第44页 | 300 Days of Better Writing | 阅读 ‧ 电子书库

Day 44: Limit the number of S-V-O combinations in a sentence.

Here is the final strategy for using the S-V-O sentence structure: Limit the number of S-V-O combinations in a sentence. To demonstrate how this tip helps clarify sentences, consider this sentence.

“At our request, the consultant prepared a legal analysis of the bill that we used to change the planning process currently operating that the previous consultant designed.”

When we examine this sentence, we find a number of S-V-O and SV combinations: “consultant prepared,” “we used,” “process operating,” and “consultant designed.” We can revise this sentence in various ways by following this tip. One revision is as follows.

“At our request, the consultant prepared a legal analysis of the bill. We used the analysis to change the current planning process, which a previous consultant had designed.”

In the revised version, the first sentence has one S-V-O combination, and the second sentence has one S-V-O combination and one S-V combination. As a result, the meaning is easier to understand.