Can someone please give me some tips on how to shorten my essay sentences? I am practising writing essays under timed conditions and when I go back to revise I can see how long and unwieldy they are but in the timed conditions I don't feel I have time to write and then correct, even though I can see the errors when I look at them afterward in the cold (untimed) light of day. Is there a process that someone can help with? Or should I be writing and then correcting and hoping that by doing this my sentence length and clarity will improve? Thank you.

9 days later

Hi! When we work with our students on their expression, we always do it untimed at first, because that's when you have the greatest clarity about the flow of your writing. When our students become familiar with this flow of writing, that's when we introduce the time pressure.

I suggest the following (general! there are always exceptions!) guidelines:

  • no more than 2 commas per sentence
  • focus on the verbs of your sentence and make sure they are analytical ones
  • limit your sentence to 2 to 3 ideas (at most), break it up into 2 sentences if you have more
  • read over your sentence as soon as you put down a fullstop.

Hope that helps! 🙂

-Shirlaine from TSE Tuition (Facebook, Youtube, Instagram)

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