Chapter 4: Technical Writing Style
4.3 Sentence Constructions
This section defines parts of speech and sentence constructions to help you write clearly and concisely.
Learning Objectives
After you read this section, you will be able to
- identify parts of speech
- combine parts of speech into simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences
- define active voice
- avoid fragments and run-on sentences
What sentence constructions should you include?
Since technical writers write clearly and concisely, including long and winding sentences in your documents could be problematic for your audience. Remember that technical documents are not essays nor are they creative, expressive endeavors like poetry.
The following table includes the parts of speech, their meaning, and example words to refresh your memory because these parts of speech are the building blocks of sentences:
| Part of Speech | Meaning | Example |
| Noun (N) | Person, place, or thing | James, genre, words |
| Pronoun (P) | Takes the place of a noun | He, they, you |
| Verb (V) | Action or state of being | Write, talk, run |
| Adjectives (Adj) | Modifies a noun or pronoun | Concise, clear, beautiful |
| Adverb (Adv) | Modifies a verb, adverb, or adjective | Quickly, softly |
| Subordinating Conjunction (SC) | Connects words and phrases syntactically unequal | Which, Because, Although |
| Coordinating Conjunction (CC) | Connects words and phrases syntactically equal | And, but, for, nor, so, yet, or |
| Preposition (P) | Relationship between noun/pronoun and another word | In, of, between |
| Article (A) | References a specific thing | A, an, the |
The following table combines the parts of speech from the previous table into sentences:
| Sentence Type | Clause | Parts of speech + punctuation | Example |
| Simple | Independent | S + V. | She writes. |
| Compound | Independent + Independent | S + V + , + CC + S + V. | She writes, and he reads. |
| Complex | Independent + Dependent | S + V + SC + S + V. | He reads because she writes. |
| Compound-Complex | Independent + Independent + Dependent | S + V + , + CC + S + V + SC + S + V. | He reads because she writes, and they laugh. |
Although you don’t want to include simple sentence after simple sentence, you do want to avoid using prepositional phrases, unnecessary phrases, and repetition in your sentences. When you write, always remember who your audience IS and what they need to know. Keep your sentences clear, specific, and use concrete language that they can understand.
Again, using Beyond Gaming: Using Discord to Increase Communication in your Courses, look at this example from the introduction section:
“Using Discord for course communication also provides a layer of security since you create your own server and send invitations to other users. Without an invitation, no one can access the content within a private server.”
This short paragraph includes two sentences. Can you identify the sentence constructions? The first sentence is a complex sentence since it includes an independent clause (S + V: “using Discord for course communication” + “provides”) and a dependent clause (SC + S + V: “since” + “you” + “create” and “send”). In this example, “create your own server” and “send invitations to other users” is a compound verb phrase.
The second sentence is simple (S + V: “no one” + “can access”).
What if this short paragraph included only simple sentences?
Using Discord for course communication also provides a layer of security. You create your own server. You send invitations to other users. Without an invitation, no one can access the content within a private server.
Is this paragraph grammatically correct? Yes, but the ideas are not connected clearly, and the sentences create a fragmented feel to the tutorial. Combining ideas into compound or complex sentences (or creating compound verbs) helps to make the content easier to read.
You do, however, want to avoid long compound-complex sentences because they are not quickly scannable. Remember, your users are searching for information, so create easy to read sentences that are still logically connected.
Using Active Voice
Redish (2012) argues that technical communicators should use active voice sentences, which means that the subject of the sentence is doing the action. In a passive voice sentence, the object of the sentence is placed in the subject position improperly.
| Active voice | Passive voice |
| A technical communicator writes document content. | Document content is written by a technical communicator. |
| Users read and use technical documents for specific purposes. | Technical documents are read and used for specific purposes by users. |
Avoiding Fragments
Fragments are partial sentences, which should be avoided except for when you write your actionable steps for all tasks. There are several different forms of fragments: missing subjects, missing verbs, or missing independent clauses with inclusion of only a dependent clause.
Avoiding Run-ons
Run-on sentences are those that contain more than one independent clause without proper punctuation or coordinating conjunctions. For example: Using Discord for course communication also provides a layer of security you create your own server you send invitations to other users. This is three distinct independent clauses with no punctuation, so it is a run-on.
Another type of run-on sentence is a comma splice, which is when a comma separates two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction. For example: Using Discord for course communication also provides a layer of security, you create your own server.
