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.Its unity derivesnot so much from a structural principle as from the coherenceof thought.A loose sentence is well formed to the degree thatit expresses a completed idea or perception.A good exampleis the following passage, which begins a description of theBrooklyn home belonging to the writer's grandmother:Her house was a narrow brownstone, two windows to every floorexcept the ground, where the place of one window was taken bya double door of solid walnut plated with layers of dust-pockedcheap enamel.shallow stoop.William AlfredAlfred's sentence is unified by what it facadeof the house.When that perception ends and our eyes areturned upon the stoop, the writer wisely begins a new sen-tence.Of course, this question of when to stop, of knowingwhen one statement should end and another begin, applies toall kinds of sentences.But it causes special problems withloose structure, where the absence of a clear stopping placemay tempt you to ramble on and on.The Periodic SentencePeriodic sentences reverse the pattern of loose structure, be-ginning with subordinate constructions and putting the mainclauses at the end:there is no future for the black ghetto, the future of all Negroesis diminished.Stanley SandersGiven a moist planet wi th methane, formaldehyde, ammonia, andsome usable minerals, all of whi ch abound, exposed to lightningor ultraviolet radiation at the right temperature, life might start al-most anywhere.Lewis ThomasTHE SENTENCEThere is no one formula for the periodic sentence.Often,however, the opening subordinate constructions are adverbialclauses, as in the example by Stanley Sanders, or participialphrases, as in that by Lewis Thomas.Whatever kinds of subordination it uses, the periodic styleis emphatic.Delaying the principal thought increases its im-portance.To the degree that more and more subordinateclauses and phrases are accumulated at the beginning, furtherpostponing the main clause, the sense of climax increases(within limits, of course; too long a delay will cause confu-sion).Here is an instance of effectively postponing the mainpoint:Paralyzed by the neurotic lassitude engendered by meeting one'spast at every turn, around every corner, inside every cupboard, goaimlessly from room to room.Joan DidionThe periodic style is also more formal and literary than theloose, suggesting a writer at a desk rather than a speaker in arelaxed social setting, a tone advantageous on formal occa-sions, though less so when informality is desired.The Convoluted SentenceIn this type of periodic structure the subordinate elementssplit the main clause from the inside, often intruding betweenthe subject and the verb and sometimes between verb andobject or within the verb phrase:White men, at the bottom of their hearts, know this.James BaldwinAnd once in a spasm of reflex chauvinism, she called Queen Vic-toria, whom she rather admired, "a goddamned old water dog."William AlfredConvoluted structure, as an occasional rather than habitualstyle, is a good way of achieving variety in sentence move-SENTENCE STYLESIt also establishes strong emphasis by throwing weightupon the words before and after the commas or dashes settingoff the interrupting constructions:Now demons, whatever else they may be, are full of interest.Here both "demons" and "full of interest" draw attention,expressing the principal idea more strongly than would looseor periodic structure:Now demons are full of interest, whatever else they may be.Whatever else they may be, demons are full of interest.However, this fact does not mean that the convoluted style isinherently better than either the periodic or the loose.It issimply a convenient way of establishing emphasis on partic-ular words when that emphasis is desirable.On the other hand, convoluted structure is formal, and itcan tax readers' attention, especially as the interrupting ele-ments grow longer and more complicated:Even the humble ambition, which long cherished, of makingsketches of those places which interested me, from a defect of eyeor of hand was totally ineffectual.Sir Walter ScottThe life story to be told of any creative worker is therefore by itsvery nature, by its diversion of purpose and its qualified success,by its grotesque transitions from sublimation to base necessity andits pervasive stress towards flight, a comedy.H.c.WellsThese are good sentences, carefully articulated and precise;but they are not easy to read.They demand attention; readersmust recognize when a construction is suspended and whenit is resumed and be able to put the pieces together.Usedsparingly, the long convoluted sentence has the virtue of theunusual: it draws attention to itself and, more important, towhat it says, and it can challenge and stimulate the reader.ATHE SENTENCEsteady diet of such challenges, however, very soon growstiresome.The Centered SentenceThe type of subordinate structure that places the main clausemore or less in the middle of the sentence, with subordinateelements on either side, has no common name.It has beencalled "circuitous" and "round composition"; we shall say"centered." Whatever we call it, we see it often.(In the threeexamples that follow in this section, the main clauses havebeen italicized.)Having wanted to walk on the sea like St.Peter he had taken aninvoluntary bath, losing his mitre and the better part of hisreputation.Lawrence DurrellStanding on the summit of the tower that crowned his church,wings upspread, sword lifted, the devil crawling beneath, and thecock, symbol of eternal vigilance, perched on his mailed foot, SaintMichael held a place of his own in heaven and on earth whichseems, in the eleventh century, to leave hardly room for the Virginof the Crypt at still less for the Beau Christ of the thirteenthcentury at Amiens.Henry AdamsWhile not as emphatic as periodic or as informal as looseconstruction, the centered style has several advantages, espe-cially in long sentences with numerous subordinate elements.It enables a writer to place those elements more clearly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]