5-1
Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Part II: Chapter-by-Chapter Lecture Notes & Exercises
Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Teaching Suggestions
This chapter contains a great deal of advice about writing and crafting effective communication. One
foundational point deserves special emphasis: what counts as a good style or even clear writing depends
on the situation. Every word, sentence, and paragraph needs to be judged in light of the writer’s goals and
the readers’ likely reactions. That is why we focus on adapting style for readers at the start of this chapter.
The exercises at the end of the chapter enable students to learn by doing.
Connect provides instructors with a variety of ways to customize courses, create assignments, determine
grading policies, and receive student work. One of the tools Connect offers is the ability to select and add
interactive assignments to your course. Explanations of these assignments and how they support the
learning objectives are integrated into the instructor’s manual with the relevant subject areas.
Learning Objectives
LO 5-1 Simplify your writing by selecting familiar and short words.
LO 5-2 Use slang and popular clichés with caution.
LO 5-3 Use technical words and acronyms appropriately.
LO 5-4 Use concrete, specific words with the right shades of meaning.
LO 5-5 Avoid misusing similar words and two-word expressions.
LO 5-6 Prefer action verbs.
LO 5-7 Write short, clear sentences by limiting sentence content and economizing on words.
LO 5-8 Manage emphasis with sentence structure.
LO 5-9 Keep sentences unified by omitting irrelevant points and unnecessary detail.
LO 5-10 Word sentences logically.
LO 5-11 Keep paragraphs concise.
LO 5-12 Make sure each paragraph has one main idea.
LO 5-13 Make paragraphs coherent.
LO 5-14 Give each paragraph a strategic job to do.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Key Terms
plain language
concrete words
abstract words
specific wording
denotation
connotation
two-word expressions (idioms)
dummy subject
active voice
camouflaged verb
cluttering phrase
surplus words
redundancies
main clauses
coordination
subordination
short sentences
unity
mixed construction
incomplete construction
dangling modifier
misplaced modifier
faulty parallelism
topic sentence
coherence
transitional devices
says/does chart
Text Summary, Lecture Outline
Slides 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5
Problem-Solving Challenge
You receive an unhelpful and unclear message as part of the staff of a local hotel. Read over the message
in the Problem-Solving Challenge box.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Adapting Your Style to Your Readers
Slides 5-6, 5-7
The key to good writing choices is considering your reader. You should learn everything you possibly can
about your audience and consider what relationship you (or your company) have built with them.
Getting to Know You
With their permission, pick two students (ideally, one male and one female) in your class to be your
guinea pigs. These two students will represent the typical audience for this exercise.
Then divide the class into two groups and have each group come up with a) a plan for how they would
gather information on their audience, b) as much information as they can gather (or guess) about their
Selecting Appropriate Words
Slide 5-8
Be Familiar
See if your students can supply simpler, shorter substitutes for the examples on this slide. As you do so,
you might ask at times when the longer word might be preferable. For example, “bad” is a substitute for
“harmful.” But “bad” is a harsh, blunt word that would rarely be the best choice.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Slide 5-9
Avoid Clichés
Discuss with your students the meaning of these expressions and see if they can find good substitutes.
Ask them to give additional examples of their most hated clichés. You may want to direct them to the
Communication Matters box titled “The Most Annoying Clichés in Marketing.”
When advising students to use slang and popular clichés with caution, point out that such phrases can be
especially troublesome for nonnative English speakers.
Slide 5-10
Be Accessible
This slide shows that even the technical language of Social Security can cause a problem. Ask students to
give examples of technical language from their own fields that would need to be explained to outsiders.
Every field has its technical language (accounting, information systems, medicine, finance). This
language is good for communicating within the field because those words can quickly cover concepts and
Slide 5-11
What Do These Mean?
Challenge your students to give the meanings for these common acronyms. (Check out Exhibit 5-2 for
additional examples.)
Initialisms and acronyms are not likely to be understood by people outside a specialized area. Big
5-5
Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
IPO = Initial Public Offering
IT = Information Technology
Slides 5-12, 5-13
Use Concrete Language
Concrete language adds specificity and vigor to writing.
Examples:
Concrete: John S. Simmons, bagels and coffee, Ms. Levi, oil stains.
Abstract: human resources, nourishment, management, damage.
Concreteness also involves being specific, as in the following examples:
A significant loss vs. a 53 percent loss
Use the contrasting abstract and concrete sentences on the slide as a demonstration exercise.
You Try It
Invite students to propose revised wording for the examples on the slide.
Here are some examples of revisions:
Slide 5-14
Be Precise
Selecting words for precise meanings is critical to clear writing. It means choosing the word with both the
correct denotation and the desired connotation. It also means getting expressions idiomatically correct.
Use this slide as an exercise in word precision. Ask students to choose the correct word in parentheses to
complete the sentence. The answers are as follows:
1. Comprise is correct. One big thing comprises several small things; several small things constitute
one big thing.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
4. Enable is more precise here, as it implies a reasoning process. Cause suggests a more direct
effect.
5. Of is the accepted idiom here, a more direct effect.
Slide 5-15
Be Appropriate
To ensure your writing sounds professional, avoid using words inappropriately. Many pairs of words are
confused in English and cause problems for writers. Consider less vs. fewer, affect vs. effect, and
continual vs. continuous, to name a few.
This slide reveals inappropriate usage of some of the most commonly confused word pairs. The last
Here are the sentences with the correct word usage:
• The retailer needs to change its marketing plan.
Slides 5-16, 5-17
Make It Active
Use this slide to show the advantages of active voice.
In most cases, one should prefer the active voice to the passive. Active voice is stronger and more direct.
In active voice, the subject does the action:
“Joan examined the equipment.”
You Make the Call
Before you leave this topic, ask the class in what kinds of situations the passive might actually be
preferable. Here are some good answers:
• When the doer of action is unimportant: “Sports shoes are manufactured in Korea.”
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
• When one wants to avoid accusing the reader of an action: “The maintenance instructions were
not followed in this case.”
Ask students if they can come up with other guidelines for using “there is” constructions.
Students can see more details about active and passive voice in the Communication Matters feature
“Everything You Wanted to Know about Active and Passive Voice.”
5-1a
Learning Objective: 5-04
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Evaluate
5-1b
Learning Objectives: 5-02, 5-05, 5-06
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Evaluate
5-1c
Learning Objectives: 5-02, 5-03, 5-06
5-1d
Learning Objectives: 5-04, 5-05, 5-06
Difficulty: Medium
5-1e
Learning Objectives: 5-01, 5-02, 5-06
Follow-Up Activity: Students can select two of their answers and describe what effective writing
principles are represented in the correct answers.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Slide 5-18
Spot the Camouflaged Verbs
Avoiding overuse of camouflaged verbs adds clarity and vigor to writing. Use this slide to demonstrate
verb strength.
A verb is camouflaged when the verb describing an action is changed to a noun—for example, when one
changes the verb “eliminate” to the noun “elimination,” which results in a long, passive sentence like this:
“Elimination of the deficit was accomplished by Thornberry.”
Connect Assignment 5-2: Name That Wording Problem
Summary: This activity will test students’ ability to recognize and avoid four common wording problems
(inappropriate slang/clichés, confused similar words, incorrect idioms, camouflaged verbs) in business
communication.
Writing Clear Sentences
Slide 5-19
Here is an overview of the advice on writing sentences (the following slides provide more detail on each
of these concepts). Business audiences tend to prefer simple, efficient sentences over long, complex ones.
Everyone at all levels of business is busy—one way to respect their time is by writing messages that are
clear and concise.
Slides 5-20, 5-21
Limit Sentence Content
Limiting sentence content means keeping sentences relatively short—not packing too much information
into one sentence.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
These illustrations show how long, involved sentences may be broken up into short, effective sentences.
One way to use the illustrations is first to show the long sentence. Have the students work out revisions.
Then show the suggested revision.
Connect Assignment 5-3 (a–e): Avoiding Sentence Problems
Summary: This multiple-choice activity will test students’ understanding of mixed constructions,
incomplete constructions, dangling and misplaced modifiers, and faulty parallelism.
5-3a
5-3b
Learning Objective: 5-07
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Understand
5-3c
5-3d
Learning Objective: 5-07
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Understand
5-3e
Follow-Up Activity: Instruct students to rewrite the example provided in 5-3d. Remind them that
improving this sentence may require breaking the information up into more than one sentence.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Slides 5-22, 5-23, 5-24
Economize—Eliminate Surplus
Slide 5-22 illustrates how surplus words can be eliminated. The Communication Matters feature titled “Is
That a Surplus Word?” also provides tips on how to know what to cut from sentences.
Slide 5-23 invites students to demonstrate sentence economy. Here are samples of how these sentences
could be rewritten:
Slide 5-24 shows how unnecessary repetition adds to sentence length. Direct students to Exhibit 5-4 for
more examples.
Slide 5-25
Manage Emphasis—Sentences
Here are some principles for students to keep in mind when managing emphasis in sentences. The
following slides demonstrate a few of these principles in more detail.
Consider the varying emphasis in these three versions:
“The company lost money last year. The loss occurred in spite of record sales.” (The two items receive
equal emphasis.)
“Although the company enjoyed record sales last year, it lost money.” (One idea is subordinated; the
other gets independent-clause emphasis.)
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Slide 5-26
Manage Emphasis—Subordination
In this example, students can see both where main ideas are getting lost and how subordination is being
used in a way that buries important information.
Ask students to rewrite the paragraph and turn in their revisions as part of an in-class assignment (online
students can prepare the revision and turn it in via email or use the “Writing Assignment” tool in
Connect).
Here is one example of a revision:
The main building is large enough for the new store. This conclusion, reached by Vice President George
Slide 5-27
Manage Emphasis—Short Sentences
This slide shows the choppy effect of too many short sentences. Although at times you want to shorten
sentences, it’s always best to vary sentence length. Varying sentence length within paragraphs creates a
Slides 5-28, 5-29
Give Sentences Unity
Good sentences have unity. For a sentence to have unity, all of its parts must combine to form one clear
thought. In other words, all the elements in the sentence should have a good reason for being together.
Violations of unity in sentence construction are usually caused by two problems: (1) unrelated ideas and
(2) excessive detail.
Examples of a lack of and the demonstration of sentence unity are contrasted here.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Summary: This click-and-drag activity will test students’ understanding of mixed constructions,
incomplete constructions, dangling and misplaced modifiers, and faulty parallelism. Students will drag
the sample sentences to fall under the categories they best represent.
Learning Objectives: 5-07, 5-10
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Apply
Slide 5-30
Thinking Logically—Your Turn
This slide invites students to identify the faults in these sentence constructions and to correct them.
Here we have an incomplete construction, a dangling modifier, and faulty parallelism.
Incomplete construction (the “as far as” phrase is incomplete).
Possible revision: I would give Ralph high marks on being a team player.
In Reference Chapter A, students can find more examples of rules of grammar that can help them avoid
illogical constructions and write clear sentences.
Connect Assignment 5-5: Managing Emphasis with Sentence Design
Summary: This click-and-drag activity will test students’ understanding of simple sentences, coordinated
main clauses, and subordinate clauses. Students will drag the sample sentences to fall under the categories
they best represent.
Follow-Up Activity: Students can create their own example sentences, one for each of the three
categories.
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Constructing Clear Paragraphs
Slide 5-31
These are the main words of advice for constructing clear paragraphs. The following slides will help
students dig into these key concepts.
Slides 5-32, 5-33
Shorten Paragraphs
This drawing contrasts a page with long paragraphs and a page with short paragraphs. Clearly, the page
with short paragraphs is much more inviting to the eye. Even without reading the text, one gets a more
comfortable feeling from the page of short paragraphs.
Slide 5-34
Give Paragraphs Unity
Like sentences, paragraphs should have unity, meaning the paragraph should be built around a single
topic or idea. The subject matter included should have a reason for being together—it should be related.
Slide 5-35
What Are the Topic Sentences?
One good way of organizing paragraphs is to use topic sentences.
Topic sentences express the main idea of the paragraph.
Ask your students: What kinds of paragraphs often do NOT have topic sentences? (introductory
paragraphs, transitional paragraphs, and concluding paragraphs)
Topic sentences can be in three places:
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
These paragraphs show good use of topic sentences. Show each paragraph and ask students to identify the
topic sentence in each. Point out how well the other sentences relate to the topic sentence.
Slide 5-36
You Make the Call
Slide 5-37
Make Paragraphs Coherent
Each sentence and each paragraph should move the reader smoothly toward the writer’s goal.
Three good strategies for achieving coherence are the following:
• Repeat key words and ideas from one sentence to the next.
• Use pronouns that refer back to elements of the preceding sentence.
• Use transitional expressions.
Some of the strategies for giving writing coherence are illustrated here. Ask students to identify the
strategies being used in these short paragraphs.
Direct students to the Communication Matters feature “Beware the Vague or Illogical This.” Ask students
to give examples of times when they’ve had trouble understanding someone’s directions or a message due
to not understanding what “this” refers to. For a fun exercise, have students craft text messages to send to
Connect Assignment 5-6: Writing a Coherent Paragraph
Summary: Students will put sentences in order to create a unified, well-organized paragraph.
Follow-Up Activity: Students can write a clear and effective paragraph that could logically follow the one
in the example.
Slide 5-38
What’s the Purpose?
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Chapter 5: Crafting Effective Sentences and Paragraphs
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Power Charge Your Professionalism: Make Your Subjects and
Verbs Agree in Number
Select the word that completes each sentence. Identify which subject–verb agreement guide from
Reference Chapter A you used in making your choice. (Correct answers are marked in bold.)
(nouns in prepositional phrases)
(compound subject joined with or)
(compound subject joined with and)
(nouns in prepositional phrases)
(collective nouns—this is a name of a company acting as a collective noun)
Making your subjects and verbs agree is important because . . .
• Readers become disoriented, and may have to reread the sentence, when they come to the verb
and it does not match the subject. This wastes their time and distracts them from the message.
For further instruction on subject–verb agreement, see the exercises in the “Grammar” section of
LearnSmart Achieve.
Critical-Thinking Questions
1. “Using short words makes the writing sound too simple and not very professional.” Discuss.
(LO1)