A sentence can contain the same information while directing attention differently. Moving a detail toward the beginning or end lets you hear that change without adding another adjective.
Take this invented fact: a letter arrived on Tuesday after a long wait. Try three versions, each with a different emphasis. Begin one with the day, another with the waiting person, and another with the letter itself.
Do not judge the sentences in isolation for long. Put each into a short paragraph. The most effective version may be the one that connects cleanly with the sentence before it, rather than the one that sounds most striking on its own.
- What information is already familiar to the reader?
- What information becomes newly important here?
- Which ending prepares the next sentence?
Read the paragraph aloud at a normal pace. If moving the detail produces an awkward construction, rewrite the whole sentence rather than preserving every original word.
Keep the rejected versions in a scratch file. They may suit a different paragraph even if they do not suit this one.
The exercise is about arranging attention. A clear sentence earns its place through the work it does among other sentences.