Coffee With Cole: The Digital Writing Podcast

Episode: 8 Tiny But Powerful Tips To Write Better Sentences
Host: Nicolas Cole
Date: January 20, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Nicolas Cole delivers a rapid-fire solo session packed with eight precise tips for crafting better sentences—rooted in his extensive experience as an author, ghostwriter, and coach for tens of thousands of writers. With trademark nerdy passion (yes, he really does read the thesaurus at breakfast), Cole breaks down actionable strategies that separate professional-level writing from the rest. This episode is extremely practical, taking listeners from common sentence pitfalls to more polished, engaging writing in just a few minutes.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Make the Last Word the Most Impactful

[00:37]

The end of a sentence is where a reader’s attention peaks, so place the most powerful or meaningful word last.
Weak endings: Avoid dropping off with “is,” “it,” or similar insignificant words.
Example:
- Bad: “Do you know the name of who the president is?”
- Improved: “Do you know the name of the president?”
Quote:

“By making the last word in the sentence the most important word of the sentence, it immediately reads like a stronger sentence.” – Cole [01:16]

2. Use Contractions Only After Defining Them

[01:23]

When introducing an acronym or shorthand (like LTV), spell it out the first time, then put the contraction in parentheses.
- First reference: “Lifetime value (LTV)”
- Subsequent: Use “LTV” freely.
Using contractions too soon restricts your audience to insiders; defining them broadens accessibility.
Quote:

“If you use contractions out the gate, that means that only insiders know what you’re saying… to attract larger and larger groups of people, you actually want to do the opposite.” – Cole [02:13]

3. Prioritize Economy of Language

[02:41]

Write out your full thought, then trim every unnecessary word.
Aim for clarity, brevity, and grammatical correctness by reordering and reviewing each revision.
Example Revisions:
- Original: “Seven ways you can start to make more money your first year out of college by starting to write online.”
- Improved: “Seven ways to start making money your first year out of college by writing online.”
- Best: “7 Ways to make money writing online as a new college graduate.”
Quote:

“Once you say what you’re trying to say, then it becomes a game of making it more economical.” – Cole [03:30]

4. Avoid Redundancy

[05:39]

Don’t repeat the same idea or phrase in consecutive sentences or paragraphs; it wastes space and bores readers.
Example: Cole catches himself repeating for emphasis and then calls it out.
Quote:

“If you notice what I just did, I just said the same thing twice. And in writing, this is one of the most inefficient things you could possibly do.” – Cole [05:47]

5. Vary Word Choice to Avoid Repetition

[06:38]

If you must repeat an idea, use a synonym or vary the vocabulary.
Example:
- Weak: “We pulled into the parking lot of the ice arena. I said, it’s been forever since I stepped foot in an ice arena.”
- Improved: “…since I stepped foot in a rink.”
Quote:

“Just by changing the word or changing out the adjective immediately makes it sound different and better.” – Cole [07:01]

6. Limit Obscure Vocabulary

[07:15]

Use one “little known” or advanced word per sentence or paragraph—never more.
Too many can alienate a broad audience, reducing readability.
Example:
- “With all those weird clothes on, he looked crazy, like he’d lost his mind.”
- Revised: “…he looked preposterous.”
Quote:

“If you go full David Foster Wallace, then the writing becomes unreadable for the vast majority of people—it’s inaccessible.” – Cole [07:45]

7. The Two Comma Rule

[08:09]

Most sentences should have no more than two commas.
More than two typically means you’re rambling—unless you intentionally push for a stylistic effect (like a 12-comma sentence for dramatic pacing).
The “valley of death” is sentences with three to six commas: muddled, unclear, and inefficient.
Quote:

“Anything above two means you’re rambling…it means you don’t actually know what you’re trying to say or how to separate the thoughts.” – Cole [08:42]

8. Hemingway’s Adverb Rule

[09:05]

Remove adverbs whenever possible; they usually add fluff instead of value.
The writing becomes cleaner and more powerful without them.
Quote:

“Your writing would be much cleaner, more succinct, without adverbs.” – Cole [09:23]

Memorable Moments & Quotes

Opening wit:

“I love literature and I do really nerdy things like read the thesaurus every morning with breakfast. I actually do that.” – Cole [00:16]
Playful self-awareness:

“If you want to write like a pro, here you go. I didn’t even mean for that to rhyme. I swear.” – Cole [00:26]

Notable Timestamps

[00:37] Tip #1: Impactful last word
[01:23] Tip #2: Defining contractions
[02:41] Tip #3: Economy of language
[05:39] Tip #4: Don’t repeat yourself
[06:38] Tip #5: Vary word choice
[07:15] Tip #6: Limit obscure words
[08:09] Tip #7: Two comma rule
[09:05] Tip #8: Drop the adverbs

Episode Tone

Friendly, practical, and encouraging—Cole’s tone is conversational, infused with literary enthusiasm. He combines accessible examples, direct guidance, and a bit of humor, making even advanced writing advice sound doable.

Summary

Cole’s “8 Tiny But Powerful Tips” episode is a masterclass in sentence-level writing improvements. It walks new and experienced writers alike through practical strategies—placing strong words last, defining acronyms, trimming excess, avoiding repetition, using synonyms, choosing accessible vocabulary, limiting commas, and cutting adverbs—all delivered with a teacher’s clarity and a writer’s playfulness.

Whether you’re drafting your first article or looking to level up your prose, these tips form a robust checklist for making every sentence matter.

Transcript

A (0:00)

I'm a professional writer. I've written 10 books. I've trained tens of thousands of writers on my frameworks, and I've generated millions of dollars from my ability to write really great sentences, probably because I love literature and I do really nerdy things like read the thesaurus every morning with breakfast. I actually do that. So if you want to write like a pro, here you go. I didn't even mean for that to rhyme. I swear. These are my favorite 8 tiny but powerful tips to write that better sentences. All right, so tip number one is to make the last word of each sentence the most impactful word of the sentence. So to invert this advice, you want to avoid ending the sentence with the weakest word in the sentence, right? And a good example of that would be ending sentences with little words like is or y or it. Okay, so here's a really great example. Do you know the name of who the president is? You might not realize it, but the reason that that sentence is weak is because the last word in the sentence is is a small and insignificant word. It's is. You can very easily improve the sentence by just changing it to do you know the name of the president? By making the last word in the sentence the most important word of the sentence, it immediately reads like a stronger sentence. The second tip is to only use contractions once the word's meaning has been established. So an easy way of doing this is the first time you introduce a new term and add the contraction in parentheses right after it. And then moving forward, you can only use the contraction. So don't just say ltv. If you've never defined what LTV means for the reader, right. The first time you say it, you should say lifetime value. And then in parentheses, put ltv. That way you're defining the contraction. The other thing to keep in mind with contractions is that when you use contractions, you are inherently deciding the size of the audience. If you use contractions out the gate, that means that only insiders know what you're saying, right? Because only they know what the contraction means. Otherwise, in order to attract larger and larger groups of people, you actually want to do the opposite. You don't want to use contractions. You want to use the longer or the more detailed version of that phrase or of that word, because then you're attracting people who might not be insiders yet. These are people that maybe would be interested in what you're talking about, but. But they're not educated, right? So you have to widen it. You have to make it more accessible for everyone. And then once you've defined the words or the phrase, then you can use the contraction moving forward in the piece. The third writing tip is always aim to say whatever you're trying to say in the most economical way possible. So first what I recommend is just writing out what are you trying to say, right? Then look for as many small words as possible that you can remove. And then third, rewrite the sentence to be grammatically correct. So shifting the order of the words around. So for example, let's say we have a sentence that says seven ways you can start to make more money your first year out of college by starting to write online. Well, that's great you articulated what you're trying to say. But there's a lot of inefficiencies in that sentence, right? There's actually multiple words that all are saying the same thing. So once you say what you're trying to say, then it becomes a game of making it more economical. So we can shorten it by changing it to seven ways to start making money your first year out of college by writing online. But we can still make it more efficient, right? There's a couple more words that we could remove where you're still saying the same thing, but how do we get there faster? So the third rewrite might be 7 Ways to make money writing online as a new college graduate. So that's great. You're saying the same thing, you're just saying it in half the time real quick. If you want to write online but aren't sure where to start, click the link in the description of this video and check out startwritingonline.com this is a free masterclass I put together, sharing all of our most helpful frameworks for beginners like free proven hooks to capture your target reader's attention. Where to write online to get the most distribution on your work and little growth. Hacking tips to build your social audience and email list faster. Over 100,000 writers have gone through this free masterclass and many even send us emails afterwards thanking us for sharing such valuable information for free. So click the link below this video to check it out and make this year the year you start seeing success from your writing online. Alright, writing tip number four is don't say the same thing twice, especially back to back. Okay? So don't repeat yourself. So if you notice what I just did, I just said the same thing twice. And in writing, this is one of the most inefficient things you could possibly do. And it happens constantly is writers will make a point. And then the very next sentence or the very next paragraph, they're just making the same point again or making the same point in a slightly different way. The reality is you don't need that. So much of the value of writing is saying as many new things as possible back to back. But when you say different versions of the same thing, that's why the reader gets bored. All right. Writing tip number five is if you have to repeat a word, you want to use a different version. So you can repeat an idea of a word without sounding repetitive. So, for example, let's say the sentence is, we pulled into the parking lot of the ice arena. I said, it's been forever since I stepped foot in an ice arena. Well, you're saying the same thing twice, right? We can improve that by saying, we pulled into the parking lot of the ice arena. I said, it's been forever since I stepped foot in a rink. Just by changing the word or changing out the adjective immediately makes it sound different and better. Alright, writing tip number six is only use one little known word per sentence or even per paragraph when you're using a word most people don't know. So think fourth grade reading level one thrown in there feels like a fun challenge. But if you go full David Foster Wallace, then the writing becomes unreadable for the vast majority of people, it's inaccessible. So let's say the sentence is with all those weird clothes on, he looked crazy, like he'd lost his mind. Well, we can make that sentence a little more advanced by just swapping out one word we changed the sentence to with all those weird clothes on, he looked preposterous. Just by swapping out crazy for preposterous makes it a little more challenging and fun. But if every word in the sentence was the advanced version of that word, it would be very, very difficult to read and it would be way too inaccessible for most people. Writing tip number seven is the two comma rule. So most sentences should only have absolute max two commas. If you have more than two, then you either need to have 12 commas, arbitrary number, but a lot intentionally to add pacing and dynamics and tension to a specific paragraph. Or you need to go the opposite direction. You need to really whittle it down. Okay, the valley of death is when a sentence has three to six commas. Anything above two means you're rambling. It means you don't actually know what you're trying to say or how to separate the thoughts. So again, a really good rule of thumb is two commas or less per sentence, or if it's going to be more than two, then it needs to be a very stylistic decision where you push it to the opposite extreme. And writing tip number eight is Hemingway's adverb rule. So when in doubt, Hemingway always says remove adverbs. If you think about it, the function of an adverb is usually saying the same thing you're already saying, just more or a little bit better, and this tends to be really unnecessary. Your writing would be much cleaner, more succinct, without adverbs. So these are my tips for writing better sentences. I hope this was helpful and drop a comment if you have any questions on any of the tips that I shared with you today.