94 / PART ONE: THE BASICS Avoid repeatedly using words like ‘and’, ‘very’, ‘nice’ and ‘got’. All of them are very overworked. Change your sen- tence structure or find a synonym to replace them. Don’t begin sentences with ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘also’. Nothing is more monotonous than the repetition of the same sentence pattern. Vary it by changing the length of your sentences and by placing clauses and phrases in a different order. There is a variety of different sentence structures you can use. Look at the following examples: 7. Julie was playing the piano, Mark was doing his home- work, Colin was in the kitchen and Karen was reading her library book. (List of main clauses each with a different subject.) 6. I had a shower, put on my new evening dress, dabbed some perfume behind my ears, picked up my handbag and rushed downstairs. (List of main clauses with subject ‘I’ ‘understood’.) 5. The Crown Prince, who should have succeeded his father on the throne, was assassinated last week. ( Dependent clause inserted in the middle of a main clause .) 4. Peeping into the bedroom, she saw that her daughter was still asleep. ( Phrase followed by main clause .) 3. Because of the weather, the match was cancelled. ( Dependent clause followed by main clause .) 2. The match was cancelled because of the weather. ( Main clause followed by dependent clause.) 1. The bride looked radiant. (One main clause .)