sentence clarity

1. Use Active Voice: emphasis is placed upon the use of active voice, as opposed to the use of passive voice because passive voice lacks clarity.

2. Avoid Double-Negatives: Multiple negatives can be difficult for the reader to follow. It's always better to use an affirmative form that to negate a negative.

3. Build Upon the Familiar: Readers need to connect with ideas and concepts that are familiar to them. If you introduce an idea that is known to your readers, and then connect that concept to a new one, the sentence will have greater clarity.

4. Put Subordinate Clauses Up Front: It can be confusing when the subordinate clause follows the main clause. Therefore it is often best to put thesubordinate clause up front.

5. Don't Misuse Nouns: One common practice in spoken language is the use of nouns where a verb would be more direct. This erodes clarity.

6. The verb should follow the subject as soon as possible.

7. place familiar information first in a clause, a sentence, or a paragraph, and put the new and unfamiliar information later.

8. Avoid unclear pronoun references using "This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they." They are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Be sure, however, that what you are referring to is clear.

9. Avoid overusing noun forms of verbs. For example, use "The plan was implemented successfully." instead of "The implementation of the plan was successful."

10. Choose action verbs over forms of be.

11. Try not to string nouns together one after the other because a series of nouns is difficult to understand. One way to revise a string of nouns is to change one noun to a verb.

12. When you have a series of words, phrases, or clauses, put them in parallel form (similar grammatical construction) so that the reader can identify the linking relationship more easily and clearly.