To make your language fluid,you must do two things

Vary sentence rhythms

Bridge discontinuities Sentence #1

Sentence #2

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. A cloud of hot rock

and gas surged northward from its collapsing slope. The cloud

devastated more than 500 square kilometers of forests and

lakes. The effects of Mount St. Helens were well documented

with geophysical instruments. The origin of the eruption is not

well understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid

expansion of steam. Some scientists believe the steam comes

from groundwater heated by the magma. Other scientists

believe the steam comes from water originally dissolved in the

magma. We need to understand the source of steam in

volcanic eruptions. We need to determine how much water the

magma contains.

When sentence openers do not vary, the sentences do not seem to connect Z

Z

Z

Varying sentence openers allows for more kinds of transitions between sentences

Sentence #1 Sentence #2 Sentence #3

Topic of Sentence Subject

Time of action Prepositional Phrase

Location of action Prepositional Phrase

Manner of action Adverb

Subordinate action Dependent Clause

Reason for action Infinitive Phrase

Vary sentence openers to vary rhythm

Mount St. Helens erupted on May…

subject-verb

In minutes, the mountain emitted…

prepositional phrase

Recently, debate has arisen... adverb

Although the exact time of the eruption surprised scientists, evidence had been collected...

dependent clause

In the town below, people…

prepositional phrase

Vary sentence openers to vary rhythm

infinitive phrase To understand the eruption, we have to...

gerundial phrase Calculating the amount of ash will require many assumptions.

dependent clause How the blast occurred remains as subject a mystery.

verb-subject Is it groundwater heated by…

Still other openers exist, but sometimes seem out of place in scientific writing

appositive One of the largest on record in North America, the Mount St. Helens’ eruption killed more than sixty people.

introductory series Seismic activity, cone deformation, electromagnetic changes—all these are precursors of an eruption.

adjective phrase Dark and ominous, the smoke cloud billowed for days.

Varying sentence openers enlivens the writing and allows connections

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. Its slope

collapsing, the mountain emitted a cloud of hot rock and gas.

In minutes, the cloud devastated more than 500 square

kilometers of forests and lakes. Although the effects of the

eruption were well documented, the origin is not well

understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid

expansion of steam. Recently, debate has arisen over the

source for the steam. Is it groundwater heated by magma or

water originally dissolved in the magma itself? To understand

the source of steam in volcanic eruptions, we need to

determine how much water the magma contains.

If you vary sentence openers, you will vary sentence lengths and structures

Keep average length in teens

Don't fear short sentences (3, 4, or 5words), but avoid stacking

short sentences

Be selective with

long sentences

To make connections, use transitional phrases early in sentences

Also,

Moreover,

First…Second...

For that reason,

Therefore,

and

For instance,

For example,

Strictly speaking,

In other words,

In effect,

or

However,

On the other hand,

Conversely,

Nevertheless,

Otherwise,

but

Continuation Pause Reversal

This shows...This means...

Replace the standalone “this” with a noun phrase that specifies the subject

The finite element modeling technique does not take into account the flexibility of the truss. This results in a low stiffness, which causes the natural frequency to be off.

WeakTransition

…truss. This disregard for flexibility results in a low stiffness causing the natural frequency to be off.

SuccessfulTransition

…truss. Not accounting for the flexibility results in a low stiffness causing the natural frequency to be off.

FluidTransition

Use a variety of long, medium, and short paragraphs

Average paragraphs: 5-6 lines

Short paragraphs: 1-4 linesUse sparingly and don’t stack

Long paragraphs: 8-10 linesTry to avoid long paragraphs

Use lists for easy reading

• Advice or examples• Conclusions/recommendations• Criteria for evaluation• Errors to avoid

• Material for a procedures• Equipment in a procedure• Parts of a mechanism• Steps in a sequence

Items you might list:

White space gives shape to a document and orients the user

spaceformargins

space forillustrations

space forheadings

White space