Creating flow using the “accordion principle”

Post 8/10 — reflections on scientific writing, clarity, and communication

During a scientific writing course, I was introduced to a simple technique for improving the flow of sentences within a paragraph. This idea is sometimes referred to as the “accordion principle”.

The basic idea is to connect sentences by repeating and shifting key elements — more precisely, by matching objects and subjects between adjacent sentences.

To illustrate this, consider these sentences:

“Cows eat grass.
Sheep eat grass.
Cows and sheep are both examples of grass eaters.”

This version is clear, but the sentences are relatively independent of each other.

Now consider a slightly modified version:

“Cows eat grass.
Grass is also eaten by sheep.
Sheep and cows are both examples of grass eaters.”

In this version, the object of the first sentence (“grass”) becomes the subject of the second. The second sentence introduces “sheep”, which then appears again in the third sentence.

This creates a natural progression between sentences. Each sentence connects to the previous one while introducing something new. The result is a set of sentences that feels more cohesive and easier to follow.

The term “accordion” reflects this movement: ideas expand and contract as they are passed along from one sentence to the next.

Before learning this, I rarely paid attention to how sentences were linked at this level. I would focus on making each sentence correct in isolation, but not necessarily on how they interacted.

Becoming aware of this principle has made me more attentive to the transitions between sentences. Even small adjustments can improve the overall flow of a paragraph.

As with the other reflections in this series, this is not intended as a rule, but as a simple idea that I have found useful in my own writing.
PS: The image was generated using AI.