Writing to Facilitate Reading
By George Gopen
Supplying full grammatical closure to main clauses makes a significant difference in reader comprehension.
This Article From Issue
January-February 2023
Volume 111, Number 1
Page 28
In the past decade, I have examined the writing of several thousand scientists. So far, none have been free of a malady that I call the main clause first problem.
QUICK TAKE
- Scientist writers need to understand the parts of a sentence and how they cue the reader to make decisions about what words or ideas are the most important.
- Pairing the correct parts of a sentence, called units of discourse, with the appropriate punctuation, will give readers clear and nonconflicting instructions on what to stress.
- Writing with attention to these sentence elements can both clarify the writer’s intentions and reduce the amount of effort required from readers.
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