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Sentence Tip #3 - Get Long and Loose and Conversational

Started by goodwordediting · 9 months ago

Fancy grammarians call them cumulative sentences. (Not to be confused with cumulus clouds.) The rest of us just call them loose. Like a pair of comfortable jeans. Like one of my daughter’s lower incisors. Like a lot of what Hemingway wrote.
And they are the easiest kinds of sentenc ... Continue reading »

17 comments

  • Lisa Gates

    2 years ago

    Mark, I absolutely adore your site. This post is so incredibly informative. Do you edit manuscripts (guess I should look at your bio...)
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Well, Lisa, my goodness. Thanks for your kind words. I do edit manuscripts from time to time, but I try to be very careful not to let my freelance fun interfere with my family time.
    reply
  • Craver-VII

    2 years ago

    Oh, look! This door seems to be wide open. I dare say I shall venture in.

    I’m glad you referenced the verse from 2nd Peter, because I wanted to point out that God, not being limited by time, as we are, can make a tree, (or anything for that matter) starting from nothing, taking His sweet time, and still produce a mature, fruit-bearing tree before a solar day is complete. Notice that the Bible speaks that way (2nd Peter) specifically about God’s plan of salvation, and not specifically about creation. In fact, every time the Bible specifically refers to creation, (such as when explaining Sabbath law) it talks in terms of days, not ages or events.
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Nice cumulative sentence there Craver.

    Are we fishing or making house calls? The metaphor got mixed, so I'm confused.

    You make an excellent point about 1 Peter referring to the day of the Lord rather than creation. I hadn't thought of that.

    No takers on the assignment?
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    I meant no other takers, of course. Craver already got his A+.
    reply
  • Mike

    2 years ago

    God can make a tree, but because we are all God's creations, and because we each perceive the world through our own senses and experiences, each tree God creates has the potential to create billions of experiences, and over time, the number of possible experiences begins to approach an uncountable number, proving that God's wisdom (even in creating a single tree) is TRULY infinite!
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Mike--or is it BillRay?--
    Great sentence! Man, I love good sentences. And such a fun direction you've taken it.
    reply
  • Mike

    2 years ago

    Just goes to show I'm not all Falstaff! (I could never drink that stuff...)
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Falstaff was the queen's favorite character! But it's good to hear that you don't have his problems of excess.
    reply
  • Ted Gossard

    2 years ago

    Mark, Very interesting again. I tend to want to avoid those kind of sentences. Though I'll bet I do that sometimes. I've kind of noticed a bit of those type of sentences in N.T. Wright's book, "Simply Christian", which I'm reading- I think.

    Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" was a treat for me. Rare, since I don't ordinarily take to fiction.
    reply
  • Ted Gossard

    2 years ago

    Maybe it's a good change of pace to do that in writing, here and there, to keep your reader from being lulled to sleep, and maybe forget to read the book again, since "out of sight, out of mind".

    Ha.
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Ted, I think you hit the target. Sentence variety is the literary equivalent of a speaker who engages the audience with vocal variety and such.

    For example, I adore certain incredible theologians who I will leave unnamed here, but listening to their recordings from Laity just lulls me to sleep.

    Simply Christian is on my shelf waiting patiently. I should probably pick it up again!
    reply
  • Jessica Doyle

    2 years ago

    God, with his unlimited creativity can ultimately adjust the color from green to pink, if he so wishes, when he makes a tree for us humans to gaze upon, eat from and appreciate.
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Jessica, great work! My daughter would love pink trees.

    If only more people appreciated trees of any color...
    reply
  • Jessica Doyle

    2 years ago

    I belive the appreciation begins in the home. I am an avid gardener and couldn't imagine if trees only came in one shape, size or colour.

    The ornamental cherry trees blossom in about a month here in Vancouver BC. I'll post some pictures when they begin to bloom. Your daughter would like them. They are all pink and burgundy. When the wind blows it is as if the rain is scented petals here in spring.

    Have a great day Mark.
    reply
  • Eve Nielsen

    2 years ago

    I tend to prefer shorter sentences that don't appear to be run-ons at first glance, but I am willing to attempt this new (new to me) style of sentence for the purpose of practice in the fine art of writing and to test how long I can blab on about who-knows-what. :)
    reply
  • Marcus

    2 years ago

    Eve, I completely agree with you. In general, I prefer short punchy sentences, or simple compound sentences.

    The key to good prose is really the quantity of the tricks in your toolbox, though. Sentence variety is a important trick to understand fully, I think.
    reply

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