Long sentences in personal statement Forum

(Personal Statement Examples, Advice, Critique, . . . )
Post Reply
Anonymous User
Posts: 428107
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Long sentences in personal statement

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:30 pm

What do you guys think? Im finding that in order to be both concise and insightful, some long and descriptive sentences are inevitable - do you think this will have any impact on the overall effectiveness of the statement?

LSATclincher

Bronze
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:09 pm

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by LSATclincher » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:32 pm

If you don't know how to effectively use sentence length in your writing, then something is wrong.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428107
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:59 pm

So are you saying that as long as the sentences themselves are effective, whether or not they are too long will not matter from the point of view of the reader?

LSATclincher

Bronze
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:09 pm

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by LSATclincher » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:05 pm

Anonymous User wrote:So are you saying that as long as the sentences themselves are effective, whether or not they are too long will not matter from the point of view of the reader?
It's syntax. You can use longer (or shorter) sentences to convey different emotions/meaning to the reader. Good writing is good writing. You can just generally say long sentences are bad.

User avatar
basedvulpes

Gold
Posts: 2901
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:58 pm

Post removed.

Post by basedvulpes » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:08 pm

Post removed.
Last edited by basedvulpes on Thu Nov 12, 2015 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Anonymous User
Posts: 428107
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:12 pm

LSATclincher wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:So are you saying that as long as the sentences themselves are effective, whether or not they are too long will not matter from the point of view of the reader?
It's syntax. You can use longer (or shorter) sentences to convey different emotions/meaning to the reader. Good writing is good writing. You can just generally say long sentences are bad.
Got it. Just to clarify, in your last sentence you meant - one can't just generally say...

Thanks

User avatar
PoopyPants

Bronze
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:55 am

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by PoopyPants » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:39 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
LSATclincher wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:So are you saying that as long as the sentences themselves are effective, whether or not they are too long will not matter from the point of view of the reader?
It's syntax. You can use longer (or shorter) sentences to convey different emotions/meaning to the reader. Good writing is good writing. You can just generally say long sentences are bad.
Got it. Just to clarify, in your last sentence you meant - one can't just generally say...

Thanks
Generally, series of long sentences are bad. Think about it. When you read a novel, or even a research paper, what happens when you see dense paragraphs of extremely long sentences? Your eyes glaze over, and your natural inclination (at least for most people--and particularly people who must read hundreds or thousands of these essays) is to skip to where the prose gets shorter.

The length of your sentences are a huge part of pacing. Is something exciting or dramatic happening? Short sentences can create a sense of urgency and action. But, long sentences can also create a sort of stream-of-consciousness kind of thing when done correctly, though this is definitely more difficult to do, and should be used sparingly (for a great example of pacing in general, but specifically the stream of consciousness pacing during an action scene, read American Psycho).

Just in general though, keep your sentences relatively concise. Better writing makes for better reading.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428107
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:41 am

PoopyPants wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
LSATclincher wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:So are you saying that as long as the sentences themselves are effective, whether or not they are too long will not matter from the point of view of the reader?
It's syntax. You can use longer (or shorter) sentences to convey different emotions/meaning to the reader. Good writing is good writing. You can just generally say long sentences are bad.
Got it. Just to clarify, in your last sentence you meant - one can't just generally say...

Thanks
Generally, series of long sentences are bad. Think about it. When you read a novel, or even a research paper, what happens when you see dense paragraphs of extremely long sentences? Your eyes glaze over, and your natural inclination (at least for most people--and particularly people who must read hundreds or thousands of these essays) is to skip to where the prose gets shorter.

The length of your sentences are a huge part of pacing. Is something exciting or dramatic happening? Short sentences can create a sense of urgency and action. But, long sentences can also create a sort of stream-of-consciousness kind of thing when done correctly, though this is definitely more difficult to do, and should be used sparingly (for a great example of pacing in general, but specifically the stream of consciousness pacing during an action scene, read American Psycho).

Just in general though, keep your sentences relatively concise. Better writing makes for better reading.
OP here. Many thanks for the above response. I read this after making some edits in my PS and I found pacing very applicable in the cases where I ended up either splitting or combing sentences. I plan to anonymize and post it once it's complete...or maybe even before to see if I get any objections as to the topic and direction

User avatar
PoopyPants

Bronze
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:55 am

Re: Long sentences in personal statement

Post by PoopyPants » Sat Oct 31, 2015 5:28 pm

Glad to help. I haven't been accepted yet (haven't even applied yet), but I have been published over a hundred times (fiction, trade nonfiction, and scholarly papers), so I try to help out when I feel I can.

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


Post Reply

Return to “Law School Personal Statements”