# So what makes a piece of writing have good flow? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540 "2016-10-03T00:41:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/21 "2016-10-04T17:12:57Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If anybody ever wrote a sentence that did not refer back to the previous sentence, he would have to have been doing so with premeditation, for the purpose of confusing the reader. . . . I completely disagree with this, and hold it to be nonsense. Clear, smooth, intelligent writing is possible, even with saltations. Some continuity is good, but absolute, mathematically rigorous, piecewise continuity is only a pointless obsession. I agree with **snoe** on the rule of three; I agree with nearly all **snoe** said. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/22 "2016-10-04T18:04:09Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > “Other stuff” is not necessarily “bunk”. I did not offer sentence length as a “rule”, but as advisory, to guard against things that impede flow. One short sentence does not choppiness make, nor does one long carefully-crafted one harm the flow. There are no rules about what makes it flow, but one should avoid obvious things that make it “not flow”, and sentence length is chief among them. In American English, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks. It’s surprising that a gentleman of your age and pedagogical inclination wouldn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/23 "2016-10-04T19:11:48Z")
“are” is rapidly becoming “used to be”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/24 "2016-10-04T19:28:15Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > In American English, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks. It’s surprising that a gentleman of your age and pedagogical inclination wouldn’t know that. A gentleman of my age has done plenty of writing outside the purview of American English. But I’m glad you had the leisure to carefully searcy my entire post until you finally found an Americanism that you can quibble with. It is interesting to read the history of why the American publishers deviated on that style-guide issue. To save you the trouble, it is because the period outside the quotation marks (where it logically belongs) often broke off the printing plate, so they decided to put it inside, not as a style issue, but as a mechanical one. Which I don’t consider to be relevant in on-screen typing, so I leave it where it belongs, as a part of the statement that it complements. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/25 "2016-10-04T21:34:42Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > A gentleman of my age has done plenty of writing outside the purview of American English. But I’m glad you had the leisure to carefully searcy my entire post until you finally found an Americanism that you can quibble with. I’m not sure what you mean by “searcy” your post. Are you referring to Searcy, Arkansas, which—as I’m sure you know— is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States? It’s interesting to note that according to 2014 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 23,768, and that it is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County. Also of historical significance is that the city takes its name from Richard Searcy, a judge for the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory. A college town, as you are doubtlessly aware, Searcy is the home of Harding University. Or did you simply mistype the word “search”? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/26 "2016-10-04T22:56:30Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by “searcy” your post. Are you referring to Searcy, Arkansas, which—as I’m sure you know— is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States? It’s interesting to note that according to 2014 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 23,768, and that it is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County. Also of historical significance is that the city takes its name from Richard Searcy, a judge for the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory. A college town, as you are doubtlessly aware, Searcy is the home of Harding University. Or did you simply mistype the word “search”? Take a wild guess. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/27 "2016-10-05T02:11:59Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > In American English, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks. It’s surprising that a gentleman of your age and pedagogical inclination wouldn’t know that. I always get in trouble, because I put question marks inside quote marks too, but that isn’t always exactly right. What did he mean when he said “War is hell?” The other way around just doesn’t feel right! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540/28 "2016-10-05T02:13:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “are” is rapidly becoming “used to be”. ??? I’m not really clear on what this means. Can you give an example? (“Cavemen are cool?” Well, they are, ya know! 😉 ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-makes-a-piece-of-writing-have-good-flow/767540.md?page=1)