The dozens of sentence patterns that I’ve identified in the main part of this little book are a start, not a finish. Nor do I delve into the word choices and ideas so important for making sentences truly stunning. And the focus is on expository writing, not fiction.
If you run across exemplars of the structures identified here—or find interesting variants, indeed new species—please send them to me at bruce@cdinet.com or browse into www.cdinet.com/AmericanWritingInstitute. I’ll try to plug them into the next edition.
I’d like to acknowledge the contributions of my colleagues at the American Writing Institute: Amy Cracknell, Andrea Brunholzl, Jessica Moore, Erika Schelble, Kelli Ashley, Alison Smith, and the interns Brendan McCarthy, Adam Calderon, Jessica Henig, and Ana Dahlman. I’d also like to acknowledge those of my editorial colleagues at Communications Development who reviewed the manuscript throughout its many stages: Meta de Coquereaumont, Alison Strong, Paul Holtz, Daphne Levitas, and Heidi Gifford. And I’d like to thank Clive Crook and Michiko Kakutani for their permission to use the pieces I’ve attached at the back as well as the many writers whose individual sentences I’ve used as examples.