“Doyouwanttowriteclearer,livelierprose?Thiswittyprimerwillhelp.“--TheNewYorkTimesBookReviewAnexplorationofhowthemostordinarywordscanbeturnedintoverbalconstellationsofextraordinarygracethroughtheartofbuildingsentencesThesentenceisthecommongroundwhereeverywriterwalks.Agoodsentencecanbewritten(andread)byanyoneifwesimplygiveitthegiftofourtime,anditisascloseasmostofuswillgettomakingsomethingtrulybeautiful.UsingminimaltechnicaltermsandsourcesrangingfromtheBibleandShakespearetoGeorgeOrwellandMaggieNelson,aswellasscientificstudiesofwhatcanbestfirethereader’smind,authorJoeMoranshowshowwecanallwriteinawaythatisclear,compellingandalive.Whetherdealingwithfindingtheidealword,buildingasentence,orconstructingaparagraph,FirstYouWriteaSentenceinformsbylightexample:muchricherthanastyleguide,itcanbereadnotonlyforinstructionbutforpleasureanddelight.Andalongtheway,itshowshowgoodwritingcanhelpusnoticetheworld,makeourselvesknowntoothers,andlivemoremeaningfullives.It’sanelegantgeminpraiseoftheEnglishsentence.
