OK, which is better?
My boyfriend dumped me.
Or
I’d been dumped.
Granted, it’s better to be the dumper than the dump-ee. But this isn’t advice for the lovelorn. We’re talking about writing sentences here! We can’t accept just any sentence that springs to our fingertips. We need sentences that do more than convey facts. Our sentences must evoke images and emotions.
We want memorable sentences. Or, better said ~ our sentences must be memorable.
Look at these two:
I want to take that blurt back.
Vs.
I want to take back that blurt.
Blurt is such a good word, isn’t it? It just sounds funny. It reveals our speaker’s personality, and her uncomfortable circumstance. When it’s the last word in the sentence, it stays in your reader’s mind. Put the best word at the end of your sentence!
One more:
She interviewed the president last month.
Or
Last month, she interviewed the president.
It’s subtle, I’ll admit. But placing the most interesting word at the end of the sentence makes it a stronger sentence.
Another way to achieve this strengthening effect is to lop off a prepositional phrase:
Because of her all things were possible for us.
Vs.
Because of her all things were possible.
I challenge you to sweep through your work sentence by sentence; and whenever you can, make the last word best!
And Write, Dream Writers!
