The Well-Crafted Sentence: A Writer's Guide to Style Book

Preface for Instructors

Introduction for Students

1. The Sentence’s Working Parts

Clause Structure

Transformations within the Clause

Adding to the Clause

Modifiers

Linking Independent Clauses

Dependent Clauses

Adverb Clauses

Adjective Clauses

Noun Clauses

2. Well-Focused Sentences: The Subject-Verb Pair

Populated Prose

Active Voice and Passive Voice

Variation in Sentence Focus

Sharpening the Focus

Double-check Sentences with Abstract Subjects

Double-check Sentences with "There" in the Subject Position

Keep Subject Phrases Short

Uncover Subjects Buried in Introductory Phrases

Transform Nouns to Verbs

3. Well-Balanced Sentences: Coordination and Parallel Structure

Coordination

Parallel Structure

Correlative Conjunctions

Variation in Coordinate Series

Length

Repetition

4. Well-Developed Sentences: Modification

Early Modifiers and the Pleasures of the Periodic Sentence

End Modifiers and the Pleasures of the Cumulative Sentence

5. Modifiers Following the Noun: Adjective Clauses and Adjective Phrases

The Structure of Adjective Clauses

Choices in Crafting Adjective Clauses

Who or Whom?

Should an Adjective Clause Be Set Off with Punctuation?

Which or That – or Not?

Reducing Adjective Clauses

Adjective Phrases

6. Modifiers Built from Verbs: Verbal Phrases

Functions of Verbal Phrases

Managing Emphasis with Verbal Phrases

Reducing Clauses to Create Verbal Phrases

Dangling Modifiers

7. Noun Phrases Working as Modifiers: Appositives and Absolutes

Noun Phrases in Apposition

Identifying People

Defining Terms

Filling in Examples or Explanations

Renaming with a Twist

Other Structures in Apposition

Absolute Phrases

8. Special Effects: Expectations and Exceptions

Focus on the Subject

Completeness and Explicitness

Sentence Variety

Model Texts

Louise Erdrich, Shamengwa

Henry Louis Gates, Sin Boldly

Henry Louis Gates, The Two Nations of Black America

Tim O’Brien, On the Rainy River

Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice

Oliver Sacks, selection from The Case of the Colorblind Painter

Oliver Sacks, Housecalls

David Sedaris, Genetic Engineering

Jane Smiley, Say it Ain’t So, Huck

Andrew Sullivan, State of the Union

Amy Tan, Mother Tongue

Amy Tan, My Grandmother’s Choice

Glossary of Terms

Sample Responses to Exercises

Index