Day 269: Employ iambic rhythm for natural sounding speech—and graceful writing.

These writing tips are not about poetry. In spite of this, prose writers can learn much from poets about producing graceful writing. One major concept that is relevant across writing genres is rhythm, in particular the use of iambic rhythm.

Rhythm refers to the pattern of accented and non-accented syllables in your writing. The iambic rhythm is the most natural and simple rhythm. It is, simply, alternating accented and non-accented syllables, starting with a non-accented syllable. Consider this sentence:

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“The plan will benefit our town.”

Here is the same sentence with the accented syllables in capital letters:

“the PLAN will BEN-e-FIT our TOWN.”

Because this is the natural speech pattern of English speakers, using this rhythm in our texts helps the reader to respond positively to the text, to remember it, and to be engaged in it.

Don’t do this throughout your text. Not only will this make your text “sing-songy” but also doing so will be unnecessarily difficult to write. Instead, think about your longer sentences with complex information. Consider using this rhythm for your central points and impact statements.

The reader will understand your text more easily, and your impact statements will be more emphatic.