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Back Emphasis

There are many ways to add EMPHASIS to text. Some people want to use various effects to make words stand out, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to do that. A long time ago I got this idea planted in my head: A good writer should be able to emphasize words without having to rely on visual effects. During a good conversation with my cousin recently, I was reminded of this principle that I choose to adhere to, but for the life of me I couldn’t explain to her how one is supposed to emphasize certain words without some sort of text-editing trick. I feel like I do it all the time. But how?

1. If you write a series of longer sentences and then one short sentence, the short sentence will be emphasized. (Look up there, at the end of that paragraph. Oh man, I even used a sentence fragment but I stand by that one.)

2. A few sources say that readers pay the most attention to the end of a sentence, so place important information there.

3. Imperatives are great at getting the reader’s attention. (Examples).

Even outside of basic sentence structure, emphasis is important. When writing an essay, consider that the first and last examples used will be in places of emphasis. The thesis statement and final sentence are also places that the reader is naturally drawn to and views with certain expectations. I always expect to read a clear statement that defines the purpose of a paper, when I’m at the last sentence of the first paragraph (where the thesis statement goes). And I always expect to read a nice, clean sentence that wraps up the entire paper and leaves me feeling satisfied when I read the last sentence. Take advantage of these expectations and make those sentences especially strong!

Creating emphasis without using bold, italics, or underlining takes some skill and practice, but ultimately ends up appear far more professional and can be much more effective.

Some helpful websites:

http://grammar.about.com/b/2013/10/25/achieving-emphasis-in-writing.htm

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