Taking a Breath at the Right Place

Plan your breaths so long sentences stay smooth.

Long sentences can feel like a long run. If you take a breath in the middle of a phrase, the sentence breaks apart. Plan your breaths for the commas, the periods, and the spaces between phrases.

Read: 'After the rain stopped, we put on our boots and splashed in every puddle on the street. ' A good place to breathe is after 'stopped,' at the comma. If you breathe after 'every,' it sounds broken.

Look ahead a little as you read so you can see where the next good breathing spot is.

• 1Breathe at commas, periods, and between phrases.
• 2Do not break a phrase in the middle.
• 3Look ahead to find the next breathing spot.