Must You Always Write in Complete Sentences?

No way! However, complete sentences offer real value. To be complete, a sentence must have a noun, a verb, and punctuation. I write. Sally sits. Bobby bounces. Should you choose to deviate from this path of noun-verb-punctuation, do so only as a master of grammar. As William Strunk, the writing style guru, put it, "Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules." And as Stephen King in On Writing replied, "If you don't have a rudimentary grasp of how the parts of speech translate into coherent sentences, how can you be certain you are doing well?" Language is wonderfully flexible. An incomplete sentence can be as powerful as a complete one, but know that you have to master the rules first before you break them.

Caveat: Of almost equal importance is the medium. There are many mediums—technical reports are one—where complete sentences are not only the norm but are also best suited to the material and the audience. But that's a discussion for another day.

Read more on a similar topic from one of my earlier blog posts: Writing with Style: Rules vs. Folklore.

Commas in a [Complicated] Series

"This product was chosen because it offers a high thermal performance for its cost, the ability to act as a drainage plane, a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material, and a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics."

At the basis of this sentence is the following meaning--here is a product that offers four benefits. These four benefits are listed as a series separated by commas. Each comma has an important purpose in the sentence. It tells the reader that one item in the list is ending and a new one is beginning. Basic grammar. However, there are two camps regarding the final comma in the list--the one before the word "and." The first camp says that a comma isn't needed before a conjunction, and the second says that a comma is needed before it. Whether or not you fall into either of these two camps, there are certain cases where a comma is important to ensure the clarity of the sentence, and a complicated series is one of these cases.

What do I mean by a complicated series? While there are different types of complicated series, the one is the example lists items that are composed of numerous words. Here's a recap of the items:

• a high thermal performance for its cost
• the ability to act as a drainage plane
• a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material
• a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics

At 7-8 words each, the items are lengthy. Commas remind readers that they are seeing a list of items and that they can pause for breath between them. By leaving out the final comma, the writer robs the reader of these reminders. Take a look at the sentence again without the final comma:

"This product was chosen because it offers a high thermal performance for its cost, the ability to act as a drainage plane, a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material and a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics."

See how the last two items in the list merge? Adding a comma before the conjunction requires little effort on the writer's end and can offer a big benefit on the reader's end--clarity.