Section 19.1 Organizing Information
How you arrange information within and across sentences affects how easily readers follow your ideas.
The Given-New Contract.
Effective prose moves from given (known) information to new information:
Given: What the reader already knows
New: What you’re adding
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"The study examined workplace stress. This stress affects employee health."
The second sentence begins with given information (This stress—referring to what we just discussed) and ends with new information (affects employee health).
Violating the Contract.
When new information comes first, readers struggle:
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~~Employee health is affected by this stress.~~ (new before given)
Readers work harder because they encounter unknown information before they’ve been oriented.
Topic and Comment.
Sentences typically have a topic (what the sentence is about) and a comment (what’s said about it).
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Topic: The proposal
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Comment: was rejected by the committee.
Keeping topics consistent helps readers track your ideas:
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The proposal was submitted last week. It was reviewed by experts. The proposal was ultimately approved.
Shifting topics erratically creates confusion.
