How to write the perfect sentence

Every writer has been through the agitation of not being able to write the perfect sentence. The desire to find the ‘right’ opening line, closing paragraph and the adjectives to describe events all have the power to keep even the best of authors up at night. To have experienced this sensation, you don’t have to be a novelist or playwright. Poets, journalists (including us Boar writers), and those of you trying to write your essays and dissertations must have also felt this rush and annoyance. After all, it is the sentences we are polishing when we are working on our tenth draft of a report.

The Guardian recently discussed the advice many celebrated authors provide for writing the perfect sentences. According to the article, James Baldwin’s goal was “to write a sentence as clean as a bone” while George Orwell claimed a reader should notice the words no more than someone looking through a glass notices the glass.

The same rhetorical techniques we use to make the message in a poem implicit are being used by these authors to suggest being explicit in our writing . The advice itself makes use of simile and powerful imagery to encourage simplicity which begs the question whether minimalism in a sentence is a matter of opinion.

I only appreciate ‘a sentence as clean as a bone’ in science journal articles where the heavy content refuses to legitimise the use of convoluted sentences

Being a Jane Austen fan, this is more difficult for me to digest. Perhaps if Austen had taken this approach, my flatmate would have been able to finish Pride and Prejudice, but I must admit how ardently I enjoy the complexity of Austen’s sentences. I only appreciate ‘a sentence as clean as a bone’ in science journal articles where the heavy content refuses to legitimise the use of convoluted sentences.

Those from the world of economics and business somewhat-rightly boast about being the managers of global growth and productivity. It may also be worth wondering how much, or rather how little, effort they put into their sentences to make them accessible to the rest of us. And yet, despite all the difficulties I face in deciphering their sentences, I am drawn towards both reading and writing about finance due to its imperative, opinionated and informed tone of writing.

Orwell additionally recommended cutting as many words as possible. This idea works when making a deep or philosophical statement in a book or poem. Understanding the depth of the message often requires too much brainpower without overloading the reader with big words. The simple ideas in books and poems, however, must be decorated so the reader may be able to enjoy the sound of the information provided and not find it entirely dry. After all, this is part of the effect of alliteration and assonance. Think about Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ mantra, if you don’t agree. Regardless of our political opinions, we all find ourselves saying it, be it to sell her case to others or mock it.

The perfection of a sentence is therefore largely determined by the kingdom it occupies in the domain of writing

Virginia Woolf made the interesting remark that verbs have all the effect. This is certainly something I can agree with, but only to add that adjectives have a similar effect. Effective use of verbs and adjectives can truly add life to the intensity of emotions conveyed in sentences. ‘Show, don’t tell’ is common advice in poetry and fiction and it is the verbs and the adjectives that bring the action and colour in sentences.

In poetry, sometimes the meaning of the sentence does not matter as much as how well it rhymes. It is the length of the line that seems to make more of a difference. Simplicity or complexity cease to affect us as readers once we begin to read the poem and focus on the way the poem requires us to twist our tongue, the comma makes us pause or the exclamation mark makes us jump.

The perfection of a sentence is therefore largely determined by the kingdom it occupies in the domain of writing. The ultimate beauty of the art of structuring sentences lies in the endless possible ways of expressing onesself. While books may be timeless, the style of sentences is very dynamic and  varies greatly from the field of literature and poetry to science, from journalism to the social sciences. I may take longer to read finance articles than scientific papers, but their sentences always appease my interest and that is all that matters.