一、在英语写作中,长句和短句的表达效果不同,因而具有着不同的文体效果,过多地使用长句或过多地使用短句都不好。短句是指字数不多的句子,短句的特点是易于组织和表达,随便自然,利于体现文章的速度和力度感。而英语长句的特点在于它便于表达严密的思想,缜密的逻辑和复杂的活动等等。所以,我们一定要把长句短句的优势和特点在英文写作过程中充分体现出来,而且如果我们把短句放在段首或者段末,也可以揭示主题,例如:
As a creature, I eat; as a man, I read. Although one action is to meet the primary need of my body and the other is to satisfy the intellectual need of mind, they are in a way quite similar.
如此可见,长短句结合,给人的感觉干净利索,也通俗易懂,更有利于表达作者的中心思想。

二、需要注意的是:根据实际情况在文章中交替使用长句与短语,使文章显得错落有致,这样不仅使文章在形式上增加美感,而且使文章读起来铿锵有力。在文章第一段(开头)用一长一短,且先长后短;在文章主体部分,要先用一个短句解释主要意思,然后在阐述几个要点的时候采用先短后长的句群形式,定会让主体部分妙笔生辉,文章结尾一般用一长一短就可以了。例如:
At noon we had a picnic lunch in the sunshine. Then we had a short rest. Then we began to play happily. We sang and danced. Some told stories. Some played chess.
→ At noon we had a picnic lunch in the sunshine. After a short rest, we had great fun singing and dancing, telling jokes and playing chess.
中午我们晒着太阳吃野餐。休息一会儿后,我们唱的唱歌,跳的跳舞,还有的讲笑话、下棋,大家玩得很开心。