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The Inside Write Stuff: Put important points at the end or the beginning of the sentence

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(1) “Management wants this deal to close before the end of the quarter so that we can book the revenue this fiscal year.”

(2a) “Before the end of the quarter is when management wants this deal to close so that we can book the revenue this fiscal year.”

(2b) “So that we can book the revenue this fiscal year, management wants this deal to close before the end of the quarter.”

The most emphatic position in a sentence is the end. The beginning is the second most emphatic. So if a close by quarter’s end is that point that deserves the most stress, don’t bury it in the middle of the sentence, the way (1) does. You can highlight the important point by placing it at the start of the sentence (2a) or at the close of the sentence (2b).

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One response to “The Inside Write Stuff: Put important points at the end or the beginning of the sentence”

  1. Saul Lieberman says:
    March 22, 2006 at 10:42 am

    (2a) and (2b) are hell on the reader. Why? Because (2a) and (2b) require the reader to read a later part of the sentence in order to make sense of the first part. (He has to read the sentence twice.) The better rule is to avoid that structure. (1) is the better choice for me — it has a natural “flow”.