TECHNIQUES FOR ACHIEVING EMPHASIS

1
TECHNIQUES FOR ACHIEVING EMPHASIS
The exclamation mark

• A dash or colon has more emphatic force than a
  comma.
• The employees were surprised by the decision,
  which was not to change company policy.
• The employees were surprised by the decision--no
  change in company policy.
• The employees were surprised by the decision No
  change in company policy.

2

• Emphasis by repetition of key words
• See your good times come to color in minutes
  pictures protected by an elegant finish, pictures
  you can take with an instant flash, pictures that
  can be made into beautiful enlargements.

When a pattern is established through repetition
and then broken, the varied part will be
emphasized, as in this example

• Murtz Rent-a-car is first in reliability, first
  in service, and last in customer complaints.

3
Besides disrupting an expectation set up by the
context, you can also emphasize part of a
sentence by departing from the basic structural
patterns of the language.

• I'd make fifty dollars in just two hours on a
  busy night at the restaurant.
• Fifty dollars I'd make in just two hours on a
  busy night at the restaurant.

The initial and terminal positions of sentences
are inherently more emphatic than the middle
segment. Likewise, the main clause of a complex
sentence receives more emphasis than subordinate
clauses.
4
Never bury important elements in subordinate
clauses

• No one can deny that the computer has had a great
  effect upon the business world.
• Undeniably, the effect of the computer upon the
  business world has been great.

5
ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES FOR ACHIEVING EMPHASIS
Since the terminal position in the sentence
carries the most weight and since the main clause
is more emphatic than a subordinate clause in a
complex sentence, writers often place the
subordinate clause before the main clause to give
maximal emphasis to the main clause. For example

• Both of the applicants are superb even though
  it's hard to find good secretaries nowadays.
• Even though it's hard to find good secretaries
  nowadays, I believe both of these applicants are
  superb.

6
Sentence Position and Variation for Achieving
Emphasis

• An abrupt short sentence following a long
  sentence or a sequence of long sentences is often
  emphatic.

• Varying a sentence by using a question after a
  series of statements is another way of achieving
  emphasis.

7
Begin with old or familiar information and end
with new information.

• Salt is made up of two elements, sodium and
  chloride.

• Balance similar pieces of information.
• Military and medical records were examined
  psychological and technical tests were given.
• When taking orders from guests, dont ask if they
  would like dessert ask which dessert they would
  like the chocolate mousse or the cherry
  cheesecake.

8
Interrupt with important information using
parentheses, double dashes, or commas.

• Spacemen of fiction (Jules Vernes travelers to
  the Moon or the comic strip heroes Flash Gordon
  and Buck Rogers) were familiar characters midway
  through the 20th century, but nobody could
  accurately describe a real astronaut.
• Spacemen of fiction, Jules Vernes travelers to
  the Moon or the comic strip heroes Flash Gordon
  and Buck Rogers, were familiar characters midway
  through the 20th century, but nobody could
  accurately describe a real astronaut.
• Spacemen of fictionJules Vernes travelers to
  the Moon or the comic strip heroes Flash Gordon
  and Buck Rogerswere familiar characters midway
  through the 20th century, but nobody could
  accurately describe a real astronaut.

9

• Generalize before providing an example or image.
• Solar cells produce very little electricity
  Silicon cells, for instance, convert only about
  one-eighth of the energy of sunlight to
  electricity.
• High-energy radiation is associated with some of
  the strangest objects in the sky neutron stars,
  exploding galaxies, the remains of supernovas,
  pulsars, cosmic bursters, and of course, black
  holes.

10

• Build your sentence to a climax. Examine the
  differences in these sentences.
• The average Filipino consumes nearly 100 pounds
  of sugar each year, unaware of how sugar affects
  him.
• Each year, the average Filipino, unaware of the
  effects of sugar, consumes 100 pounds of it.
• Without being aware of the effects of sugar, the
  average Filipino consumes nearly 100 pounds of
  sugar each year.

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Artificial Emphasis
Underlining, rows of dots, capital letters, and
exclamation points are artificial ways of trying
to emphasize your thoughts.

• I have never seen such an UGLY cat!!! It MUST
  belong to Sara
• I have never in my life seen such an ugly cat
  bald, obese, and dirty, its eyes half-shut. The
  more I thought about it, the more I was convinced
  it must belong to Sara. It was her sort of cat
  pathetic, ferocious, unlovable.

12
Try substituting concrete or personal subjects
with active verbs.
Instead of More attractiveness is sometimes
given an act when it is made illegal. Write When
an act becomes illegal, some people find it more
attractive.
13
Watch out for jargon

• Use jargon sparingly. One may help the story
  several usually do not.
• Use jargon when they fit the story precisely.
• Don't use jargon to inflate simple situations.
• Get them right. (Do not throw the baby out with
  the dishwater.)
• Don't try to freshen them up by tinkering.
• If you must use one, don't apologize for it by
  putting it in quotes or introducing it with "As
  the old cliché says." Inviting readers to hold
  their noses just calls attention to the odor.
• Make an old saw cut in new ways by rearranging
  it "Bedfellows make strange politics."