From the course: Advanced Grammar

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Sentence sprawl

Sentence sprawl

From the course: Advanced Grammar

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Sentence sprawl

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- [Instructor] We've talked about many types of grammatical errors that can make it harder for your readers to understand your writing. But as we've also seen, not every problem you want to avoid is an out-and-out error. Sentence sprawl is another one of those problems that isn't technically wrong, but that's still something you want to avoid. Sentence sprawl is when you have too many similar clauses, often because you're trying to cram too much information into a single sentence, which ends up making your writing feel monotonous. Consider this sentence. Alex organized a press conference for the WoofRider 3000, but the media went to a competing conference, so Alex created a follow-up campaign, and the product gained significant attention. While grammatically correct, it's a classic example of sentence sprawl with four similar independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions. It feels monotonous and packs too much information. You can fix sentence sprawl by varying your sentence…

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