WRITING A GOOD OPENING SENTENCE



WRITING A GOOD OPENING SENTENCE

Here are some examples of opening sentences, actual and invented, for you to consider.

How effective are they in arresting your attention? Do they make their effect by the idea or the expression of the idea or both?

1. ‘How did the alligator get in the bath?’ demanded my father one morning at breakfast. (The opening of a short story called ‘My Pet’.)

2. All criminals should be hanged. (The opening sentence of an essay on ‘Crime and Punishment’.)

3. ‘In married life three is company and two is none,’ said Oscar Wilde. (The opening of an essay on ‘What makes a happy marriage?’)

4. The night before young Larsen left to take up his new appointment in Egypt he went to the clairvoyant. (The opening of a short story by Algernon Blackpool called ‘By Water’.)

5. The house shook, the windows rattled, a framed photograph slipped off the mantel-shelf and fell into the hearth. (The opening of John Wyndham’s short story ‘Meteor’.)

|Some guidelines emerge from these examples |Remember these key words |

|Try the surprise attack or shock tactics. |Surprise/shock |

|Use a quotation to introduce your argument. |Quotation |

|Try to use words to create an atmosphere. |Poetic |

|Begin with a wittily- phrased summing up of an idea. |Funny |

|Begin with a question. |Question |

|Begin with a ‘cliff-hanger’ so that the reader asks why? or |Suspense |

|what happens next? Or what’s it all about? | |

Study the examples of opening sentences again and see which keyword connects with each. Write the keywords here

Answers

1. ____Surprise/funny_________

2. _________________________

3. _________________________

4. _______________________

5. _______________________

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The opening sentence

It is difficult to give advice on the opening sentence of an essay, but here is a point to consider.

THE OPENING SENTENCE MUST ATTRACT AND HOLD THE READERS ATTENTION. This can be done by the content of the sentence (its unexpectedness, perhaps) and by the way it is phrased (the neatness of expression).

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