ELIMINATING CHOPPY SENTENCES This is fun. It is an exercise. It is for writing. It is important. This is a skill. You will use this. You will us it often. You will use it in school. You will use it in your personal life. You will use it in your work. Doesn’t this sound better? This is a fun writing exercise for an important skill that you will often use in your school work, personal writing, and future careers. Sometimes we get lulled into writing short, choppy sentences. When and where appropriate, try to combine sentences. I was happy. The sun was shining. It was the first day of summer vacation. Doesn’t I this sound better? was happy that sunny first day of summer vacation. Andrew felt sick. His head ached. His stomach hurt. He knew he was getting sick. How would YOU combine the sentences? Andrew’s aching head and hurting stomach told him he was getting sick. It was noisy. Dogs were barking. Radios blared. My ears hurt. Sounds like my tower on a Saturday night. The noise of barking dogs and blaring radios hurt my ears. I love Colorado. I like the huge mountains. Colorado has sparkling streams. Whhhhaaaaaaa??? I love Colorado’s huge mountains and sparkling streams. It was dark. It was really dark. I heard a noise. It was a strange sound. It scared me. How would YOU rewrite this? Strange sounds in the darkness scared me.  See what you can do with the next example.  Remember to avoid using too many conjunctions  Try to make your writing flow.  Have fun!  Dusk settled over the town. The dusk was murky. The town was small. Clouds scudded across the sky. The clouds were thick. The clouds were low. The river was swollen. Rain drenched the town. The mayor peered through his window. The town was frightened. The mayor was anxious. The window was smudged. The mayor peered upriver. The dam protected the town. The dam was earthen. The dam was weakened. It was weakened by the rain. A flood seemed imminent. The flood would be dangerous. The mayor donned his slicker and boots. The slicker was for rain. The boots were rubber. He plodded out to his truck. It was a pickup truck. He wanted to look at the dam. The truck would get him closer to the dam. It would go to the dam. The dam was old.