How to End a Sentence to Communicate the Right Subtext

How you end a sentence makes all the difference in the world in your commercial and technical copy.
Or rather, it makes all the difference in the world the way you end a sentence.
(See the difference already? In the first sentence the emphasis is on “copy”; in the second it’s on the “end of the sentence.”)
Save the word or the phrase that signals the real SIGNIFICANCE of your sentence to the very end.
The way you end a sentence will determine the invisible SUBTEXT (the emotional or deeper level of message) underneath your visible TEXT.


For example, consider the following sentence:

1) “Prof. Knowitall, an unrelenting taskmaster, is the foremost authority in the West on Chinese medicine.”

TRANSLATION of the SUBTEXT: The man is tough but he is good. He is a true expert. So perhaps we can overlook his penchant for discipline.

2) “Prof. Knowitall, the foremost authority in the West on Chinese medicine, is an unrelenting taskmaster.”

TRANSLATION of the SUBTEXT: Yeah, the man is good but what are we going to do about his intolerant ways?
The GOLDEN RULE – whatever you’d like your readers to REMEMBER, leave it to the LAST.