Simple Sentences and Compound Sentences

Good narrative writing spells out the facts in a clear, concise way. However, “concise” does not mean using sentence fragments or only short sentences. To make your writing more readable, interesting and easy to follow, vary the lengths of your sentences.

When all of the sentences you use are very short, the narrative is choppy:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me. She told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on. She led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door. She hung the blouses in the room.

You also should not use only long sentences, especially run-on sentences:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. and Mary greeted me and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses, and Mary asked if I wanted to try them on then led me to the fitting room and unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

The first example (short, choppy sentences) is boring and monotonous. The second example (long and run-on sentences) is exhausting. A good way to make your writing better is to use both simple and compound sentences.

Simple sentences contain just one thought.

Mary handed the bag to me.
She thanked me for my purchase.

Compound sentences contain two complete sentences or clauses, brought together with a conjunction, such as: and, but, or, so, et al.

Mary handed the bag to me, and she thanked me for my purchase.

There are several ways to rewrite the original example above, but for our purposes here we are going to only look at using both simple and compound sentences. Here is how it might read (Simple sentences are in this color, and compound sentences are in this color.):

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me, and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on, and she led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

A good way to check the rhythm of your writing is to read what you have written out loud. Listen, not only to the words, but to the flow of the words. Are all sentences very short? Or do you find yourself running out of breath before you come to the end of many of your sentences?

Mix up sentence length to make your writing better.