The Magic of 'Sentence Endings': How a Little Attention Can Instantly Make Your Writing Look More Sophisticated

Good evening, everyone. Today, I will introduce a way to improve your writing so that it looks more polished. Have you ever written something, but it just feels a bit unrefined? That might be because of the sentence endings you are using.

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When you write, it feels a bit unrefined

You have written something, but it feels strangely awkward. The problem might lie in incorrect particles, sentence structure, vocabulary, or logical flow. These issues also significantly affect the readability and sophistication of your writing. However, fixing these points to improve your writing skills takes time. This time, I will introduce a point that is easier to implement and will significantly increase the sophistication of your writing with just a little attention. That is the sentence ending.

Please try reading this text.

■A
In January 2016, I had the opportunity to participate in Mr. A's 'Marketing and Information Dissemination in the SNS Era.' Mr. B, who is active in the media as a PR person for Company C, was also a speaker. There, I realized the importance of PR professionals interacting with each other. So, I reached out to nearby companies myself and held a small study group. We didn't just teach one-sidedly; we held events where we thought together about what makes a good communicator for the reader and generated ideas together. It started as a small gathering, but the scale gradually grew. With that background, it led to holding this large-scale marketing seminar. I felt that Mr. N, the PR representative of Company K, understood my thoughts up to this point. The organizer, Mr. N, said, 'I want to make this a place for mutual dissemination.' Below is the report of the day. I wanted to think about this together with all of you who are reading this.

■B
In January 2016, I had the opportunity to participate in Mr. A's 'Marketing and Information Dissemination in the SNS Era.' Mr. B, who is active in the media as a PR person for Company C, also spoke. What I realized there was the importance of PR professionals interacting with each other. So, I reached out to nearby companies myself and decided to hold a small study group. We didn't just teach one-sidedly; we held events where we thought together about what makes a good communicator for the reader and generated ideas together. It started as a small gathering, but it gradually evolved into something larger. With that background, it led to holding this large-scale marketing seminar. Mr. N, the PR representative of Company K, must have understood my thoughts up to this point. The organizer, Mr. N, says, 'I wanted to make this a place for mutual dissemination, that was the thought behind it.' Below is the report of the day. Why don't you, who are reading this, think about it together with me?

Now, for those who have read both, what do you think after comparing them?

The content described is almost the same. It is likely a text conveying the background, thoughts, and planning intent of the seminar you are holding.

There seem to be no problems with the order of the background described in the text, the amount of information, or the writer's intent and expression. However, compared to Plan B, Plan A has sentence endings that are too uniform. Since it refers to past events, it naturally becomes '-mashita.' As for the types of sentence endings, there are two types: the 'da/dearu' style and the 'desu/masu' style, and the '-mashita' used in this text is included in the past tense of the 'desu/masu' style.

As a prerequisite, there is a rule to unify the 'da/dearu' style and the 'desu/masu' style in a text. This is because sentence endings create the tone, stance, and tempo of the text, and if you suddenly change that balance, the reader will feel uncomfortable.

However, as you saw above, if you use the same sentence ending too continuously, it is easy for the reader to read it as a somewhat boring text. Even if you are talking about good content, because the form of the sentences used is the same, it gives a monotonous impression.

This time, I picked up the past tense '-ta,' but the same problem can occur in the 'desu/masu' style. Now, what should you do in such a case?

Countermeasures

1. Ending with a noun (Taigendome)
2. Interrogative/Proposal sentences3. '-ne,' '-shou,' '-senka,' '-sen'
4. Dialogue5. Mixing 'desu/masu' and '-ta' a little
6. Ending with an adjective

Let's look at them in detail starting from 1. About ending with a noun.

Plan A: Mr. B, who is active in the media as a PR person for Company C, was also a speaker.
Plan B: Mr. B, who is active in the media as a PR person for Company C, also spoke.

Although it is easy to end the sentence with '-imashita,' it is avoided by ending the sentence with a noun. By the way, there is a phenomenon where the 'da/dearu' style is less likely to be unified than the 'desu/masu' style, but it can be considered that this is because it is naturally easier to use noun endings.

2. Interrogative/Proposal sentences

Option A: I wanted to think about this together with everyone reading this.
Option B: Why don't we think about this together, everyone reading this?

If you express things you have wondered about or things you want to engage the reader with by using questions or suggestions, you can avoid having your sentence endings become too uniform. Also, while 'I thought,' 'I felt,' 'I noticed,' and 'I considered' are easy to use in reports or essays, using them too much tends to give a monotonous impression. If you express these as questions to yourself or the reader, you can put them into words without overusing the same pattern.

Example:
I thought it was important to always calculate UI from the user's perspective.↓
Isn't it important to always calculate UI from the user's perspective?

3.Use '~ne' (isn't it), '~shou' (let's), '~senka' (why don't we), and '~sen' (won't). use.

Actually, I use these often in this text as well, but if you use the above sentence endings well, especially in a polite 'desu/masu' style, you can avoid uniformity in your sentence endings.

Option A: I thought that N, the PR representative at Company K, was able to understand my feelings up to this point.
Option B: N, the PR representative at Company K, must have understood my feelings up to this point.

Example:
This kind of phenomenon can occur in other departments as well.↓
This kind of phenomenon can occur in other departments as well, don't you think?

What V is saying is something that cannot be helped if it is taken as selfishness.
↓What V is saying cannot be helped if it is taken as selfishness.

It is considered to be a very clever tactic.
↓Couldn't it be considered a very clever tactic?

4. Turn it into dialogue

Option A: The organizer, N, said that they 'want to make it a place for mutual exchange.'
Option B: The organizer, N, says: 'I did this with the thought that I want to make it a place for mutual exchange among everyone.'

In the case of interviews, you will be able to get the actual statements of the interviewee. A trick is to use those words themselves as dialogue within the main text. In discussions or interviews, you build the text using the other person's words as a key, but you can also use dialogue in other reports and, depending on the case, essays as well. Inserting it as an accent can sometimes give a polished impression.

5.Mix 'desu/masu' and 'deshita' just a little bit

I said at the beginning that, in principle, you should unify the 'desu/masu' style and the 'da/dearu' style. Certainly, mixing the 'desu/masu' style and the 'da/dearu' style makes the reader feel uncomfortable. However, since 'deshita' is the past tense of the 'desu/masu' style, mixing the two does not significantly change the tone or the writer's stance, so there is a tendency for it to be naturally easier to read if you use it a little.

Even if it is a past event, what you still think about now can be considered present progressive, so there is no discomfort even if you use 'desu/masu'.

6.Ending with an adjective

Although the nature of the text where this is used is somewhat limited, there is also a technique of ending with an adjective.

Example: When you think about it this way, it makes you feel like it's somewhat fake.
↓When you think about it this way, it's somewhat fake.

It becomes a description that focuses somewhat on the writer's thoughts, but this is also a technique.

*

This time, I talked about being careful not to make your sentence endings too uniform. Regarding the issue of sentence endings, this is a technique for checking your work after you have written it, rather than something you should consciously start with while writing. When you have finished writing a piece, please try reviewing it for about three more minutes, focusing on the sentence endings. You might find that the same endings continue more than you thought. By changing the endings just a little so they do not repeat too much, you can create a refined document with a good tempo, even with the same content.

The technique I introduced can be applied to all types of writing, but depending on the type of text (reports, interviews, columns, essays, diaries), overusing it might create a frank impression and make the tone seem mismatched.

Techniques are important, but I would like you to reconsider the type of writing and who you are writing for. If you do that, you will naturally be able to judge the best expression for yourself.

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