Tom’s eight favorite sentence structures

When I read an article or a book, I pay attention to not just the content but also the writing. If I like something a lot – a useful verb, a powerful sentence structure, a strategy for opening the story – I write it down or make a note. Later – sometimes months later – when I find a need, I pull out that verb or sentence structure and insert it into my own writing. 

That’s how I learned #3 on my list of eight favorite sentence structures (‘Nothing beats…’). In the middle of writing my dissertation, I saw it used to great effect in several New York Times articles and academic articles as well. I decided it could help add some juice to my own writing. I tried it and liked it. Now it’s a regular part of my writing toolbox.  

I did the same with #6 on the list (‘Super short’ sentences). Not so long ago, I saw it used somewhere very effectively, then I tried it myself. The first few tries didn’t actually work well, but then I got it. 

The eight sentence structures in this article are easy to learn and easy to use. They are effective. I give several examples of each type, usually sentences by Nepali authors.

To learn any of the sentence types on the list that you don’t already use regularly, make a special effort to do so. Here is what I suggest: go line-by-line through a draft you are working on. See if you can use one of the eight favorites in each paragraph. In the draft, try to use all eight sentence types at least once, if possible, without forcing it. 

Also, pay attention when other people use them.

I hope you’ll note the learning philosophy here. Sometimes we learn new writing strategies without giving them much thought, just by reading a lot and writing a lot. But we also learn when we intentionally study what makes good writing good. If you see something you find effective, write it down and when the moment seems right, try to work it into your own writing.

(For more on these 8 sentence types, see the Mitho Lekhai Youtube Video 8 Favorite Sentences. For more tips on sentences, see last week’s Writing Journey – Superduper Handydandy Easypeasy Sentences. For suggestions about essays, see Excellent Essays and Outstanding Op-eds.)
 

1.‘not only’ 

A “not only” sentence is not only an easy way to add a little variety to your sentences but also an effective way to add emphasis. Often, it’s a way to replace bland, weak ‘and’ clauses.

Example:

The program built not only dams but also roads.

Compare these sentences: 

#1. B. T. Washington articulated a unique philosophy of education: he emphasized practical life and work, and classical teaching and learning.

#2.  B. T. Washington articulated a unique philosophy of education: he emphasized not just practical life and work, but also classical teaching and learning.

More examples:

The Kathmandu Post on diseases:

“The diseases not just affect the elderly, but even the productive age groups.”
Other Hazards Loom, The Kathmandu Post, July 8, 2021.

2.Weak ‘and’ sentences

‘And’ sentences are often loose and unclear. They don’t tell you how the two parts of a sentence are actually related. I try to replace ‘and’ with a conjunction such as ‘because’ or ‘although’.

(For more explanation and examples, see Superduper Handydandy Easypeasy Sentences.)

Compare these sentences: 

#1.  Bill Clinton graduated from Yale Law School and then he went to England for more study.

#2. After graduating from Yale Law School, Bill Clinton went to England for more study.

#1.  They were hungry and tired and they returned to the cave and started preparing dinner.

#2.  Hungry and tired, they returned to the cave to prepare dinner. (Source: Kishor Maharjan, ‘Carrying on the hunting legacy in Nepal’, Nepali Times, October 3, 2020.)

3.‘Nothing beats…’ 

This is probably the most useful of all the sentence types on this list. (What I really mean to say is, nothing on this list beats #3). It’s strong. It’s useful. You can even use this kind of sentence to set up an entire section (see Prashanta Khanal’s quotation below) or an entire essay (see the Washington Post example). Once you learn this sentence type, you will start seeing it everywhere. 

Examples:

No place showed this better than…..

No one did more to …. than….

Few people did this better than….

Few issues today excite more passion or alarm than the specter of climate change.

Nothing showed this … more clearly than…

More examples:

Nepali Times on Covid-19:

“As the government lurches rudderless from one failure to another — nowhere does SARS-CoV-2 have such fertile ground to spread as in Nepal.” 

‘No Vax? Ask for Mask’, Nepali Times, July 1, 2021.

KP Malla on Kathmandu:

“Nobody dies of the sunstroke and no human habitations are washed away by ferocious rivers.”

Kamal P. Malla, ‘Kathmandu, Your Kathmandu’, The Rising Nepal, November 28-29, 1967.

Prashanta Khanal on Jane Jacobs:

“When we think about how we want our city to be, about how to balance competing priorities, perhaps no one comes to mind more often than the American urban thinker Jane Jacobs. Jacobs’s 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, changed how we see cities and how we build them.”

Prashanta Khanal, ‘Rethinking Kathmandu’, The Record, June 19, 2020.

The Washington Post on Donald Rumsfeld:

“No one played the Washington game of ambition and power for its own sake better than Donald H. Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary who died on June 29 after a long life of brilliant bureaucratic infighting. He was perhaps the boldest and most lethal Washington knife-fighter of his era.”

Note: the author starts the article with this sentence. Many paragraphs later, he ends the essay with a similar sentence, mirroring this first one. It’s extremely effective. Check it out: David von Drehle, ‘Rumsfeld seized the wheel of power — and steered us terribly into war’, Washington Post, July 3, 2021.

4.Split quotations for emphasis 

Quotations generally need an introduction. Readers need to know who said it and often when or in what context. Usually the introduction comes before or after the quotation. But for a little extra drama, you can interrupt a quotation by putting the introduction in the middle. Use this method every now and then, don’t overdo it. 

Regular quotation:  President Kennedy stressed, “Aviation was crucial.”

Split quotation: “Aviation,” President Kennedy stressed, “was crucial.”

Examples:

Shikhar Sharma on Dalits and disasters:

“‘Dalits are frequently the worst affected in disasters,’ says a 2013 International Dalit Solidarity Network report. ‘They are often systematically excluded from relief and recovery efforts.’” 

Shikhar Sharma, Dalits, disasters and discrimination, Nepali Times, June 17, 2021.

Margaret Mead on education:

“Children,” the celebrated anthropologist Margaret Mead once emphasized, “must be taught how to think, not what to think.” 

Robertson, ‘What to teach our students’, Republica, February 24, 2020.

Roger Lewin on critical thinking:

“Too often,” the author Roger Lewin once noted, “we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.” 

Robertson, ‘What to teach our students’, Republica, February 24, 2020.

5.Colons 

IMHO, semicolons are way overused (and often misused). But colons are way underused. I love them: they are concise, easy, and powerful. 

Here is the rule on colons, from the Purdue Owl, my favorite online writing/grammar webpage:

Colons (:) are used at the beginning of lists of several or more items, or as a substitute for “it is, “they are,” or similar expressions. (From Purdue Owl, Purdue University Writing Lab)

Examples:

Kanak Mani Dixit on the Koshi Dam:

“When the Kosi river floods in Bihar each year, Indian politicians and policy makers always have the same prescription: a high dam upstream in Nepal.”

Kanak Mani Dixit, ‘In flood-prone Kosi basin, planners must ignore ineffective high dams and seek sustainable solutions’, Scroll, October 29, 2020.

Seira Tamang on hierarchy:

“Nepali women are entangled in so many hierarchies: caste, class, ethnicity, language, religion, age.”

Seira Tamang, ‘Resist Hierarchy, ‘Ladies’,’ The Record, July 30, 2019

Amish Raj Mulmi on state-citizen relations:

“This political abyss our leaders have thrown us in, where citizens are pretty much left to fend for themselves, has broken that most vital element that is required to govern a state: the social contract between the citizen and the state.” 

Amish Raj Mulmi, ‘Losing trust in the republic’, The Kathmandu Post, May 13, 2021. 

Deepak Shimkhada on why scholars ignore Nepal's religious sites:

“Nepal has not received as much attention from the Indologists as India has. The reasons are obvious: in Nepal, there are no large temples, save for Pashupatinath, and no major festivals such as the ratha yātrā of Jagannāth in Puri or the Kumbha Melā of Allahabad at Prayag, India.” 

Deepak Shimkhada. ‘Mata Tirtha: a Sacred Geography’. Journal of Dharma Studies 2, no. 1 (2019): 31–39, p 31.

BP Koirala on the dreams of youth:

“She had longed to fulfill the dream of her youth: her own little home, sons and daughters. It had all collapsed like a house of cards. She imitated her comparisons and gazed with joyless eyes down to the plains in the south.”

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Madheshtira [To the lowlands], 1938, translated by Michael Hutt in Himalayan Voices, Indian Edition, 1993, p 205.

Keith Dowman on Kathmandu Valley cities: 

“Three cities dominate valley life: Kathmandu in the west, Patan in the south, and Bhaktapur in the east.”

Kevin Bubriski and Keith Dowman. Power Places of Kathmandu: Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites in the Sacred Valley of Nepal. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions International, 1995.

KP Malla on Kathmandu’s climate:

“The climate of the Valley is nearly perfect: high up from the blazing malarious plains, but fairly below the snow line.”

Kamal P. Malla, ‘Kathmandu, Your Kathmandu’, The Rising Nepal, November 28-29, 1967.

Pradipna Raj Panta on Balkrishna Sama:

“Chiso chulho (The cold oven) bears ample evidence of Sama’s wide range of literary talents: an extraordinary vocabulary, an accomplished sense of imagery, and the ability to both lampoon and philosophize.... The writing was an act of faith, nor a trick of grammar for him. He wrote not for pleasure or profit but out of sheer joy, conscious that his genius was a gift from the divine, to be used in the service of men.”

Pradipna Raj Panta, ‘Sama lives through his dramas, poetry’, The Rising Nepal, February 12, 2021. 

6.‘Super short’ sentences 

Just two-to-four words. It will be dramatic, powerful. Do this only one or two times in a paper or article. Works well anywhere but especially in the first or last sentences of a paragraph!

Examples:

Kunti Adhikary on life in the US:

“When I entered a new land in the summer of 2015, I often found myself asking, “Where in the world am I?” I was 12 time zones away from my home. But time was not the only thing that confused me: Most ordinary daily practices seemed downright irrational. Everything seemed so weird: The students in sleeveless tops and half pants (even on campus!); people’s obsession with icy water, even during the frigid winter; the ridiculous number of national flags almost everywhere; hilarious TV commercials; and the measurement of temperatures in Fahrenheit, distances in miles, and weight in pounds. I felt overwhelmed.”
Kunti Adhikari, ‘Multiple realities’, The Kathmandu Post, February 10, 2018.

The Kathmandu Post on elephants and people:

“Wildlife habitat in Nepal is constantly under threat due to expanding human settlements and deforestation for agriculture and mega infrastructure projects across the country. Habitat loss compounded by fragmentation has not only resulted in a decline in the wildlife population, but it has also increased the rate of human-wildlife conflict, often resulting in death and injury to people. But killing an elephant, or any wildlife for that matter, is not a solution. It’s outrageous because the elephants are not the problem. We are.”
‘Give them space’, The Kathmandu Post, December 17, 2020.

Seira Tamang on gender hierarchy:

“After all, according to the “natural” order of Nepali society, or “Nepali” social norms, it is evident that women address men as “tapai.” They may explain their use of timi to me as indicating “closeness”, but this familiarity is on their terms and preserves their status – they are casual with me, but I must remain “respectful” to them. I’ve not been asked if I feel “closeness.” I feel hierarchy."

Seira Tamang, ‘Resist hierarchy, ‘ladies’,’ The Record, July 30, 2019

7. Numbered lists  

I like numbered lists for three reasons: 1) they are easy to make, 2) they help readers, and 3) they make you sound more organized than you actually are. 

But don’t forget, lists need to be parallel – that is, then need to be consistent. For instance, the three items in my list above all start with “they.” (For more on parallel structure, see Purdue Owl writing webpage, or see Superduper Handydandy Easypeasy Sentences.)

(For how to use numbered lists in a powerpoint presentation, see Mitho Lekhai Pro Presentations. For how to use numbered lists to organize an entire essays. See Sujeev Shakya, ‘Change Begins at Home: The way the government functions is a reflection on Nepali society’, (The Kathmandu Post, August 2020)

Examples:

Seira Tamang on mansplaining:

“I end by sharing two thoughts reached over years of attending seminars, workshops, and conferences. First, I’ve learnt that asking for feedback on a paper if you’re a woman in Nepal, and especially a younger woman, is an exercise undertaken at one's own peril. The audience and other speakers will invariably be dominated by high-caste men, eager to benevolently bequeath their bountiful stores of knowledge regardless of direct relevance or utility. And secondly, I have become increasingly convinced that not only Buddha, but mansplaining, was born in Nepal.” 

Seira Tamang, ‘Resist hierarchy, ‘ladies’,’ The Record, July 30, 2019

8. A list of three or four (or more) things in quick succession

I have a friend who uses lists of four or five things quite often. I write long-winded boring letters. She writes back punchy lists that say far more than what I say and far more engagingly. Give this a try.

Examples:

Hemanta Mishra on tigers:

“Fierce and frightening, beautiful and dignified, brutal and formidable, the tiger has been a symbol of honor, dignity, and righteousness.”

Hemanta Mishra, Bones of the Tiger.

Shradha Ghale on the Nepali countryside:

“They drove past farmland overrun by concrete settlements, farmland crisscrossed by streams and dirt trails, and farmlands dotted with brick kiln towers emitting thick swirls of smoke.” 

Shradha Ghale, The Wayward Daughter, pg. 129.

Kalpana Jha on work disparities:

“The better paying, more skilled, cleaner, more secure jobs have historically been reserved for ethnically privileged Pahadi high-caste workers, leaving the low-paying, insecure, dangerous, seasonal, dead-end jobs for ethnically disadvantaged Dalits, Madhesis, and Janajatis."

Kalpana Jha, ‘Debunking Nepali Marxist feminism’, The Record, October 4, 2020.

Indra Bahadur Rai on a husband’s grief:

“Children who lose a mother cry a lot on the first day, but the husband endures his grief silently; and yet, from the following day onwards, children start to forget, and smile a little more very days, for all of life lies in front of them, whereas the husband who doesn't cry on the day will remember his dead wife that evening at mealtime; he'll remember her when he's about to sleep; he'll wake up in the morning and immediately remember that she's not there; he'll remember her when he leaves the house to go to work; he'll remember her when he comes back home; he will be bewildered throughout the rest of his life. Even when everyone else has managed to forget, he alone won't have forgotten."  

Indra Bahadur Rai, There's a Carnival Today, pg. 121.

Sherry Ortner on Sherpas:

“They are the usually silent partners to the international mountaineers, carrying supplies, establishing routes, fixing ropes, cooking, setting up camps, sometimes saving the climbers' lives, and sometimes themselves dying in the process.” 

Sherry Ortner, Life and Death on Mount Everest, pg. 4.

Lisa Choegyal on Ed Douglas’ Himalaya:

“He effortlessly weaves together the ebb and flow of centuries, unravelling the religious and political alliances, dispelling the myths, and sharing with us gripping tales of resilience, discovery, plunder, oppression and enlightenment on the roof of the world.”

Lisa Choegyal, review of Ed Douglas's Himalaya: A Human History 

Jon Pareles, The New York Times, on the Bee Gees:

“Discovered, embraced, disbanded, reunited, ignored, reinvented, hailed, scorned, disguised, recognized — the Bee Gees’ long career was filled with improbable ups and downs.”

Jon Pareles, ‘How the Bee Gees stayed alive’, New York Times, December 14, 2020