Pro Tip: The Way You End A Sentence Matters

Pro Tip: The Way You End a Sentence Matters

Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.

In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.

Consider:

In the end, what you said didn't matter.

It didn't matter what you said in the end.

In the end, it didn't matter what you said.

Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?

The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).

Let's try it again:

When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.

She couldn't even cry when her mother died.

That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.

The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.

In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)

god some of you are just so weird about having content on this site

“justify”?! babes it’s a bullshit internet scrapbook not a fucking phd thesis

Jazz gets frustrated that the higher ups of Arkham aren't even giving her a chance to implement a program to redeem the patients that she knows can be saved. So she decides to implement her own plan as an alter-ego of sorts outside of Arkham.

She slowly gets the resources necessary to provide Gotham's rogues a healthy outlet that's not destroying the city.

Harley is the one that finds out about Jazz's alter-ego, and decides to join her in helping the rouges be more understood.

And when Batman starts looking into them, Harley easily distracts the Batfam away from Jazz's Underground Therapy movement. Especially since it's working, and only the true problematic rogues (like Joker) are repeatedly kept at Arkham.

hey. the celebrities and corporations are going to try tumblr. you may want to drive them off the site, or find them amusing, ie “well THIS one can stay.” they may try to engage with the culture. they may do their research. DO NOT ENGAGE. do not bother. don’t fucking acknowledge them. don’t mess with their heads. don’t reply to them as a bit. let them think this site is a lost cause. let them fizzle out and die

Why he hot tho????

Man it’s 3 am I’m to tired for this sugar honey ice tea.

I’ve been burying myself in Tintin fandom recently, and I somewhat adore how chaotic these characters are in the comic.

[ Support me with coffee ☕ ]

"tumblr doesn't have an algorithm so likes are WORTHLESS they do NOTHING" well actually likes tell me that people liked my post. they have worth because they show me people saw my post and enjoyed it. that's still interaction even if it doesn't give an extra boost to make Number Go Up even more. yeah I generally get more out of written feedback in tags/replies but likes are still Something, they aren't people telling me "fuck you I'm not sharing your post" they're people telling me "hehe I give your post little a like as a treat."