Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts

Apply Sant’s Law to Every Sentence

What is Sant’s Law? Well, in all modesty, it’s the most important breakthrough in writing clear, direct prose since the invention of the simple sentence. Okay, maybe I’m not being all that modest. Or all that honest, either. But it is a technique that can help you identify whether your sentences are well constructed. And it’s pretty easy to use.

Here it is in a nutshell: To write a clear, direct sentence, make sure the key idea is embedded in the heart of the sentence.

What’s the heart of the sentence? It’s the subject, the verb, and the complement—usually the direct object or indirect object.

That’s the first step and, to apply Sant’s Law, the only step you have to take. All that matters is this: Does the ...