Yes, long sentences can add poetic power and rhythm to your writing—as long as you know how to write a good one, without running out of breath.
Of course, shorter sentences are easier to gobble up for readers.
But that doesn’t mean long sentences should be banned.
Readability research suggests long sentences are fine, as long as you mix them with shorter ones.
Trick #1: What’s the idea?
Long sentences get a bad rap.
Because many writers abuse long sentences, cramming too many thoughts into each sentence, muddling up their message and leaving readers confused.
So, the main trick to composing a beautiful long sentence is to communicate only one idea with clarity.
A couple of weeks ago, I read There There by Tommy Orange. The New York Times named it as one of the 10 best novels of 2018. It’s an ambitious novel about identity and about urban life of Native Americans.
It’s important that he dress like an Indian, dance like an Indian, even if it is an act, even if he feels like a fraud the whole time, because the only way to be Indian in this world is to look and act like an Indian.
Then, the sentence branches out towards the end, but always staying on topic.
To make a long sentence easy to read, put the whole core of your sentence at the start, or close to the start.
A long sentence, in which the writer delays the core to the middle of the sentence or in which the core is broken up so readers have to remember how the sentence started, is more difficult to read.
A long sentence becomes difficult to read when you delay the core until the middle of the sentence or when you break up the core. A broken core forces readers to remember how the sentence started, making it hard to figure out the structure.
Putting the core at the front is a simple trick to help readers devour long sentences without running out of breath.
Like a poem, a long sentence takes readers on a tiny journey, describing one thought, one feeling, one evocative scene.
all of Oakland’s new development.
The sentence above describes one scene: how a train emerges in a rough, impoverished city district. The summing up of the graffitied apartment walls, abandoned houses, warehouses, and auto body shops gives you a feel of the overcrowded city life.
Note how the sentence starts with its core (the train emerges), then meanders through the rough buildings, and ends with a bang: stubbornly resist like deadweight all of Oakland’s new development.
or just to get rid of us.
Badly written long sentences drag on, but beautiful long sentences have energy, propelling readers from the start towards the end. As a reader, you feel a sense of anticipation wanting to know what comes next.
But an app doesn’t hear the rhythm of a sentence, like humans do.
And an app doesn’t understand the intense emotion of a long sentence. It doesn’t understand how a long sentence spurs readers on towards the last word, and then on to the next sentence.
Of course, there’s a difference between being engrossed in a novel, like There There, and reading online.
Online readers are often in a hurry, and they’re easily distracted. So, choose where to place long sentences carefully. Especially at the start of a blog post, keep your sentences short.
Once you’ve captivated readers, experiment with a couple of longer sentences. Read aloud to hear the rhythm and pay attention to how the sentence looks on screen—large blocks of texts can put readers off. So, don’t overdo it.
Don’t write a long sentence to show off your grasp of grammar.
Don’t write a long sentence to impress your readers.
Instead, write a long sentence to express an idea with power and rhythm.
A long sentence (…) can put the reader on edge a little, so long as this does not feel like its main point, so long as it feels as if the sentence has no ulterior motive other than the giving of its own life-delighting self. This is what readability scores will never tell you. They deal only with reading ease, not the knottier, exacting pleasures of expectancy and surprise, the teasing way that long sentences suspend the moment of closure.
This really explains how to use longer sentences effectively. You need to use them when telling stories and that’s what content marketing is really about.
Thanks for clarifying this for me today!
The Yoast plugin is good for SEO, but the advice on readability is limited. For instance, the plugin complains when I start consecutive sentences with the same word and it often complains that I don’t use enough transition words. But when your writing is clear, you don’t need that many transition words.
Indeed, I have also noticed that. I basically don’t pay attention to the Yoast plugin anymore regarding readability.
I love this! Thanks, Henneke.
Thank you, Rachel. Happy writing!
Great ideas. Will start implementing them although I think it requires higher writing skills than I have just now.
You don’t have to make the sentences as crazy long as the ones by Tommy Orange. But it’s a great exercise to try longer sentences and play with the rhythm.
As always, you get to the heart of my struggle and bring clarity with a few written words. Thank you for that!
Brilliant post, Henneke! Thanks… it was perfect timing too. How do you do that?
What a wonderful article on the ‘art’ of writing. We get so caught up in the technical aspects we forget about giving it life. Loved it!
I’m inclined to think that the technical aspects are way less important than most of us think. Focusing on communicating with clarity is so much more important. Plus learning to listen to how your writing sounds (and what you’re really communicating).
Another great post I can put into practice immediately.
Thank you, Veronica 🙂 Happy writing!
I love the way you give easy-to-follow advice and yet you are talking about the soul of writing, something that is harder to explain but you know when you see and feel it. Your point about the Hemingway app is so true. Technology can analyze all sorts of things quickly but only the soul can recognize enchantment.
Thank you, Henneke (and Henrietta)!
Thank you so much, Kate. I love your point about the soul of writing. The more I’ve been writing, the more important that has become to me.
Henneke, you confirmed what I have often thought about long sentences. If the flow is good and it fits, use it, but sparingly.
Putting the sentence’s core at the start instantly made sense, yet it’s not something I’d ever considered before. Thanks for another great tip Henneke, and your lively illustration made it even better.
Thank you for stopping by, Bev.
Great advice! I just realized why I use to write long sentences. I want to give more detail on what I think. And I just write exactly what I think (in that same order), so it is hard to understand. I’ll start using this technique in the editing phase. I’m sure it would be really useful, is it was really hard for me to cut my long sentences and still say what I wanted to.
Yes, you can use your first draft just to get your thoughts down, not worrying about sentence structure. Then when you edit, you can improve clarity, flow and rhythm.
Thanks for such solid, how-to advice. Great analysis of how to make the long sentence work!
Thank you, Kristina. Happy writing!
I loved this! Paying attention to the rhythm of a long sentence and the flow of details adding to the image is so effective – when done right. Loved the examples you give, and the idea of the core idea right up front.
Thank you, Nicki. I had wanted to write about long sentences for a long time, but I had never come across examples that inspired me … until I read There There.
WONDERFUL. I am going to put a link to this post in my post on “using short sentences,” lol!! Seriously, doing that right now.
I love the grace a long sentence brings to its shorter brethren. But previously I could not figure out an easy, clear way to explain HOW one can go about writing a long sentence that has both clarity and grace. You’ve done it again!!
I faced exactly the same challenge… finding an easy way to explain how to write a long sentence (without getting stuck in grammar discussions!).
I appreciate your link and your comment, Thea. Thank you.
How such a complex insubordinate idea be put in such an enchanting way?
Only you can Henneke 🙂 Bravo!
As the Queen of the long sentence, I concur with your analysis. Thanks for the excellent advice.
Thank you, your Majesty 🙂 I’m glad you concur!
As a writer, I avoid long sentences like the plague. Now, though, thanks to you, I might use the odd long sentence from time to time.
As my confidence as writer has grown in recent years, I’ve found myself making my sentences gradually longer. I still use very long sentences sparingly, but I’m not afraid of using them any more.
Happy writing, Andrew! And thank you for stopping by.
How do I love ❤️ 💚💜 this one…in oh soooo many ways!!
I loved this post. There’s nothing better than reading a long sentence that so… yummy? I’ve read a-many-a-sentence that each addition to that long sentence just builds to the over-all description the writer is trying to give.
I’ve also had it go the other way and lost my breath… ugh.
Thank you for this post and showing that long sentences can be great.
I love all of your stuff and always look forward to them.
Yes, so true. Most long sentences wear me down, but when you read a good one … it’s wonderful.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Danae. I appreciate it.
I was enthralled by Henrietta for minutes before I even got to the post. Such a beautiful, simple, vibrant graphic. There is definitely an art to the long sentence. Thanks for sharing such beautiful examples.
“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.
Yes, that’s a good one! 🙂 I didn’t want to get into sentence variation for this post; it’s a big enough topic to write a whole post about.
Thank you stopping by, Mark.
Love this Henneke. Long sentences can be a problem for many students visiting the university writing center. I can’t wait to share your tips with them, so they can write beautiful rather than dull long sentence. Thanks again Henneke!
Thank you, Christine. Long sentences seem to be a funny problem—either people shy away from them completely or they write them but don’t realize how convoluted their long sentences are.
Yes, I like it! Thank you for sharing.
Sometimes it feels like we’re under attack from the sharp staccatos of modern communication. Abrupt. Get to the point. Move on. Don’t waste time or take too much space. Oh, I’m not downing on short sentences. Good ones – meaningful ones – can be difficult to write and they are certainly key in today’s marketing world. But the beauty of a well-crafted long sentence … it’s like taking time out to ride with the flow of the words and discover meaning. I guess it’s truly an art form, and one that won’t fade away as long as there are people like you to keep it alive! Thanks so much for posting, Henneke.
Thank you for stopping by, Judith.
If you establish the proper tempo, long sentences flow beautifully. One needs to beef things up clearly without adding any fluff or bloat.
I like seeing long sentences as cumulative or expanding—you don’t overstuff a simple sentence, but rather you add more at the end so it becomes an intriguing journey. Thank you for stopping by again, Ryan!
I was very intrigued when I received this article. What? Somebody actually recommending long sentences? I agree with everything you said.
God, I am suddenly feeling hungry.
Thanks for such a refreshing post!
It made me remember once briefly traveling with someone who didn’t enjoy eating, and it was such a pity. For me, one of the highlights of traveling is getting to savor new foods. When you’re with someone who doesn’t get that, a lot of the traveling fun is gone.
Nice post! The Hemingway- and other apps sometimes come to weird conclusions. As does Yoast’s style advice. It keeps summoning me to write easier sentences. Ha! I already have a truly good Hemingway score. So I ditched the style advice.
I was gifted that book.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, too!
I think the key is about mixing the long sentences with shorter ones. So for anyone who was challenged, there’s a chance to rest and recover.
The overall reading level is Grade 8, but there are lots of individual ‘very-hard-to-read’ long sentences. It’s the mix!
Yes, it’s about mixing short and long.
When I checked Shane Snow’s post, I found that all long sentences have the core at the start or almost at the start.
If you’re interested, statistician Ben Blatt shares a similar analysis (on sentence length of the classics) in his book “Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve”—this also includes some interesting analysis of the use of -ly adverbs by famous writers.
Thank you for stopping by, Bridget.
You’re welcome, Grant. What was useful to you?
Long sentences can establish content as written by a trusted resource, because it shows they have a lot to say and if they didn’t have a lot of valuable stuff to say they would have chosen to write a short sentence instead.
You can say a lot in shorter sentences, too, and you have a better chance of readers actually understanding you when your average sentence length is relatively short.