Maintaining Focus *When writing sentences, you need to help your readers see how each new sentence follows from the sentence before it. As your audience reads your individual sentencing, they are constantly monitoring how the new information presented relates to the old information presented in the preceding sentence. If we can discern that relationship immediately, we can say that the writing flows smoothly. If we must pause to figure out that relationship, we complain that the writing is choppy and difficult to follow. *You need to keep in mind that sentence-to-sentence relationships which are obvious to your are not necessarily obvious to your reader; therefore, you need to make these relationships explicit via words which act as clues to reader. *The following are four things you can do to provide readers with the help they need as they move from sentence to sentence: 1) Avoid needless shifts in topic. For example consider the difference between the following two versions of adjacent sentences: a) Our company's new inventory system reduces our inventory costs considerably. Thousands of dollars have been saved by the system this year alone. b) Our company's new inventory system reduces our inventory costs considerably. The system has saved thousands of dollars this year alone. 2) Use transitional words, for example: a) links in time: after, before, during, until, while b) links in space: above, below, inside c) links of cause and effect: as a result, because, since d) links of similarity: as, furthermore, likewise, similarly, relatedly e) links of contrast: although, however, nevertheless, on the other hand; conversely 3) Use echo words, (i.e., a word or a phrase in a sentence which recalls to the readers' mind some information they have already encountered. For example: a) Inflation can be cured. The cure appears to require that consumers change their basic attitudes toward consumption. b) We had to return the copier. Its frequent breakdowns were disrupting our work. 4) place your transitional and echo words at the beginning of the sentence. Maintaining Focus