How do I stop using 'the' to start sentences so much?
Something that always bothers me in my writing is how often I start sentences with the word "the".
A terrible nonsensical example:
The dog ran through the rain-swept streets, chasing a ball he thought he'd lost. The ball was just ahead of him, always out of reach. The ball was a dull red colour, difficult to see through the rain. The dog was gaining on it, slowly but surely.
Note: this isn't an extract of something I've written but a quick sample to demonstrate the problem. Answers that only deal with restructuring this particular paragraph are not useful.
I'm not concerned with the quality of my writing overall. I know that's something that will improve with time and practice. This also isn't about overuse of "the" in general, which would be a duplicate of this question.
What techniques can I use to prevent myself from starting sentences with "the"?
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Just remove all the.
The articles are most useless feature of the language.
For example:
Articles are most useless feature of language.
This sentence has the same sense.
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I suggest you continue to write however the words come out. Because the last thing you want to do is feel like you can't write unless it's perfect (or better).
Every day, go through a paragraph or two of your work and use S. Mitchell's excellent suggestions to revise it.
As time goes on, your revisions will be quicker because—in addition to being better at revising—you'll find that some of the work won't need revisions. You'll start to rethink sentence structure automatically.
You'll still have to revise your work; we all do! But, with more time and practice, this is another way that your writing will improve.
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