The Science Of Scientific Writing    Set D  Introduction   Multi-part Sentences   The End of the Sentence  Exercise 1   The Start of the Sentence  The Middle of the Sentence   Sentence, Paragraph compared   Mapping Multi-part Sentences   Exercise 2   Types of Sentence Part   Exercise X   Advanced Sentence Stories   Final Page   .

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OVERVIEW: The way to well-written science

How to do the Course

PART I: Paragraphs and Sentences

SET A: Paragraphs: The Maps Behind Them

SET B: Paragraphs: Using Maps to Meet Readers' Expectations

SET C: Paragraph Coherence and Cohesion

SET D: Sentences

SET E: Scientific Sections (including Methods)

SET F: Scientific Sections: The Discussion

SET G : Scientific Sections: The Introduction

SET H : The Paper as a Whole

Sentence Strategy #2: you can exploit the fact that readers notice some types of sentence parts more than others

So far we have seen that where we put a sentence part within a sentence influences the reader's perception of the information it contains. We can also manipulate how much attention a reader pays to information by modifying the type of sentence part it is in. By "type" we are referring to the grammatical nature of the part, in particular whether it is :

• An entire simple sentence
• An independent clause
• A dependent clause
• A phrase

This list is arranged according to how much attention the reader pays to a given type of sentence part (all else being equal), with the most noticed parts first.

To review these types of sentence parts, let us look at some examples.

Simple one part Sentence

A simple "one-part" English sentence is composed of a single, independent clause with one "full" verb. Sentences have a completed, "standalone" feel to them.

Example of a simple sentence

The hair samples were collected each day.

A multi-part sentence, as defined in this course, includes those sentences typically defined in English grammar as being "compound" or "complex", that is, in addition to one independent clause they contain:

* One or more additional independent clauses that also have a stand-alone sentence-like feel and structure). The additional independent clause has a full verb, and often that verb has a subject.

Example of a two-part compound sentence (second independent clauses is underlined)

The hair samples were collected each day and they were then examined microscopically.

* One or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause has a full verb, but the verb may or may not have a subject. Because they usually start with words like "that", "which", "who", "when", "if", or "because", dependent clauses do not have the "stand-alone" feel typical of an independent clause. For example, compare the two clauses of the sentence you just read!

More examples of two-part complex sentences (dependent clauses are underlined)

The hair samples were collected each day, which allowed us to correlate animal movements with weather conditions.

The hair samples, which could be found attached to low-lying branches, were collected each day.

In this course I have also used "multi-part" to refer to those sentences that contain one or more phrases that have enough "weight" within the sentence to be separated from other parts by one or two commas ("phrase" is as defined in common English usage, rather than in linguistic theory, and is typically a short sentence part lacking a full verb.)

Examples of a two-part sentence with one "weighty" phrase (underlined)

For species identification, the hair samples were collected each day.

The hair samples, gathered from low-lying branches, were collected each day. (Note: "gathered" is a part-verb - a past participle - not a full verb)

A multi-part sentence may contain a mix of all three types of sentence part:

Example of a four-part sentence with various sentence part types:

For species identification, the hair samples, which could be found attached to low-lying branches, were collected each day and they were then examined microscopically.

 

Putting this strategy into practise

Let us start with this sentence:

For species identification, the hair samples, which could be found attached to low-lying branches, were collected each day and they were then examined microscopically.

Imagine if you will that you have just written a draft version of a paragraph that includes this sentence, and when you read the paragraph it feels a little unfocussed. The main emphasis of the pargraph is meant to be on microscopical analysis but that focus seems to be getting lost somehow. When we look at this particular sentence we see that we have placed the microscopy-related information at the end of the sentence, so that is not a problem. But the two blocks of information proiuded by the middle parts of the sentence

"which could be found attached to low-lying branches, (the hair samples) were collected each day"

are capable of competing for attention because they are expressed in relatively high impact sentence parts (dependent clause, additional independent clause).

We can reduce the attention they attract by expressing the same information in the lowest impact sentence part, the phrase. We could convert each block of information into its own phrase but we can reduce the impact even further by combining all the information into a single phrase, e.g.

For species identification, the hair samples, collected each day from low-lying branches, were examined microscopically.

Notice how the sentence has lost its long-winded feel, a good sign that, despite the sentence being information-rich, we have managed to make it clear what the reader should really focus on.

Another source of confusion in a multi-part sentence can arise when the message suggested by the location of a part is contradicted by the message suggested by the type of the part.

For example, compare the three sentences below:

(a) Although Kumar beats his dog, he's a nice guy.

(b) Although Kumar's a nice guy, he beats his dog.

(c) Kumar beats his dog, but he's a nice guy.

Previously we saw that for the first two versions readers experience relatively little confusion: for (a) most agree that Kumar is OK, while for (b) most think he is not. But tests show that when reading (c) the response is fairly evenly split. Why? In (c) the interpretative importance that "but he's a nice guy" gains by being located last is undercut by it being a dependent clause. In both (a) and (b) however, the final clause is independent.

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