Sentence Structure
It is important to use the correct sentence structure in your manuscript. Publishers want to read manuscripts that look professional. If you have a manuscript that contains incomplete sentences or poor sentence structure, then you will probably receive a rejection slip. Your goal is to have your manuscript published.
Let's look at some examples of sentences. These examples involve verbs. Writers tend to make a lot of mistakes with verbs.
(1) The captain of the ship steered it closer to the dock and then he was turning it left.
Let's look at the verbs: steered and was turning. The first verb is past tense. The second verb uses a helping verb. Verbs need to be consistent.
This is how the sentence should read:
The captain of the ship steered it closer to the dock and then turned it left.
This is more consistent and is more unified. You want your sentences to be written correctly. This is a common mistake in manuscripts.
(2) Cassie runs outside and jumped across the yard.
In this sentence, you are changing tenses. First, you are using present tense. Then, you are using past tense. You need to keep your tenses the same. It's easy to switch tenses, but when you are editing your work, you need to make sure your verbs and sentences are written correctly.
Another important aspect with verbs is the use of active an passive verbs.
Active and Passive Verbs
It is important that you use active verbs. These verbs help make your plot more alive. Let's look at an example of two sentences.
(1) Penny was working on her computer.
You could change this to read: Penny started typing quickly as the words came to her mind. In the first sentence, it's passive. By changing "was typing" to an active verb, readers become more involved in what Penny is doing.
You want to show action rather that telling what is happening. Readers want to read action, suspense, etc.
(2) The captain of the ship was steering the ship towards the dock, and then he is looking at an iceberg, so he is steering his ship away from it.
Let's look at this sentence again using active verbs.
The captain of the ship steered the ship toward the dock and suddenly grabbed the wheel tighter as he quickly maneuvered the ship away from the iceberg.
Go To Page: 1 2
