Writing with Focus:

Important Things Go at the End

End focus
Review A
Review B

End focus
When you write with focus, you help your
readers find your most important ideas.
How does my reader
know which ideas are
important?

One way to do this is to put the

important idea at the end of the
sentence. This is called end
focus.

End focus
People tend to pay more attention to words
that appear at the end of a sentence.
I wear my fancy jewelry on special occasions.

If you are aware of this pattern, you

can arrange your sentences to give words
the focus that you want.
On special occasions I wear my fancy jewelry.

End focus
What words you put at the end of your sentence
might depend on what you want to say next.
focus on kinds of
special occasions

I wear my fancy jewelry on special

occasions. Dress-up parties and
holidays call for elegance.

or
focus on kinds of
fancy jewelry

On special occasions I wear my

fancy jewelry. Pearls and
diamonds are perfect for parties.

End focus
If your sentence contains a strong visual
element, focus on that image by placing it at
the end.
Compare these two sentences, and
notice the different focus in each:
The crystal chandelier is the first thing
you notice when you enter the dining
room.

When you enter the dining room, the

first thing you notice is the crystal
chandelier.

End focus
Lets see how two famous writers use end focus to
emphasize an idea or an image.
In this example from his Meditation XVII, John
Donne saves the most important point for last:
Any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind; and
therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

End focus
Sometimes writers end with a surprise, as in this
sentence from Robert Louis Stevensons The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:
Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was a man
of rugged countenance that was
never lighted by a smile; cold,
scanty, and embarrassed in
discourse; backward in sentiment;
lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet
somehow lovable.

End focus
On Your Own
Emphasize the boldfaced words by moving them to the end
of the sentence. Revise the rest of the sentence as
necessary.
1. Ask a librarian if you need help finding information.
2. To see the colorful wild parrots, we used binoculars.
3. The city will have a new light-rail line by next May.
4. By that battered old shed is a better location for the
garden.
5. Mr. Garcia presented the teacher with the award. She
had taught at the school for twenty years.
[End of Section]

Review A
The following famous quotations have been changed so that
the underlined words do not receive emphasis. Revise them
to restore the right focus. Be prepared to discuss why the
revised version is better.
1. Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave,
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave? (Francis
Scott Key, The Star-Spangled Banner)
2. This ground we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow. (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)
3. Ask what you can do for your country, ask not what your
country can do for you. (John F. Kennedy, Inaugural
Address)

Review B
Write three sentences that show end focus. Be prepared to
explain why you have focused on the idea at the end of each
sentence.

The End