How to Write Better Essays

Answers

1 Passive sentence: The decisive goal was scored in the last minute

of the game by Nigel Brown.

Reason: The most interesting fact in these two statements

is that the goal was scored in the last minute of the

game.

2 Active sentence: While he was driving home Chief Justice Taylor

was stopped by the police and found to be

driving under the influence of alcohol.

Reason: The most interesting fact is not that someone was caught

driving under the influence of alcohol, but that it was a

prominent member of the judiciary.

3 Active sentence: A gang of eleven-year-olds stopped John Douglas

on his way home and robbed him at knife point.

Reason: That he was robbed by a gang of eleven-year-olds is more

interesting than the fact that he was robbed at knife

point.

3 Rely on nouns and verbs to carry

your meaning

Verbs

Wherever you can, try to build sentences around verbs that are

specific and active. Weak verbs have to be shored up by adverbs and

adverbial phrases, that can water down the image. But beware of your

choice of verb: don’t overstate the case by choosing one that is too

strong.

In the following sentences, by replacing the weak verb and its adverb

with a stronger verb, the sentence is made sharper and its meaning

clearer.

Yet we still might be right in thinking suspiciously that behind all this

information lies a covert message.

Yet we still might be right in suspecting that behind all this infor-

mation lies a covert message.

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