What is a good sentence? How do we know one when we see one? What can we learn from good sentences? Can we become better readers and writers by stopping occasionally to notice sentences and to examine them? We address these questions here by examining sentences from all types of sources.
I teach English as a second language in a two-year college. My first teaching job was in the U.S. Peace Corps. Constructive uses of the Internet always attract my attention, especially uses to promote learning and understanding.
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It has been more than a long time since I posted anything on this blog. Perhaps today is the day to end that streak of inactivity and to return to the purpose which moved me to crate the blog in the first place.
So I include here an excerpt from My Staggerford Journal, written by Jon Hassler and published by Ballantine Books in 1999. The book is a journal that Hassler kept during a sabbatical that he took to write his first novel, Staggerford. In the journal entry below he states his reasons for writing. Perhaps his reasons relate more than tangentially to those behind posts on blogs. Whatever the case, it is good to recognize nicely written paragraphs and nicely expressed ideas when we encounter them.
Excerpt
SEPTEMBER 17 I got word last Saturday that the publisher Frederick Warne will publish Four Miles to Pinecone. I have sold, ten days apart, two novels. It's nothing short of a miracle. Four Miles to Pinecone is a boy's adventure story. Warne will pay me half of what Atheneum is paying me. I know nothing about the market for children's books, except that libraries make up 80 percent of it. I don't know if there are enough libraries in the world to earn me over $1,500. But to be read is what I've been striving for. How many times have I said to myself: It is neither fame nor fortune that I seek in linking words together on paper, it is to be read. It is to extend my voice out beyond the range of my voice. It is to have six people in
What are your thoughts about being read? If you would like to read more of Jon Hassler's thoughts, the complete reference follows.
Source: Hassler, J. (1999). The Staggerford journal.
Four Essay Topics
In the list here are four topics for essays. Choose three of those topics and write an introductory paragraph for your essay on each of the three topics that you choose. Each introductory paragraph should be a separate post on your blog.
(1) What is a good parent, and why?
(2) Are men stronger than women, or are women stronger than men?
(3) Whom or what should a person consider dying for, and why?
(4) What really makes a person happy, and why?
Now, go ahead and complete the assignment according to the directions. And write some good opening paragraphs!
Blog Assignment #4ENSL 0080-204 (MW) & ENSL 0080-206 (TR)This blog assignment is not about your reaction to anything in The House on Mango Street. Instead, this blog assignment is all about what has happened so far this semester and what you have done this semester. This is the third week of the 2006 spring semester and for some of you this is your third week of college in the United States. So, this is a good time to reflect on what has happened over the past three weeks. In this blog assignment, write at least two substantial paragraphs to address these questions: “What has happened so far this semester?” and “What have I done so far this semester?” Specify the courses you are taking, what has happened in each of them, and the work you have done in each of them. This is an assignment for you to record your thoughts about the first three weeks of this semester, particularly your thoughts in relation to these two questions. As usual, use complete sentences only and follow the standard rules of academic writing. You need to post your writing on your blog by noon Saturday 28 January. Leave a comment with your name to show that you have visited this blog and read the assignment.
Considering the chapters of The House on Mango Street that are assigned for WED 25 January, choose one chapter, one passage, or one character that strikes you in some way and explain how it does. Once again, your post should be at least one substantial paragraph to explain your thoughts. Remember to use only complete sentences in your writing and to follow all of the traditional rules of academic writing (e.g., capital letters). You are writing for an academic audience not for instant messages. In addition, find your own thought and then use your own words to express that thought. The purpose here is to respond to the writing, to find a response within yourself. Write your explanation and then post it on your blog by noon WED 25 January. I may take a look at what you have posted before our next class session and I may bring examples to class.
Blog Assignment
Within the chapters we currently have read in The House on Mango Street, choose one chapter, one passage, or one character that strikes you in some way and explain how it does. Your post should be at least one substantial paragraph to explain your thoughts. Remember to use only complete sentences in your writing and to follow all of the traditional rules of academic writing (e.g., capital letters). You are writing for an academic audience not for instant messages. Write your explanation and then post it on your blog by Saturday 21 January. I will take a look at what you have posted before our next class session.
Good sentences are the focus here. Sometimes we look at long ones and other times we look at short ones. And then sometimes we look at a good paragraph or two. After all, paragraphs are made from sentences and sometimes the collective meaning of those sentences transcends the meaning of any individual sentence. Let’s consider one such sequence of paragraphs.
This sequence of paragraphs is from Father Joe, written by Tony Hendra. The topic of this sequence of paragraphs is newness. Let’s consider the sequence first. It begins with Father Joe commenting on newness:
“People are always changing themselves and their world, dear. Very few of the changes are new. We rather confuse change and newness I think. What is truly new never changes.”“You speak in riddles, aged progenitor.”“The world worships a certain kind of newness. People are always talking about a new car, or a new drink or p-p-play or house, but these things are not truly new, are they? They begin to get old the minute you acquire them. New is not in things. New is within us. The truly new is something that is new forever: you. Every morning of your life and every evening, every moment is new. You have never lived this moment before and you never will again. In this sense the new is also the eternal.” (Hendra, 2004, p. 240)
Sometimes the collective meaning of the sentences of a paragraph or of those of a sequence of paragraphs transcends the meaning of any individual sentence in the sequence. The collective voice is truer and we need to listen for it.
At this time of year in North America, or maybe specifically in the United States, newness and wanting are ever present. Father Joe’s comments, however, go far beyond the feelings associated with any holiday in whatever culture. What Father Joe gives us here is insight into the source of newness. His words here are a gift that comes unwrapped and without a name tag, but the surprise of the gift is not lessened by the absence of the wrapping. This is a gift we can use for the rest of our lives. The words “Thank you” are inadequate here. Unless of course we think of them whenever we are reminded of Father Joe’s words and how those words continue to teach us.
If you would like to read more, the complete reference follows. At any rate, perhaps in the new year we can strive to discover our newness.
Reference: Hendra, T. (2004). Father Joe. New York: Random House.
After a long absence from this blog, "sentenceguy" returns with a doozy of a sentence to consider.
Charles Dickens first published his novel Bleak House in 1852. The sentence here appears in Chapter VI, as the first sentence in a characteristically Dickens kind of paragraph. The sentence is striking for its structural complexity on the one hand and simplicity on the other. The paragraph describes in detail the interior of a house, and this sentence starts it off:
It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places, with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them.
First, consider the sentence as divided into its eight clauses in this table representation:
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It was one of those delightfully irregular houses |
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DEP 1 |
where you go up and down steps out of one room into another |
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COOR |
and |
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DEP 2 |
where you come upon more rooms |
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DEP 3 |
when you think |
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DEP 4 |
you have seen all |
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DEP 5 |
there are |
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COOR |
and |
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DEP 6 |
where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages |
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COOR |
and |
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DEP 7 |
where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places, with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them. |
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Only one independent clause appears in this sentence: “It was one of those delightfully irregular houses.” Its subject-verb combination is “It was.” As the noun “one” functions as a complement of the subject “It,” the verb pattern in this clause is SVC. This is a fairly innocent beginning.
The first dependent clause in this sentence is “where you go up and down steps out of one room into another.” As this clause modifies the common noun “houses” in the independent clause, this is an adjective clause. The subordinator in this clause is “where.” Its subject-verb combination is “you go,” and it forms the SV verb pattern as no objects or complements appear here.
The second dependent clause in this sentence is “where you come upon more rooms.” This clause also modifies the common noun “houses” in the independent clause, so this is also an adjective clause. The subordinator here is “where.” The subject-verb combination here is “you come upon,” and this clause forms the SVO pattern as the common noun “rooms” functions as an object of the verb “come upon.”
The third dependent clause in this sentence is “when you think.” At three words, this is the next to the shortest clause in this sentence. As this clause adds a time reference to the sentence, it is an adverbial clause of time. Its subordinator is “when,” and its subject-verb combination is “you think.” As the next dependent clause functions as an object of the verb “think,” the verb pattern here is SVO.
The fourth dependent clause in this sentence is “you have seen all.” At four words, this is the third shortest clause in this sentence. This clause functions as an object of the verb “think” in the third dependent clause, so this clause is a noun clause. The subordinator here is the “zero” subordinator. If this clause had a visible subordinator, it would be “that.” In this case, the pronoun “all” functions as an object of the verb “have seen,” so the clause forms the SVO structure.
The fifth dependent clause in this sentence is “there are,” and at two words it is the shortest clause in the sentence, whether dependent or independent. This clause modifies the pronoun “all” in the previous dependent clause, which means that this is an adjective clause. The subordinator here is the “zero” subordinator. If this clause had a visible subordinator, it would be “that.” If the subordinator “that” appeared in this clause, it would be the subject of the verb “are.” But as the clause is in its original form here, it has no subject. In this case, “there” appears in the subject position even though it is not the subject. In fact, “there” functions as a complement of the subject that is absent, so the clause forms the SVC structure except “S” is missing. This is only possible here because the clause includes the “there is/there are” structure. With any other structure, a subordinator would have to be present to fill the role of the subject of the clause.
The sixth and next to last dependent clause in this sentence is “where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages.” This clause reverts back to the pattern that the first two dependent clauses establish here. Just like those two clauses, this clause modifies the common noun “houses” in the independent clause, so this clause also is an adjective clause. As in those clauses, the subordinator here is “where.” The subject-verb combination here is “provision…is,” and this clause forms the SVC pattern as the adverbial of location “there” functions here as a complement of the subject “provision.”
The seventh and final dependent clause in this sentence is “where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places, with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them.” This clause maintains the pattern of the first, second, and sixth dependent clauses. Just like those three, this one modifies the common noun “houses” in the independent clause. This clause is also the fourth dependent clause in this sentence with “where” as its subordinator. The subject-verb combination here is “you find,” and this clause forms the SVO pattern as the hyphenated noun “cottage-rooms” functions as an object of the verb “find.”
Lest we forget, three coordinators appear in this sentence. The first coordinator in this sentence is “and” which appears immediately after “another.” The second coordinator is “and” which appears immediately following “there are.” The third coordinator is “and” which appears immediately after “passages.” Each of these coordinators appears between two dependent clauses: the first appears between the first two dependent clauses, the second between the fifth and sixth dependent clauses, the third between the sixth and seventh dependent clauses.
To wrap up, this sentence from Bleak House is typical of those that Charles Dickens liked to could construct. In the sentence we find seven dependent clauses. Of those, five are adjective clauses of which four have the same subordinator, “where.” With such repetition, the clauses form a sort of list in the sentence of characteristics of the “houses” that he mentions in the independent clause. Of the other two dependent clauses here, one is an adverbial clause and the other is a noun clause. So, in this sentence we find all three kinds of dependent clauses represented. With just one independent clause and seven dependent clauses, the sentence type here is complex. Although “1+7” may be somewhat uncommon, especially among authors other than Dickens, the sentence type remains complex.
Appreciating a Good Sentence
We are taught in American schools to analyze in order to understand; seldom are we taught to appreciate. When we are taught to appreciate, we often are taught to appreciate in a manner consistent with the teacher's; we are seldom taught to appreciate in our own way. Today, instead of analyzing a sentence, I choose simply to post one so that those who come by may enjoy it.
From time to time we all run across sentences that strike us in one way or another. Sometimes we are struck by the simplicity of the expression; sometimes we are struck by the form. Other times it is a combination of form and expression, and other times we are not really sure why the sentence strikes us. For however it might strike you, spend some time to appreciate this sentence from Anna Quindlen; it is a good one:
I have sat on the edge of several beds while Green Eggs and Ham was read, or recited more or less from memory; I read A Wrinkle in Time three times in a row once, when I was twelve, because I couldn't bear for it to end, wanted them all, Meg and Charles Murry and even the horribly pulsing brain called It, to be alive again as they could only live within my mind, so that I felt as if I killed them when I closed the cover and gave them the kiss of life when my eyes met the words that created their lives. (Quindlen, p. 52)
We see here a statement of the power of reading and the joy of re-reading. One book I have read at least a dozen times is Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Sometimes when you know what's coming, you relish the event even more. Sometimes when you have read the chapters several different times, you begin to see the insight that the words carry. And sometimes it's not easy to put into words what happens. What books have you re-read and why?
If you enjoy this sentence from Anna Quidlen's book, perhaps you might enjoy reading her book; it's full of good sentences.
Reference:
Quindlen, A. (1998). How reading changed my life. New York: Ballantine.
Beginning with "Because"
One point that we all sometimes need to be reminded of is the difference between the two examples that appear here:
1. We did not go because it was raining.
2. Because it was raining.
The first example above is a complete sentence while the second is not. The first example has one independent clause (“We did not go”) and one dependent clause (“because it was raining”), so it is a complex sentence. The second example is just a dependent clause, so it is not a sentence. In other words, the second example is a dependent clause that only looks like a sentence. The first word of the clause begins with a capital letter and the clause ends with a period, so it looks just like a sentence. In order to become a complete sentence, however, the second example needs an independent clause. By definition, a complete sentence must contain at least one independent clause. If you look on the chart of sentence types, you will find at least one independent clause in each sentence type. The problem with the second example above is that it has no independent clause. Therefore, it cannot exist as a sentence on its own. Here are several examples of complete sentences, each of which begins with the same dependent clause:
3. Because it was raining, we stayed home.
4. Because it was raining, they rescheduled the picnic.
5. Because it was raining, Mike and Mark played video games all afternoon.
Each of these examples is a complex sentence because each has one independent clause and one dependent clause. The examples share the same dependent clause (“Because it was raining”); only their independent clauses differ.
The main point here is that every complete sentence must have at least one independent clause. Therefore, when you begin a sentence with a dependent clause that begins with “Because,” make sure that an independent clause follows. Otherwise you have not written a complete sentence. And complete sentences are everything.
Sometimes I need to stop to address points of usage that need attention. Today is one of these times.
The usage point today relates to the words “every day” and “everyday.” When we take these two words and make one word, the expression changes and they are not at all interchangeable. This probably is contrary to what you see in contemporary culture in the United States, which could lead one to believe that indeed no difference does exist. We see this mistake repeatedly in advertising in this country. Would somebody please ask people in advertising to stop confusing these two terms? They are distinctly different. How? Follow along.
Here is an example to consider: “Everyday, I had five different subjects.” Indeed, this cannot be true. Just as “everytime” does not exist as one word but must be separated into two - “Every time that happens I get mad.” - when it refers to the frequency of an event the adverbial expression “every day” must appear as two separate words. So, the example should be “Every day I had five different subjects.”
Unlike “every time” however, the adverbial expression “every day” may appear as one word, and when it does it functions as an adjective. For example, we can talk about a common occurrence, an “everyday thing,” which is something that we see frequently, something we might see “every day.” In addition, an “everyday occurrence” is not particularly a special one as it happens frequently. If an “everyday occurrence” is something that is likely to happen “everywhere,” then we hardly take notice.
Just remember, “every day” you brush your teeth so brushing qualifies as an “everyday occurrence.” Its frequency does not diminish its importance. When you want to emphasize the frequency of an action, “every day” is what you need. When you want to describe something, “everyday” is what you need. These days it’s just about an everyday occurrence to see “everyday” used when the person means “every day.” Keep your eyes open; you may see one every day or nearly every day.
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