Enhance Your Writing with Twelve Dynamic Declarative Sentence Patterns

Twelve Declarative Sentence Patterns to Add Variety to Your Writing: 

1.     Begin with a gerund or -ING form of the verb. Example: Standing by the roadside, dishevelled Efua looked like she’d been hit by a truck.

2.     Begin your sentence with a past participle. Example: Annoyed by Babatunji’s constant nagging, Efua began a secret relationship with her boss, Obasanjo.

3.     Start your sentence with an adjective. Example: Dishevelled Efua had hit the doldrums.

4.     Avoid cliches please.  Examples: As good as gold. Head over heels in love.

5.     Use connectors to link ideas or actions. Not only was Babatunji plunged into despair, but he also developed a deep hatred for his  ex-girlfriend.

6.     Start your sentence with an adverbial phrase or clause which ordinarily would have been in the middle or end of your sentence. Example: Rather than ask her to leave their shared flat, Babatunji decided to set a trap for Efua and Obasanjo.

7.     Begin your sentence with a prepositional phrase. Example: In the interest of fairness, the driving test was rescheduled to accommodate learner drivers impacted by recent inclement weather.

8.   Please begin your declarative sentence with an appositive sometimes. Appositives are defined as pairs or occasionally a series of usually adjacent words, phrases, or clauses. Example: Babatunji, a vegetarian has just opened his own sushi restaurant.

9.  Use clauses in your sentence to turn them into complex sentences. Example: Obasanjo, who had been single most of his adult life, jumped at the chance to kiss voluptuous Efua in the kitchen, which was the darkest room in the rented property.

10.  You may wish to begin your sentence with the preposition to. Example: To catch the  amorous pair in the act, Babatunji left work early and sneaked into the garage underneath the kitchen.

11.   Please use an en dash with appropriate spaces (in Britain we use en not em dashes please.) Babatunji – who’ d grown increasingly suspicious of Efua – left work early and let himself into the flat through the back door.

12. Please vary sentence lengths in your story or manuscript. Use short dramatic sentences to capture fast-moving action and intersperse them with lengthy sentences. Example: Babatunji ran like a sprinter.