Have you adapted to a certain way of writing? Do you feel compelled to follow a set of writing rules? There are a lot of thoughts about how you should write. Writing in plain language is one of them. It’s a clear, concise and organized way of writing that makes it easier for your readers to understand. Arguably, if you’re writing a persuasive paper, a recommendation or perhaps poetry, you might take a different approach. Or will you?
Including variety in your writing is one way to ensure it flows and keeps the reader’s attention. Here are a few ways to do that.
- Vary your sentence length
- Use short sentences
- Avoid rambling sentences
- Mix up sentence structure
- Add some questions
Varying the length of your sentences helps move the reader through your copy. Long sentences, short sentences… these make reading easier and more interesting.
Including short sentences by eliminating unnecessary words or turning longer sentences into a bulleted list is another tactic to ease reading. You can do this by emphasizing the most important points and creating sub points.
One of my pet peeves is long rambling sentences! Break these up!
Writing in active voice emphasizes the person or thing doing the action, while using passive voice is a little more subtle. It’s a good idea to vary your writing structure so it doesn’t become monotonous. Try opening with a phrase or move the adverb around.
I like questions. Maybe because I always have a lot of them! Adding a question is a good way to engage the reader and set them up for what they’re about to read. Starting off with a question can attract readers to read on and after all, isn’t that what we want them to do?
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