By: Phillip Mattie
I consistently run into students who are simply not satisfied with their writing skills. For some reason, they believe that their writing comes across as childish, simplistic, or underwhelming—as if there is no impact, no gravity to their ideas, which can, understandably, feel frustrating, especially when their thoughts are complex and nuanced—far from childish. Many times students have issues with overly-simplistic writing styles because they have only a rudimentary knowledge of grammar—an instinctual knowledge rather than a technical one—and/or they have not read enough material to understand what makes effective writing on difficult subject matter. So today I will give some tips and tricks on how to add impact to your writing through an understanding of grammar and works of literature.
Adding impact through grammar
Grammar is what we use to give language form. It includes syntax and word order, and gives language its organization. If the word “Grammar” has no real meaning to you or you are afraid of exposing yourself to your own ignorance of your mother tongue (like I was), I suggest picking up a beginner grammar book and starting from lesson one, where you can study the basics in private. It will include basic concepts like subject-verb agreement and verb tenses. Knowing even basic grammar concepts such as these will vastly increase your writing skills. Best of all, you will be able to annoy all your friends who use their, they’re, and there incorrectly.
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can look at adding complexity and length to your sentences, and you can do this in a couple ways. First, try to write using compound sentences (two complete sentences joined with ‘and,’ ‘but,’ ‘or,’ etc.). Another grammatical tool you can use to increase complexity is to use subordinate clauses (adding details or information to a main clause using words like ‘when,’ ‘while,’ ‘because,’ etc.). Parallel structure details how to create effective lists by using the same word type; for example, “That movie was thoughtful, motivational, and inspirational.” Here, I used a list of adjectives to describe a movie. Note that they increase in effect from beginning to end. You may use verbs, nouns, or prepositions to begin your lists as well—just make sure they are all the same type! However, many times, students get caught in what is called the “rule of three,” which states that lists must have three items to create a logical balance of some sort. I don’t agree. If you have a list of two or five or ten or even four, it can have impact just the same as a list of three. So don’t get too caught up in always having lists of three. These are just a few examples of how grammar can help, so if you really want to bring impact and gravity to your writing, pick up a writing handbook—not a style guide, mind. But an actual writing handbook. It will give you many, many more tools to use.
So you’ve started small, looking at basic grammar and then sentence structure; therefore, it’s time to move up to paragraphing. Your sentences are beautiful, well-constructed pieces of art, but if they aren’t organized, if they don’t flow into one another, then you will lose that impact you are looking to create. The gist of any paragraph is comparable to a hamburger or a sandwich (I know, it’s a weird metaphor, but just hear me out). On the top of a hamburger, you get a bun. In the middle is all the good stuff—cheese, meat, some veggies—and at the bottom is another bun, to keep in all that good stuff. The top bun is a topic sentence. It’s something you can hang on to, the main idea of the paragraph. The middle stuff? The details—the examples and statistics you give that support your topic. And the bottom bun? Your restated idea.
My last thought for adding impact through grammar is to use transitions. Transition words are words like ‘therefore,’ ‘additionally,’ ‘furthermore,’ etc.. Adding these words at the beginning of sentences helps to create flow by showing the relationship between your ideas. Using transitions is probably the easiest, simplest thing you can do to increase the impact of your writing.
Adding impact by analyzing professional writing
Studying great writers can be the best way to learn how to write with impact. Now, I’m not saying that you should study their ideas or their beliefs for this exercise. You should, however, be studying their sentence and paragraph structure. During a reading, you should ask: How does a great writer begin an essay? What made their hook so effective? Was it the sentence structure or the vocabulary? The length? Pick a famous essayist (if you don’t know any, just do a quick google search) and read his/her introduction. Look for that essayist’s hook, background information, and thesis. My personal favourite is an American essayist and writer, David Foster Wallace. Give him a read if you have no one else to look up to. Go ahead and try to mimic the structure of a sentence that you find particularly appealing, modifying it to meet your needs. This tactic is very similar to learning new vocabulary, and there are no better people to learn from than professional writers.
Again, if you feel that your writing lacks a sense of importance or gravity, then you can try the two tactics I have described in this article: apply more advanced grammar techniques by studying the technical aspects of the language and learn effective, interesting sentence structures from professional writers by analyzing their style. If you do both of these things, you will surely see results in your writing. Just remember to write, and write often!