Day 38: Keep S-V-O combinations separate.

Here is the next strategy for using the S-V-O sentence structure effectively: Keep the S-V-O combinations separate. Sentences may have more than one S-V-O combination. In fact, some sentences have many such combinations. Consider this sentence.

“The legal analysis of the bill that the consultant prepared for us at our request convinced us to change our planning structure.”

The main S-V-O combination is “legal analysis . . . convinced us.” However, a second S-V combination is between the words “analysis” and “convinced”: “consultant prepared.” A third combination that looks similar to an S-V combination is also embedded between these words: “our request.”

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We want the rhetorical subject, main action, and object as close together as possible. We also want our sentences to be as straightforward as possible to help readers understand. To do this, we have to keep these S-V-O combinations separate. You can use more than one in a sentence, but write them one at a time, not mixed. Using this tip, the sentence can be revised as follows.

“At our request, the consultant prepared a legal analysis of the bill, which convinced us to change our planning structure.”

In this revision, we can still find the combinations “consultant prepared,” “our request,” and “analysis convinced.” All the major ideas are there. However, these S-V-O combinations are now separate, i.e., none is embedded within another; they are presented one at a time.