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Last week, I recommended creating a template for each long sentence in your writing to help you determine whether the sentence is impressive or simply incomprehensible. You may recall that a sentence template looks something like this:
By doing x, we can accomplish y and z.
Filling in the blanks with elements other than the words “doing,” “accomplish,” and the letters “x,” “y,” and “z,” we get something like the following sentences:
- By observing migration patterns over a period of three years, we can predict the return date of the loons with reasonable accuracy and prepare emergency bird sanctuaries to care for any birds who were injured in flight.
- By teaching young children to recognize and appreciate a healthy diet, teachers and parents can help members of the next generation enjoy a high quality of life and avoid contracting a host of nutrition-related illnesses.
As you can see, this particular sentence template is useful across a range of contexts. I could spend a good deal of time making up sentences to fit the “by doing x, we can accomplish y and z” pattern. Indeed, I have been known to spend a good deal of time creating and filling in sentence templates, and I urge you to do the same. Specifically, I urge you to keep what I call a Vocabulary and Syntax Journal. Here’s how it works:
STEP ONE: Buy or make a small notebook – 5 x 7 is a great size. If you’re a student enrolled in multiple classes, you may want to keep one Vocabulary and Syntax Journal for each of your classes.
STEP TWO: Label the notebook with the year, the semester, or the name of the class for which you are keeping the journal.
STEP THREE: Once per week, when you read for fun or for your class, keep the journal beside you. Plan to make between three and five entries in your journal each week. What should you choose for your entries? Maybe you’ll choose between three and five vocabulary items that are new to you. Or maybe you’ll choose to make sentence templates of three to five sentences that are particularly elegant or well-structured and that you would like to use in your own writing. Or maybe you’ll choose a combination of vocabulary and sentence templates, aka syntax. Whatever you do, don’t choose more than five items in any given week: it’s inefficient to overload your brain with too many new vocabulary and syntax items!
STEP FOUR: When you write your own papers, keep your Vocabulary and Syntax Journal with you. Incorporate at least one new vocabulary item and one new sentence structure into each text you write. Soon, you’ll be writing like a pro in your academic courses or professional endeavors!
HINT: The Vocabulary and Syntax Journal is also a huge help if you’re learning a foreign language.
Happy Writing and Happy Journaling!
Dr. Lori
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