Rule 1: Place the main point at the end of the sentence

Thriller movies have an important characterisitic: the climax should come at the end, and it should be good. If the ending is not climactic, the movie will fail. They differ from documentaries, which simply describe a series of facts.

Sentences are similar. If the sentence makes an important point, the point (or climax) should come at the end.

If the main point is C, place it at the end of the sentence. Instead of:

[aCb]

use:

[abC].

Note that if the sentence merely states a series of facts, for example in the Materials and Methods section of a paper, this requirement does not apply.

Example 1:

"In 1993, Lepor et al. investigated contraction of the human prostatic muscle induced by the selective ∂1-adrenoceptor antagonist phenylephrine. ^aThey found that ^Cthe ∂1C-adrenoceptor subtype is mainly involved in ^bthe contraction of the human prostate."

The main point of this passage is the type of receptor involved in contraction of the human prostate, so this should be moved to the end of the sentence.

"In 1993, Lepor et al. investigated contraction of the human prostatic muscle induced by the selective ∂1-adrenoceptor antagonist phenylephrine. ^aThey found that ^bcontraction of the human prostate mainly involves ^Cthe ∂1C-adrenoceptor subtype."

Example 2:

"XP137 was recently synthesized as a novel H+, K+-ATPase inhibitor. ^aKamato et al. (1990) have reported that ^CXP137 directly suppresses this enzyme at the K+-binding site, ^bin contrast to omeprazole, which may need transformation to the active metabolite to inhibit this enzyme (Beil et al., 1985). ^aIt is therefore possible that ^CXP137 has no side effects such as hyperplasia of endocrine enterochromaffin cells and gastric carcinoid because ^bthis drug inhibits gastric acid secretion potently but only for a short time."

The pattern in both sentences is [aCb]. Improve the sentences by placing the main point at the end to give an [abC] pattern:

"XP137 was recently synthesized as a novel H+,K+-ATPase inhibitor. ^aKamato et al. (1990) have reported that XP137, bin contrast to omeprazole, which may need transformation to the active metabolite (Beil et al., 1985), ^Cdirectly suppresses H+,K+-ATPase at the K+-binding site. ^aIt is therefore possible that, because ^bXP137 inhibits gastric acid secretion potently but only for a short time, ^Cit induces no side effects such as hyperplasia of endocrine enterochromaffin cells and gastric carcinoid."