Creative Writing 9.15

​Writing style: experimenting with varying sentence types

Syntax

The way that words and phrases are put together to form sentences in a language.

​Did you know that our memories are not concrete, unchanging fixtures of our minds? Actually, memories are more like a Google Doc that can be edited by not just the original creator, but also others.  Over the years, science has continually proved that memories are quite malleable and even evolve over time. Consider how even your own memories have evolved over time. What a crazy thought!

Multiple Choice

What type of sentence is this? Kaitlyn enjoys cooking, but she doesn't know how to cook very well.

• complex

• compound

• simple

Multiple Choice

Which type of sentence is this? Because I don't like math, I didn't do my homework and I got a bad grade.

• complex

• simple

• compound-complex

• compound

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is simple?

• Rocky and Darcy went to the park to run while their parents played disc golf.

• Rocky and Darcy went to the park, and their parents played disc golf.

• Rocky and Darcy went to the park to run.

• Rocky and Darcy went to the park and they met new dog friends while their parents played disc golf.

​These two kinds of complex sentences produce different effects. A periodic sentence often produces a dramatic tension and suspense to the main point at the end of the sentence. The dependent clauses that come before the independent clause serve to stress the importance of the key idea.

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A loose sentence, in contrast, creates the effect of immediacy and naturalness. English writers tend to use loose sentences much more often than periodic ones.

​Periodic

​Loose

​With two raw blisters and now unable to carry my pack due to two broken ribs and broken collar bone, I stared at my dead phone pleadingly.

​Nothing could deflect that wall of water, sweeping away trees and boulders, engulfing streets and villages, churning and roaring like a creature in pain.

​Then I saw that the child had died, never more to enjoy getting into trouble with his friends, never again to tell innocent lies to his parents, never to look with hopeful shyness at a girl he desires.

​During revision, pay attention to sentence structure. Using too many loose sentences can be monotonous, while overusing periodic sentences lessens their rhetorical power. Instead, use various sentence structures. Sometimes simpler sentences are truly powerful. Most importantly, as you revise, read sentences out loud. By doing so, awkward and/or unclear sentence structures come to light.