First sentences are fundamental.  There’s simply no two ways about it - if you want to communicate, you have to start by getting your reader on side with your very first words.  Successful journeys begin, as they say, with successful first steps.  But saying this, we all know that first sentences are hard - maybe the hardest sentences you’ll write.  We’ve all agonised over them, trying to condense complex arguments into one quick introduction, or to cunningly win the reader’s attention with a witty opening.

So - how do you write an excellent opening sentence?  There is no gospel to this, but here are two tricks that can really help.

The first thing you can try is to consider the opening sentences of your favourite novels, books or essays.  Consider, for example, the first sentence of Crime and Punishment: “On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowy, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge.”; the opening sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”; or the beginning of the first Harry Potter: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”  These - or your own favourites - might give you hints that can inspire your own writing.

The other thing you can do is a little more direct: just say what you want to say in the simplest, clearest language that comes to hand.  No one will ever fault you for simply stating “This essay argues…”, “I am writing to apply for the position of…” or, perhaps, “First sentences are fundamental”.