Comedian Ellen Degeneres once said: “Procrastination isn’t the problem, it’s the solution. So procrastinate now, don’t put it off!”
In addition to being amusing, this quote illustrates one of Degeneres’ most important writing tricks. When crafting sentences—especially humorous ones—she pays particular attention to the last words. They usually make the difference between a “huh” and a belly laugh.
Imagine if Degeneres had gone at things the other way around. “Don’t put off procrastination,” she could have said. “It’s not the problem, it’s the solution.” Most of us would be more confused than amused. By moving the punch-words to the beginning, the joke becomes a tangled mess.
Writers have a name for the information we put at or near the end of a sentence: “end-weight.” We use end-weighting to bring extra attention to particular words or ideas, or to help create a chain of logic that our readers can easily follow.
Here’s an example from humorist Dave Barry: “Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.” Up until the last two words, that is not in the least bit humorous. It is “your face” that makes me laugh.
End-weighting can also help with the flow of an argument. When you are making a complex argument in writing, it is often best to begin each sentence with something simple (or something we already know). Then finish the sentence with words that advance your point-of-view.
So you might say: “I have watched the new University of Kentucky football team in practice, and the team shows great promise. That promise is the result of years of stellar recruiting. If the recruiting continues like this, we may actually win an SEC title.”
Each of the three previous sentences begins with simple, accepted facts or positions we had already established. Then, we use the second half of each sentence to advance the argument that UK football is heading toward greatness.
In the end, the art of writing is only partly about selecting precise words. It’s also about putting those words in a precise order.