing about complex philosophical abstractions.

Let’s look at a couple examples.

“As the number one car slammed its brakes around the turn, my foot hit the gas, and I swung around him, crossing the finish line and winning the race.”

It’s not bad, but let’s see what happens when we break it up into several sentences.

“The number one car slammed its brakes around the turn. My foot hit the gas, and I swung around him. I crossed the finish line, winning the race.”

We find that shorter sentences help tighten the action, accentuating the descriptions of “slamming the brakes,” “hitting the gas” and “crossing the finish line.”

Other texts may demand longer sentences:

“Descartes stated that the mind is mental. The body is physical. Mind and body are, therefore, not identical. This is the mind-body problem.

Philosophical problems are often complex and may work better with longer sentences and more description:

“Descartes stated that since the mind is mental and the body physical, the two cannot be identical. This dilemma is known as the mind-body problem.”

See how much clearer this version reads? The longer sentence length creates a nice, flowing structure that leads logically from one idea to the next.

Let’s look at more examples in which short and long sentences can be problematic, followed by some strategies for correcting them.

Short Sentences

Short sentences are useful for supplying small bits of information. They cut to the chase and emphasize one, maybe two, points. But, their stop-and-start rhythms can make them difficult to read:

“Short sentences are hard to read. They stop and start. What happens when you read them? You feel like you’re stuttering. They break up the thought process. Sometimes they’re useful. Other times they’re not. They’re frustrating. Right?”

How do we stretch out these short sentences so they’re not so clunky? Try lengthening them with conjunctions, which are words that join two sentences, or independent clauses, together.

Specifically, let’s look at coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions include words like and, but, or, nor, for, yet and so. Common subordinating conjunctions include although, because, once, unless, wherever and many, many more. Read a complete list of them here.

Let’s rework our short-sentence paragraph:

“Short sentences are hard to read because they stop and start, making you feel like you’re stuttering. Although they’re useful for breaking up the thought process, they can be quite frustrating to read. What do you think?”

See how conjunctions create a simple chain of ideas to help round out the sentences’ rhythms? Try using them the next time you find yourself writing sentences that are too short or do not reflect the proper mood.

Long Sentences

Long sentences provide more detail and information than shorter sentences and are used to investigate in-depth ideas. However, they, too, can be problematic, for repeated use of long sentences can bore the reader. They may also become difficult to read, since the reader must hold several ideas in his or her head at once.

Let’s look at an example of a long, somewhat complicated sentence:

“Although I prefer to write long sentences, they are also problematic, as they quickly become boring and long-winded; in turn, their inherent difficulty can disengage the reader, causing him or her to stop reading.”

It’s not a completely terrible sentence, but it is long, complex and may be more effective if we break it up into several sentences:

“Although I prefer to write long sentences, they quickly become boring and long-winded. They’re also difficult to read and may cause the reader to stop reading.”

See how our points become sharper? Instead of five or six ideas, each sentence contains two, making them easily digestible.

How Can PaperRater Help You With Your Sentence Length?

Check out PaperRater’s FREE sentence length module (part of its online proofreader and grammar correction) to help keep your sentence length within an acceptable range. 

By analyzing the amount of short and long sentences in your document, we’ll show you where you might need improvement on lengthening or cutting down your work. Instantly improve your writing by combining our sentence length tool with our spelling, grammar, transitional phrases module and more!