From the course: Writing with Impact

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Using sentence rhythm for effect

Using sentence rhythm for effect

From the course: Writing with Impact

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Using sentence rhythm for effect

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- Whether you realize it or not, you spend the day singing. The English language's stresses, pauses, rhymes, and rhythms give each person a song as distinct as a bird's, yet we have an advantage. We can adapt our calls by changing our stresses, pauses, rhymes, and rhythms. Now, this is a difficult subject to teach. It usually just comes down to, use your ears, but that only works for native or expert speakers of a language. Nonnative speakers very often get it wrong, and book learning only goes so far before it gets mired in details. So, instead, I'm going to focus on rhythmic options that can give your writing more impact. We'll start with individual sentences. I've made several arguments for writing short, for cutting out words when you can, but sometimes, pauses and filler words help to emphasize meanings, and that last sentence is a real world example. I originally wrote, "Pauses and filler words "help emphasize meaning," but it didn't sound right without the optional word to…

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