NOTE: The author dedicates this brief article to all writers, including the author as well, in hopes that they can use this work as a guideline for future writing.
NOTE2: Is it possible for me to insert this into the Guidelines for Successful Writing (http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=59126 )? Thanks.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Starting Simple
- Building Up
- The Three Ways
- Using Modifiers
The Introduction
If you are reading this (why did I even say this?), then great! This article is a straightforward suggestion of a particular method of building and improving sentences. If you have no need for such an article, then reading this will not be necessary.
Now that you know what I’m going to talk about (I hope), let’s actually talk about it.
Starting Simple
We all know the simple sentence. And if you don’t know what it is, then you have obviously seen it before. The simple sentence is a simple thing (noun/subject) that does a simple task (verb/predicate). For example:
Building Up
A key thing to notice about sentences is the way they convey information. For example:
- Giovanni feels better.
- He feels better because of this new idea.
- He’s still walking around the room.
- He’s not walking towards a specific place.
- Persian is still following Giovanni.
These ideas - called propositions – are the building blocks to every sentence and it is how the writer adds on these propositions to a sentence where the reader understands what the writer is talking about.
So let’s add propositions to sentences. There are three main ways, and one I would like to get into real depth.
The Three Ways
Take a simple sentence:
“They slept.”
We can add to the sentence by using a conjunction to attach another idea to it:
“They slept, and the glimmering stars in the night sky watched over them.”
By adding relative phrases that use “that,” “who,” “which,” and so on:
“They, who are finally assured that the fire would not go out, slept in the campsite that remained a safe haven from all creatures lurking about.”
Or by adding free modifiers:
“They slept, nervously fidgeting with worries about the final exam taking place tomorrow.”
Free modifiers is the best method out of all three. The sentence with free modifiers flow, conveying each idea in a timewise fashion, moving the reader along the sentence until he or she hits the period. Take one of my sentences and note how I broke each phrase into timely sections:
Using Modifiers
Now it’s your turn. Start with any simple sentence… say:
“I like to eat breakfast.”
And think of several ideas you would wish to add to it. Such as:
- My favorite kind of breakfast is bacon.
- A good breakfast starts my day off right.
With modifiers, you get:
“Starting my day off right, I enjoy eating a good breakfast, choosing bacon over the rest of other morning meals.”
Note that using modifiers takes time and practice, and sometimes ideas differ to the point where connecting them doesn’t seem right. But once you get the hang of it, try to advance with even more ideas into a sentence, and watch how your details fly over and dazzle the reader.
Key thing about this whole article: Start small and simple, then work your way up from there. That's all to it!
I apologize for such a short article, but this is something that I hope you can consider, for a detailed story requires a detailed paragraph, which requires a detailed sentence.
~Zyflair
NOTE2: Is it possible for me to insert this into the Guidelines for Successful Writing (http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=59126 )? Thanks.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Starting Simple
- Building Up
- The Three Ways
- Using Modifiers
The Introduction
If you are reading this (why did I even say this?), then great! This article is a straightforward suggestion of a particular method of building and improving sentences. If you have no need for such an article, then reading this will not be necessary.
Now that you know what I’m going to talk about (I hope), let’s actually talk about it.
Starting Simple
We all know the simple sentence. And if you don’t know what it is, then you have obviously seen it before. The simple sentence is a simple thing (noun/subject) that does a simple task (verb/predicate). For example:
PMJ said:
charidude said:
These sentences are no doubt usually short, ranging normally from two words to no more than ten. It is the short length that gives concise brevity, which is – when used correctly – excellent for a written section. However, when you string so many of these simple sentences:Zyflair said:
Something’s dreadfully lacking. The following passage leaves the reader not only hungry for detail, but just confused. The key lesson here? Excess amounts of short sentences are not beautiful to read and should – under 99.9% of all circumstances – be avoided.Anonymous said:
Building Up
A key thing to notice about sentences is the way they convey information. For example:
Here’s what we get from this sentence:PMJ said:
- Giovanni feels better.
- He feels better because of this new idea.
- He’s still walking around the room.
- He’s not walking towards a specific place.
- Persian is still following Giovanni.
These ideas - called propositions – are the building blocks to every sentence and it is how the writer adds on these propositions to a sentence where the reader understands what the writer is talking about.
So let’s add propositions to sentences. There are three main ways, and one I would like to get into real depth.
The Three Ways
Take a simple sentence:
“They slept.”
We can add to the sentence by using a conjunction to attach another idea to it:
“They slept, and the glimmering stars in the night sky watched over them.”
By adding relative phrases that use “that,” “who,” “which,” and so on:
“They, who are finally assured that the fire would not go out, slept in the campsite that remained a safe haven from all creatures lurking about.”
Or by adding free modifiers:
“They slept, nervously fidgeting with worries about the final exam taking place tomorrow.”
Free modifiers is the best method out of all three. The sentence with free modifiers flow, conveying each idea in a timewise fashion, moving the reader along the sentence until he or she hits the period. Take one of my sentences and note how I broke each phrase into timely sections:
Notice the bolded part. It’s the simple sentence, still simple. There’s nothing so complicated about that bolded part. A good and long sentence does not have complicated parts, just a simple ones put together with modifiers.Zyflair said:
Using Modifiers
Now it’s your turn. Start with any simple sentence… say:
“I like to eat breakfast.”
And think of several ideas you would wish to add to it. Such as:
- My favorite kind of breakfast is bacon.
- A good breakfast starts my day off right.
With modifiers, you get:
“Starting my day off right, I enjoy eating a good breakfast, choosing bacon over the rest of other morning meals.”
Note that using modifiers takes time and practice, and sometimes ideas differ to the point where connecting them doesn’t seem right. But once you get the hang of it, try to advance with even more ideas into a sentence, and watch how your details fly over and dazzle the reader.
Key thing about this whole article: Start small and simple, then work your way up from there. That's all to it!
I apologize for such a short article, but this is something that I hope you can consider, for a detailed story requires a detailed paragraph, which requires a detailed sentence.
~Zyflair
