Sentence length
Why do writers vary sentence length?
Using a variety of sentences can help a writer create pace and tension in their writing.
- Short sentences can show a faster pace or build up tension.
- Longer sentences can offer explanation and add detail.
What is the effect of short sentences?
Short sentences can:
- express emotion and The speed at which the text moves.
- show characters are angry, excited, stressed or surprised
- create a direct The writer or narrator’s voice that expresses a feeling or attitude. and sound
Help!
is more urgent than: Please could you possibly help me?
Short sentences can suggest action that is happening very quickly. Readers can race through the action as it happens:
Was it locked? Of course, it was locked. It had to be locked. Had they gone?
Short sentences are often used to signal a change or to create contrast between events, characters, settings or moods:
She wandered down the path watching the birds soar and swoop overhead. Crunch. She looked down to see what she had stepped on. Twigs? No. She gasped. It was bones. Tiny bones. Hundreds of them.
What is a minor sentence?
A minor sentence is an incomplete sentence that still makes sense. It might a word or phrase used as a sentence but which doesn't have all the grammatical parts of a sentence.
A minor sentence might be used:
- informally
- to reflect speech
- to suggest urgency
- to convey emotion
- to build tension
What is a minor sentence? How and why would you use it? Bitesize explains with examples from ‘In Mrs Tilscher's Class’ by Carol Ann Duffy.
Examples of minor sentences
It’s like that. That’s the way it is.
Fantastic!
Question
Try it. The lemonade. You’ll like it.
How does the use of a minor sentence reveal the confident attitude of the speaker?
The short, snappy, matter-of-fact sentences suggest a conversational tone. The speaker also seems assured that their friend will enjoy the drink.
What is the effect of long sentences?
Long sentences are used to provide:
- more information
- further detail
- explanation
Often this means that long sentences slow down the pace, and this can be a way to create a slow build-up of tension:
I press myself deeper and deeper into the hedge, until twigs dig into my back and thorns tear at my bare legs, hoping and praying that the leaves will shield me as I wait for them to pass.
Mixing long and short sentences
Long and short sentences are often combined in a paragraph to build tension.
Question
In Season of Secrets by Sally Nichols, the narrator spots a man running:
He looks back. His face is white in the darkness and wet with rain. He isn’t wearing shoes, or a shirt. I can see his chest, rising and falling. I can feel how frightened he is. Who is he? Who’s chasing him?
What is the effect of different sentence lengths in this example?
- The short sentences stand out from the longer sentences. They add pace to the action and lead to the final urgent questions (
Who is he? Who’s chasing him?
). - The longer sentences add key details, such as what the man looked like.
