Writing beautiful sentences is not an exact science. Although there are basic rules of grammar, good writers find ways to express themselves through writing in different ways: using different vocabulary, varying the length of sentences, using different sentence types, and more!
As you know, grammatically, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. However, stylistically, it needs much more:
Famous Sentences
The sentences below are some of the most famous in English language literature (although some are translated from their original languages).
As you read each sentence, ask yourself what the writer was trying to accomplish. Also think about the choice of vocabulary, the message, and any other thing that appeals to you.
After you've read them all, choose your favorite and discuss what makes it a good sentence, in your opinion. Post your response in the comment section; respond to at least two of your classmates' choices.
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. — Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
"Call me Ishmael." — Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell
"Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu." —Waiting, by Ha Jin
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." — A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
"All this happened, more or less." —Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." —100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead." —The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
"124 was spiteful." --Beloved, by Toni Morrison
"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." —The Gunslinger, by Stephen King
"It was a pleasure to burn." —Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
"I am an invisible man." —Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." —The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
As you know, grammatically, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. However, stylistically, it needs much more:
- clarity: a sentence should be clear to the reader
- well-chosen vocabulary: choose words whose meaning you are sure of, and use them correctly
- strong verbs: when possible, use verbs that show the action of the sentence. The verb 'be' (in all its forms -- is, are, was, were, etc.) is a weaker choice of verb in many cases. Try to find a verb that shows the action.
- proper length: if your sentence expresses a simple idea, it probably needs to be a short sentence. More complex ideas may need longer sentences. Vary your sentence lengths as well. If all your sentences are short, your writing sounds "choppy." If all your sentences are long, your writing can be overly complicated and hard to understand.
- limited number of clauses and prepositions: the more clauses and prepositions you have in a sentence, the harder it can be to understand. Think about how many clauses you have included in a single sentence.
- subject-verb agreement: be sure you can identify the subject of your sentence, then make sure the verb agrees with it in number. For example:
The cup is full of coffee.
The cups are full of coffee.
- correct verb tense: if you are speaking of things in the past, use past tense verbs. This may seem obvious, but it can be a difficult aspect of English.
Famous Sentences
The sentences below are some of the most famous in English language literature (although some are translated from their original languages).
As you read each sentence, ask yourself what the writer was trying to accomplish. Also think about the choice of vocabulary, the message, and any other thing that appeals to you.
After you've read them all, choose your favorite and discuss what makes it a good sentence, in your opinion. Post your response in the comment section; respond to at least two of your classmates' choices.
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. — Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
"Call me Ishmael." — Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell
"Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu." —Waiting, by Ha Jin
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." — A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
"All this happened, more or less." —Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." —100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead." —The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
"124 was spiteful." --Beloved, by Toni Morrison
"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." —The Gunslinger, by Stephen King
"It was a pleasure to burn." —Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
"I am an invisible man." —Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." —The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
