Sentence and word expansion

Test Your Sentence-Expanding Skills

How to add detail to your writing

Updated on November 05, 2019

Sentence expanding is the process of adding one or more words, phrases, or clauses to the main clause (or independent clause) to do just that: expand your sentences.

Sentence-expanding exercises are often used in conjunction with sentence-combining and sentence-imitation exercises: Together, these activities may serve as a supplement or an alternative to more traditional methods of grammar and writing instruction.

The primary purpose of using sentence-expanding exercises in composition is to enrich a student’s thinking and attention to detail in storytelling while heightening his or her awareness of the variety of available sentence structures. All together, it gives students the ability to paint a more vivid picture and express a more complex thought.

Sentence-Expanding Possibilities

The frameworks for sentence expanding are as rich and varied as are the grammatical structures offered to us by the English language:

• Expanding Sentences With Adjectives and Adverbs
• Expanding Sentences With Prepositional Phrases
• Expanding Sentences With Appositives
• Expanding Sentences With Adjective Clauses
• Expanding Sentences With Adverb Clauses
• Expanding Sentences With Absolute Phrases

Examples and Exercises

• Sentence-Murdering and Sentence-Expanding. English teacher and author Sally Burkhardt offers the following exercise: «In a sentence-murdering activity, [you] butcher a selected sentence, usually turning it into a series of run-ons and comma splices, common errors beginning writers often make. In sentence-expanding, [you] give students a phrase from the selected sentence for them to expand into as long a sentence as possible without using correlative conjunctions or committing any syntactical errors. Copying well-written sentences daily gives students a tacit knowledge of how to write complex sentences without learning technical grammatical descriptions.»
• Expanding Texts: Effective language-teaching practitioners Penny Ur and Andrew Wright offer the following exercise for forming grammatical sentences by adding words or phrases: «Write a single simple verb in the center of the board. Invite students to add one, two or three words to it. For example, if the word was ‘go,’ they might suggest ‘I go,’ or ‘Go to bed!’ They go on suggesting additions of a maximum of three consecutive words each time, making a longer and longer text, until you, or they, have had enough.»
• In Stanley Fish’s Sentence-Expanding Exercise, «You start small, with three-word sentences, and after you’ve advanced to the point where you can rattle off their structure on demand, you go on to the next step and another exercise. Take a little sentence (‘Bob collects coins’ or ‘John hit the ball’), whose ensemble of relationships you are now able to explain in your sleep, and expand it, first into a sentence of fifteen words and then into a sentence of thirty words, and finally, into a sentence of one-hundred words … And then—here comes the hard part again—tag every added component with an account of how it functions to extend and maintain the set of relationships that holds the sentence, however mammoth or unwieldy it becomes, together.»

Sources

• Burkhardt, Sally E. Using the Brain to Spell: Effective Strategies for All Levels. Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2011.
• Davis, Paul, and Mario Rinvolucri. Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
• Fish, Stanley Eugene. How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One. Harper, 2012.
• Ur, Penny, and Andrew Wright. Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book of Short Activities. Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Sometimes, we find it hard to reach our target word count. It doesn’t make you a lazy writer. The topic might just be a hard nut to crack, or the required word count might be too high for you. There are many ways to tackle the issue and get more words in. One of the easiest ways is sentence expansion. When you expand a sentence, you add a few extra words that increase the length without altering the meaning.

Expanding a sentence isn’t all about increasing the word count. Sometimes you need to write longer sentences to drive home your point. Whatever your needs are, you can rely on INK’s AI Expand tool to help you expand your sentences.

How to Expand a Sentence

The aim of expanding a sentence varies. Notwithstanding, you can apply these tips irrespective of the aim.

Add Examples

Adding examples to your sentence is a simple way of increasing the length of your sentence. In this case, you won’t be accused of adding fluff to the writing as long as the examples are relevant. For example:

• Some animals are nocturnal.
• Some animals, including bats, aardvarks, and raccoons, are nocturnal.
• We have many activities lined up for Christmas
• We have many activities lined up for Christmas, such as sledding and game night.

Adding extra details is similar to the tip above. However, it differs in the sense that you are not adding specific examples. You are only providing extra information. For example:

• The man was happy
• The man who won the challenge was happy

The second example provides additional information about “the man.” We’ve expanded the sentence by giving extra information.

• He traveled out of the country eventually.
• Without any help, he traveled out of the country eventually.

The second example provides circumstantial information regarding the subject of the sentence.

Use Longer Alternatives

There are certain words and phrases that have longer alternatives, and this could be a clever way of extending sentences. This method is especially effective if the aim is to add more words to meet a specific word count target. For example:

• He screamed to draw our attention.
• He screamed in order to draw our attention.
• Some schools allow cell phones.
• A number of schools allow cell phones.
• Michael was stranded because the bus had left.
• Michael was stranded due to the fact that the bus had left.
• Although he pleaded for mercy, the judge jailed him.
• In spite of the fact that he pleaded for mercy, the judge jailed him.

Write in Passive Voice

When you construct passive sentences, you have a simple way of increasing the number of words in your writing. Passive sentences are better used sparingly because they can affect readability. Nevertheless, throwing one or two into your writing helps you mix things up.

• Some schools allow cell phones (four words)
• Cellphones are allowed by some schools (six words)
• The judge jailed him (four words)
• He was jailed by the judge (six words)

Expand Contractions

Expanding contractions is a simple way to lengthen your sentence and increase word count. Contraction entails mashing two words together to make them shorter. This process does the opposite of expanding sentences. If you have contracted words in your writing, you should expand them. Examples are:

• They’re — they are
• You’re — you are
• There’s — there is
• We’ll — we will
• They’ve — they have
• I’ve — I have

AI Tools to Expand a Sentence

Instead of following the processes above to expand sentences, some AI tools like INK can help out. Such tools can replicate human intelligence in writing.

INK

INK is the best tool to expand a sentence because of its efficient output. The tool is easy to use and offers various integration options. It has a desktop editor compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Users can also use the Chrome extension to expand their sentences.

On the PC editor, you only need to highlight the text you want to expand and click on the “expand” button. INK will expand your sentence instantly. Expanding your sentence with the Chrome extension follows a similar process. Highlight your text, and click on the INK icon that appears next to it. Click on expand (two arrows facing opposite directions), and INK will generate a list of expanded versions of your sentence. The good thing about INK is that you don’t have to pay to use the sentence rewriter.

Other Features

• Headline optimization
• Distraction-free editor interface
• Optimizes content for SEO
• Unlimited rewrites on the free plan
• Over 120 writing tools
• Spelling and punctuation checker

QuillBot

QuillBot is a paraphrasing tool that allows users to rewrite their work in many ways. It offers seven unique paraphrasing modes to ensure precise output. Users can use Standard and Fluency paraphrasing modes for free. However, the expand option is only available when you upgrade to premium.

Other Features

• Grammar and plagiarism checker
• Citation generator
• Chrome and Microsoft Word extensions

Outwrite

Outwrite is an AI-powered tool that can be used to expand sentences. You can use Outwrite to add variety to your writing and increase word count. Expanding sentences with Outwrite is quite straightforward. You highlight the text and select “expand.” Then, Outwrite expands your sentence automatically.

Other Features

• The tool can also shorten and restructure sentences
• Chrome extension
• Supports multiple platforms

Jasper

Jasper’s sentence expander template is another AI-powered tool to expand a sentence. The template helps users expand a short sentence or add a few words to a longer sentence. It does this while ensuring that the output is creative and engaging.

Other Features

• The tool has more than fifty AI templates
• Supports more than 20 languages
• Offers Surfer SEO integration

Conclusion

On a general note, too many words can make your point boring. If it goes on too long, it’s easy to get bogged down and lose the interest of your audience.

However, if you look at a well-crafted or well-expanded sentence, it should cling to the reader. It’s an important part of writing well to strike a balance between brevity and substance.