College is an interesting educational environment that allows you to exercise your critical thinking skills and deliver your thoughts, perspectives, and opinions through writing. Despite the type of discipline you might choose to study, you will write essays critically explaining your thoughts, opinions, perspectives, and ideas. Yet, this is often challenging for many students who have not mastered the intricacies and basics of academic writing. Sentence construction is crucial in essays because it determines how you present your points and arguments. Most importantly, however, it imbues the prose with rhythm and life. If you desire to improve the quality of your essays, the following is a list of 10 fancy sentence forms that will help you meet this objective.
Balanced sentences
The form refers to when a writer juxtaposes two main ideas bearing the same structure in one sentence. If you intend to use two clauses with opposite connotations in your essay, this sentence structure is the best. The two clauses have to be equal in length and grammatical structure. It is an excellent way of instilling a sense of rhythm and harmony in the essay.
Example: A conservative upholds and reveres the old ways of doing things; a progressive is open to new ideas, thoughts, and lifestyles.
Cumulative sentences
If you like playing with the style and mechanics of your writing, then you will love cumulative sentences. They require you to place a main clause at the start or end of a sentence. Alternatively, you could have the central clause preceding information you must provide in the essay for additional clarity, imagery, or insight. The supplementary information can be in the form of dependent clauses, phrases, or words.
Example: Let us go to the car dealership, because I have the money. The highlighted part is the main clause placed at the sentence’s end. The second part provides additional information for clarity.
Parallel sentences
Parallel sentence structures help you deliver grammatically correct essays besides enhancing your writing style. Sentences with this form are easy to read and comprehend because they contain two or more elements bearing the same conceptual or grammatical structure. Use parallelism when listing or mentioning items in a pair or series.
Example of a parallel sentence: He likes playing, reading, and writing.
Example of a non-parallel sentence: He likes to play, read, and write.
Antithesis
This is most effective when writing argumentative essays. It refers to a situation where a writer uses contrasting words or ideas to create a dramatic or balanced effect for the reader. Fundamentally, it is a rhetorical tool that matches opposite views in a parallel grammatical sentence structure. One of the best examples of this element is the phrase by William Shakespeare in Hamlet: “Give everyone your ear, but few your voice.” In this statement, Shakespeare sought to draw attention to the two opposite ideas of speaking and listening.
Periodic sentences
In periodic sentences, the writer places the main clause at the end of a sentence rather than at the beginning. If you want to emphasize a given point or idea or create suspense, use this sentence form, as it delays the most crucial information. Doubtless, periodic sentences will add effect and style to your essay. However, you should utilize them cautiously to avoid redundancy.
Example: By denying that you did, you risk losing your credibility.
Epistrophe
This is a rhetorical writing device in which you repeat a word or phrase at the end of consecutive sentences or clauses. You only use this kind of sentence form to stress the repeated word or phrase for the reader to understand the subject matter better. Therefore, you must ensure that the words or phrases you intend to repeat at the end of successive sentences match the argument in your essay.
Example: The musician has grown extremely wealthy. His watch is gold. His car is gold. His toilet seat is gold. Everything in his house is gold.
Inverted sentences
This sentence form does not adhere to the conventional subject-verb-object structure. Contrarily, it reverses the order, leaving a sentence in which the verb precedes the subject. It is an interesting way of directing the reader’s attention to your major area of focus in your essay.
Example: Evident from the store window (object) was (verb) the silhouette of the murderous thug (subject).
The conventional way of writing the sentence above would be: The silhouette of a murderous thug (subject) was (verb) evident from the store window (object).
Simple sentences
The most effective way to communicate in writing is to use simple, short sentence forms that go straight to the point. All college essays have simple sentences, whether obtained from an official website or written in a classroom setting. These sentence forms have an independent clause but no dependent one.
Example: My teacher enjoyed reading your essay
Compound sentences
Unlike a simple sentence, a compound sentence form has several independent clauses but dependent none. It is also a common way of articulating your points and arguments for the reader’s comprehension.
Example: Casper visited the Harley Davidson dealership in Los Angeles and bought the latest 2023 Harley Davidson Dyna Street Bob.
Complex sentences
Complex sentence forms are a hybrid of simple and compound sentences. They possess one independent clause and at least one that is dependent. Complex sentences enhance the quality of your writing and delivery.
Example: After David declared his wealth last year, he discovered that his entire estate was worth $40 billion.
What are you still waiting for? Attempt to use any of these sentence forms in your college essays and see your grades in essay writing soar like never before.
