Films

    You might have written sentences that are precise and clear, that target the audience, that contain predominantly active verbs, and that are concise, However, if those sentences do not connect, that writing will not succeed. This lesson teaches you an important strategy to have your sentences connect. In essence, that strategy calls on you to begin each new sentence in a way that connects with the one before. To make such connections, you need an array of sentence openers that can move details of what, where, when, why, and how to the front of the sentence. If you are uncomfortable with grammatical terms such as prepositional phrase, dependent clause, or  infinitive phrase, you should review Appendix A (Essence of Grammar) before beginning this lesson.. 

Connecting Your Ideas (Part 1): This film discusses a strategy for connecting ideas (sentences) in engineering and science.


Connecting Your Ideas (Part 2): This film discusses basic sentence openers for connecting your ideas (sentences) in scientific writing.


Connecting Your Ideas (Part 3): This film discusses advanced sentence openers for connecting your ideas (sentences) in scientific writing.

Exercises

1. Write a paragraph on visiting a zoo. In doing so, use as many of the sentence openers as possible from the list below:
Subject Noun
Adverb
Prepositional Phrase
Dependent Clause
Infinitive Phrase
​Gerundial Phrase
Participial Phrase
Dependent Clause Used as Subject
Appositive
Question
Comparative Correlative (Double Clause)
Correlative Conjunction
2. Assume that you are to giving an invited presentation at another institution. This institution has asked you for a biography, which traditionally is written in the third person. Write a seven-sentence biography about yourself, but do not use any type of opener more than twice. As a suggestion, consider using an appositive opener for one of the sentences. Also consider using dependent clause as subject for the opener of the last sentence.

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018), Lesson 5.​
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