Sentences and Paragraphs: Mastering the Two Most Important Units of Writing

by Charles Euchner

Ernest Hemingway one remarked that the ultimate challenge of writing is to produce "one true sentence." If you can write one great sentence, you can write two, three, and more great sentences. If you can write many great sentences, line after line, you can master any writing project from a school paper to a published book. Can you craft “one true sentence,” again and again? Sentences and Paragraphs, by Charles Euchner, is the completely updated best-selling and most authoritative book available on the essential two units of writing. Building on the foundation of The Golden Rule of Writing, Charles Euchner shows you everything you need to write good sentences and paragraphs. Get it and use it. You will write better than ever––and spare yourself hundreds of hours of confusion and agony. Once you can write great sentences, then what? Strangely, few teachers or editors can even define a paragraph. And so paragraphs become a hodge-podge collection of ideas, some related and some not. But without a clear understanding of this basic unit of writing, we struggle to write well. The definition of a paragraph is actually quite A paragraph is a cluster of sentences (usually) that states and develops just one idea. The development of this idea, ideally, takes the reader on a "journey" from one understanding of the world to another. Ideally, the paragraph "starts strong" and "finishes strong." This concise how-to guide shows you, with clear examples, how • Follow the Golden Rule for Sentences • Give Every Sentence an Action Packet • Make Every Sentence a Revolver • Use the Verbs To Be and To Have Sparingly • Make Some Sentences More Complicated • Alternate Short and Long Sentences • Follow the Golden Rule in Every Paragraph • ‘Climb the Arc’ in Most Paragraphs • Make Every Paragraph an “Idea Bucket” Sentences and Paragraphs includes vivid case studies of The New York Times coverage of national crises, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Milan Kundera’s Slowness, Stanley Fish’s How to Write a Sentence<.i>, Ernest Hemingway’s journalism, James Van Tholen’s “Surprised By Death,” and Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” Each chapter also includes exercises for you to put your new skills to work. About the Author Charles Euchner, an author and teacher, is the creator of The Elements of Writing. Euchner is the author of books on the presidency (Losing the Peace, forthcoming), civil rights (Nobody Turn Me Around), baseball (The Last Nine Inningsand Little League, Big Dreams), urban affairs (Urban Policy Reconsidered and Playing the Field), and other topics. A long time teacher—most recently at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation—Euchner has taught writing at seminars to corporate and education clients as well as author groups. Euchner holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University.

Genres: Writing

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2012

About the author

Charles Euchner is the author or editor of eight books. He teaches writing at Yale University and was the founding executive director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University.

Reviews

[Scott Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven pages too long

The information in the book is great. I can’t wait to get my class started writing stronger sentences and paragraphs. I should have stopped right after the chapter on correcting sentences because the rest of the book is all about praising the author. It comes across as self aggrandizement.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have some good takeaways from this book, namely when it comes to the literature review process. In particular I was intrigued by Euchner's view that the middle of a sentence is not necessary as the start and end of a sentence holds the most weight and reflect the meaning of the overall sentence.

[Alan Gerstle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for writing teachers. Trying to teach competent prose writing is a chore, regardless of the student's age or level. This book can definitely be an aid to explaining sentence and paragraph structure in the current school and educational climate. What once could have been considered a skill already implanted in a student's brain can no longer be taken for granted. Since competent writing is still a marketable skill for engineers, scientists, IT people, and so on, many students that would professionally benefit from improving their writing, may find the explanations in this book quite helpful. It may not help develop a taste for literature--not likely to inspire students to devour T.S. Eliot, but it does provide an incentive to compose legible, clear sentences and paragraphs. It may even help convince functionally illiterate students in the fifth grade or the fifth year of writing a doctoral dissertation that writing is more important than, let's say producing a tic toc video or becoming a social influencer by drooling on camera for an hour or deciding to pursue blacksmithing as a profession, inspired by watching a YouTube video about horses. There is some self-aggrandizing by the author as the book progresses at which time it's appropriate to say, 'Chill, bro, I don't need you to tell me your life storie, homey.'

[Edgar Guedez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great summary

This short book is a great summary of the principles for writing great sentences. I think adding a few more examples of bad and great sentences would complement the lessons explained in the book.

[Clyde jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple skill

This book presented a complex skill with easy to understand examples and doable action steps. It’s written for all writers but, mostly for the newbie. It will help keep your writing clear and readable.

[Rod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding.

Easy to read, Euchner is true to his content. This small book contains more practical advice than I had anticipated. Highly recommended.