Building Great Sentences (24 page)

A perfect companion to Lanham's
Style: An Anti-Textbook
is Winston Weathers's
An Alternate Style: Options in Composition
, published in 1980. This book expands and provides numerous examples for the idea of Grammar B that Weathers first set forth in his
Freshman English News
article “Grammars of Style: New Options in Composition.”

When Weathers first proposed Grammar B, it was provocative, even controversial. His thesis was that what got taught in schools was a Grammar A, prim and proper and full of rules, most of them of the “Thou shalt not” kind. Grammar B, on the other hand, was the much more free “Anything goes” approach actually practiced by professional writers—and by writing teachers when they weren't teaching their students Grammar A. Weathers characterized Grammar A as “the well-made box,” a set of prescriptions and rules into which writers were expected to force their prose, the writing equivalent of the legendary Procrustean bed, which stretched victims if they were too short and cut off their feet if they were too tall. As “Professor X,” the persona adopted by Weathers in this argument, complained: “I may be free to put ‘what I say' in the plain box or the ornate box, in the large box or in the small box, in the fragile box or the sturdy box”—but always in the box! Professor X went on to wonder

[i]f somewhere there isn't some sort of container (1) that will allow me to package “what I have to say” without trimming my “content” to fit into a particular compositional mode, (2) that will actually encourage me to discover new “things to say” because of the very opportunity a newly-shaped container gives me, (3) that will be more suitable perhaps to my own mental processes, and (4) that will provide me with a greater rhetorical flexibility, allowing me to package what I have to say in more ways than one and thus reach more audiences than one.

 

Urging us to be alert to emerging options and to create options, Professor X calls for writing instruction that identifies more stylistic options “in all areas—in vocabulary, usage, sentence forms, dictional levels, paragraph types, ways of organizing material into whole compositions: options in all that we mean by style.” Professor X suggests that these new options would constitute an entirely new “grammar of style,” many of the features of which are already in use in not only experimental writing, but also in our own more mundane efforts, but are usually not recognized and almost never approved of by conventional writing instruction. This would allow us to infuse some of the freewheeling style of Grammar B into the more constrained options of Grammar A. He suggests that some of the features of this new Grammar could be seen in the emerging prose of “the New Journalism.” Of course, what was emerging as “new” in 1976 is now very much the form of journalism we have come to know and expect.

One feature of this Grammar B is the “crot,” a
terrible
term Weathers borrows from Tom Wolfe for a new standalone unit of organization, from one to twenty or thirty sentences long, with no clear transitions from or to surrounding prose. As Wolfe explained the crot, “In the hands of a writer who really understands the device, it will have you making crazy leaps of logic, leaps you never dreamed of before.” Both Wolfe's and Professor X's explanations of the crot, although made some twenty years before the Internet, strike me as nearly perfect descriptions of the units of prose we have already become used to on web pages, a reminder that a Grammar C for electronic text may already be developing beyond Grammar B. (More on this idea in a moment.) Other features would also seem to have obvious analogues in electronic textuality, and indeed, Grammar B anticipated many of the features we now take for granted when we surf the Web or when we suffer through interminable PowerPoint presentations.

Current trends in popular usage and more innovative and descriptive analysis in writing instruction have made the once radical-seeming polemic in favor of a Grammar B seem pretty tame today. A number of the sentence strategies I have presented in this book would once have seemed to belong to the rebellious moves of Grammar B, but are now acceptable and widely practiced in “respectable” writing. Much of what Weathers described as Grammar B has been absorbed into an expanded Grammar A in the nearly fifty years since he published his original “Grammars of Style” essay. However, while Grammar B may have largely won its war with Grammar A, we are now recognizing the emergence and codification of a Grammar C in digital media. Hypertext links, mouse-overs, text wrapped around images, scrolling text rather than pages, print linked to sound—these and many other features we use daily on the Internet and in electronic presentations all suggest that we have already entered the age of a Grammar C that is specific to multimedia writing. Once again, Richard Lanham is one of the pioneers of describing and analyzing this new digital rhetoric. In his new editions of
Analyzing Prose Style
and in
The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information
(2007), Lanham lays the foundation for what will be the next stage in rhetorical analysis and a new chapter in the teaching of writing. For now, however, most of us remain more concerned with writing on the page than writing on the screen, and when we do write on the screen it remains the case that
nothing is more important than the sentence.

In this book I've introduced a number of practical approaches to crafting more effective—and more enjoyable—sentences. I hope I've also been able to show some of the fascinating issues involved in understanding how our sentences fit into the larger concerns of prose style.

In “A Primer for Teaching Style,” published in the May 1974
College Composition and Communication
, Richard Graves, now professor emeritus of curriculum and teaching at Auburn, describes style as “a way of finding and explaining what is true.” I love that description and I completely agree with Graves when he adds that the purpose of style “is not to impress but to express.” I like to think of style not as a gift that some writers have, something they can show off, but as a gift that they can give away, by passing the truth of their style and the expression of their selves along to readers. In this sense,
style is itself the gift
, passed from writer to writer, from writer to reader, age to age. As Lewis Hyde, in his book
The Gift
, has so brilliantly explained the process of gifting, most indigenous peoples believe that the essence of gift giving is that the gift must remain in motion—that it must keep moving as it is given again and again, passed from hand to hand. In this important sense, style is indeed a gift that keeps on giving just as it is a gift that can and must be passed along. I hope that through your writing you will pass along to others the gift of style.

Next Steps

Start writing, keep writing, and find some way to share the gift of your writing with others!

The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

 

“A&P” (Updike), 130–31

Absalom, Absalom!
(Faulkner), 227

Ada
(Nabokov), 214–15

Adams, Henry, 172

addition principle of writing, 57, 58, 75

adjectival strategy to sentence construction, 45, 47, 48–51

Against the Day
(Pynchon), 126–27

Agnew, Spiro, 212

alliteration, 119, 199, 212

An Alternate Style
(Weathers), 244, 250

Altick, Richard D., 192

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
(Chabon), 165–66

Amis, Kingsley, 172

anadiplosis, 212

Analyzing Prose
(Lanham), 159, 160, 253

anaphora, 208, 212

and
, 44

Anderson, Chris, 48

anticipating questions, 39–40

Aristotle, 123, 144–45, 147, 158–59, 207

“Ars Poetica” (MacLeish), 10

Artful Sentences
(Tufte), 192, 231–32

Arthur Rex
(Berger), 142–43

article leads, 115

as
and
as if
, 121, 127, 130, 136

assonance, 199, 212

asyndeton, 207, 211

Atwood, Margaret, 133

 

Bacon, Francis, 208–9, 212, 215

balanced sentences, 184–204

of Churchill, 195–96

balanced sentences (
cont
.)

comparisons made in, 197

construction of, 195–96

criticisms of, 199–200

of Dickens, 184–85

forms of, 199

of Garrett, 185–86

of Gass, 200–202

of Johnson, 197–99

of Kennedy, 195

memorable nature of, 195–97

mini-balances, 218–220

and parallelism, 187–88, 194, 199

and prefab pairings, 196

and serial constructions, 208, 216–18

as suspensive sentences, 175–76

Baldwin, James, 216–17

“Barn Burning” (Faulkner), 16, 54

Barzun, Jacques, 16, 19

base/kernel clauses

definition of, 38, 70

expanding, 39–41

information added to, 44

information modifying, 45

information subordinated to, 44

predictive sentences, 41–43

short kernel sentences, 38–39

and suspensive sentences, 163–64

Beatitudes, 190–91

because
, 44, 131–32, 135, 136

Beckett, Samuel, 201

“The Bells” (Poe), 119

Berger, Thomas, 1, 141, 142–43, 209–10, 236–37, 238–39

Bible, 192

Blake, William, 214

Borges, Jorge Luis, 201

Bourdain, Anthony, 170–71

Breaking the Rules
(Schuster), 247

Buchwald, Art, 173

“The Cadence of English Oratorical Prose” (Croll), 146

Caesar, 30, 206, 207

Carroll, Lewis, 187

Cartesian Linguistics
(Chomsky), 26–27

Chabon, Michael, 165–66

chiasmus, 213

Chomsky, Noam, 26–27, 28

Christensen, Francis

championing of cumulative sentences, xii–xiii, 48, 55–58, 157–58, 160, 244

on coordinate cumulative sentences, 87

and Erskine, 57–58, 75

on modifiers, 55–56

principles for cumulative sentences, 58–64

on subordinate cumulative sentences, 88

writing students of, 63–64, 101

Churchill, Winston, 20, 176, 177, 187, 195–96, 213

Cicero, 158

Clark, Albert C., 146

Clark, Matthew, 159, 200, 214

Clark, Walter Van Tilburg, 105

Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student
(Corbett), 244

clauses, 71, 75

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” (Hemingway), 17

Cleaver, Eldridge, 212, 213

comma splices, 75

comparisons, 118, 121–23, 197

complex sentences, 21–22, 229

compound sentences, 44

conceptual dualism, 199

conjunctions, 44

connective strategy in sentence construction, 44, 47

Connors, Robert J., 243–46

Conrad, Joseph, 3, 34–36, 112, 124–25

consonance, 199

Constructive Rhetoric
(Hale), 187

Contemporary Essays on Style
(Love and Payne), 217

A Cook's Tour
(Bourdain), 171

coordinate cumulative sentences, 82–83

advantages of, 85–86, 87, 100–102

construction of, 90

digressions from, 104

drawbacks of, 108–9

parallelism in, 103, 109

patterns in, 103–5

repetition in, 103, 109, 113

rhythm of, 105–6

temporal and sequential logic in, 107–8

Copy and Compose
(Weathers and Winchester), 244

Corbett, Edward P. J., 244

“The Craft of Writing” (Erskine), 57

Crazy in Berlin
(Berger), 238–39

Croll, Morris W., 146–47

cumulative sentences, 53–67, 94–117

addition principle of, 58, 75

and adjectival steps, 48

basic construction of, 69

coordinate sentences (
see
coordinate cumulative sentences)

diagramming, 60–61, 64–66, 81–82

and figurative language, 118, 119, 121–23, 125–28

final phrases of, 102–3, 125–130, 135–36

generative nature of, 68–69

levels of generality in, 59–62

cumulative sentences (
cont
.)

logic of, 64–66

loose syntax of, 155

mechanics of, 99

mixed cumulative sentence levels, 85, 89, 91, 111–13

movement principle of, 58–59, 76, 106–7

multiple levels in, 81–82, 101–2

paradigmatic and syntagmatic characteristics of, 80, 81

parts of, 70–75

patterns in, 103–5, 113–15

phrases in, 71–75

and processing of information, 124–25

professionals' use of, 75

and readers, 59, 66, 108–9

reading aloud, 95–99

rhythm of, 53–67, 87, 105–6, 151–53, 188–89

speculative language in, 118, 119–120, 128–130, 135–36, 137–38

subordinate cumulative sentence levels, 86–88, 90, 101, 104, 109–11, 113

and suspensive sentences, 162–63

temporal and sequential logic in, 107–8

texture of, 62–63

Cunningham, Michael, 2

 

dangling participles, 77–78

Death in the Afternoon
(Hemingway), 173–74, 229–230

Deford, Frank, 239

DeLillo, Don, 1, 54, 67

density, 36, 62

diagramming sentences, 60–61, 64–66

Dickens, Charles, 184–85

Dictionary of Modern English Usage
(Fowler), 25

Didion, Joan, 128–29, 139, 174–75, 214, 239–240, 241

digital media and Grammar C, 252–53

Dillard, Annie, 172, 212

 

The Economics of Attention
(Lanham), 253

education, sentence-based instruction in, 244–46

The Education of Henry Adams
(Adams), 172

effective writing, 14–19, 20, 21–22

Eiseley, Loren, 62–63, 111–12, 235–36

elements of a sentence, 5–7

The Elements of Style
(Strunk and White)

on arrangement of propositions, 30, 34

critiques of, 18

on loose sentences, 156

on omitting needless words, 15–16, 17, 97

on similes, 122–23

on simple and direct writing, 15–16

Elephants of Style
(Walsh), 18

ellipsis pattern in series, 212

embedded propositions, 34–36

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 208

emotional impact of writing, 34–35, 121–22

emphasis in sentences, 134

Encyclopedia Britannica
, 149

end-focus rhythm pattern, 134

epanalepsis, 213

epistrophe, 208, 213

“The Erasure of the Sentence” (Connors), 243

Erskine, John, 57–58, 75–76

Euphues
(Lyly), 193–94

Farewell to Arms
(Hemingway), 42–43

Faulkner, William, 16–17, 19, 23, 54, 227, 230

Fiction and Figures of Life
(Gass), 200

figurative language, 118, 119, 121–23, 125–28

final phrases, 102–3, 125–130, 135–36

First Blood
(Morrell), 42

Fisher, M. F. K., 173

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 89, 153, 155–56, 166, 197

for
, 136

Fowler, H. W., 18, 25, 136

Free/Style
(Anderson), 48

 

Gass, William, 200–202, 214, 221–25

“A Generative Rhetoric of the Sentence” (Christensen), 55–56

“Gertrude Stein and the Geography of the Sentence” (Gass), 224

gerund phrases, 72–73

Gibson, Walker, 6, 42–43

Gibson, William, 36–37

Goldwater, Barry, 187, 196–97

grammar, 13–24, 246–47, 250–52

Grammar as Style
(Tufte), 50–51

Grammar B, 250–52

“Grammars of Style” (Weathers), 250

Graves, Richard, 253

The Great Gatsby
(Fitzgerald), 89, 153, 155–56, 166

Habitations of the Word
(Gass), 200

Hale, Edward Everett, Jr., 187

Hamlet
(Shakespeare), 168, 175

Handlist of Rhetorical Terms
(Lanham), 194

“Happy Endings” (Atwood), 133

Harbrace College Handbook
, 20, 157, 191

Hayakawa, S. I., 121

Hazlitt, William, 199, 208

Heart of Darkness
(Conrad), 3, 112

Heller, Joseph, 89

Hemingway, Ernest

proficiency of, 19

rhythm of, 53–54

sentence length of, 229–230, 240–41

serial constructions of, 207

and simple and direct writing, 16–17

style of, 23

suspensive sentences of, 173–74

History of English Prose Rhythm
(Saintsbury), 146

Hitchens, Christopher, 172

“The Hunting of the Snark” (Carroll), 187

hyperbole, 119

 

if
, 164–65, 176–77

implied propositions, 28–29, 34–36

impressive writing, 14–15, 18–19, 20

individuality in writing, 118, 120, 123, 129–130, 182

infinitive phrases, 73

In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
(Gass), 200

“Inviting the Muses” (Young), 233–34

isocolon, 213

 

James, Henry, 22

Johnson, Samuel, 187–88, 193, 197–202, 208, 216

Joyce, James, 104, 105

 

Kennedy, George A., 159

Kennedy, John F., 187, 195

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 239

Kinneavy, James, 246

Kittredge, William, 171

Klaus, Carl, 100, 101, 102, 164, 175, 209–10, 248–49

Kolln, Martha, 134

Kronenberger, Louis, 208

 

ladder of abstraction, 8–9, 60

Language in Thought and Action
(Hayakawa), 121

Lanham, Richard, 21, 159–161, 194, 215, 249–250, 253

left-branching sentences, 59, 76, 78, 106–7, 165–66

Le Guin, Ursula K., 143, 228–29

length of sentences, 3, 227–231.
See also
long sentences

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” (King), 239

“Letter from the East” (White), 138

Lewis, Sinclair, 88, 92–93

like
, 121, 127–28

Little Big Man
(Berger), 142

“Living Like a Weasel” (Dillard), 212

The Log from the Sea of Cortez
(Steinbeck), 13–14

logos, 139

long sentences, 226–242

base clauses of, 40–41

correcting problems with, 231–33

and master sentences, 227–28, 233–241

variety in, 228–231, 233–37

loose syntax, 155, 156–57, 159, 160, 170

Love, Glen, 217

Lowell, Amy, 150, 151

Lowry, Malcolm, 201

Lyly, John, 188, 193

 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 199–200, 216

MacLeish, Archibald, 10

Malinowski, Bronislaw, 179–180

Martin, William C., 171

master sentences, 227–28, 233–241

A Matter of Style
(Clark), 159, 200

McAuliffe, Anthony, 2, 38

meaning, 9–10, 23

Memento Mori
(Spark), 51

Memoirs
(Amis), 172

metaphors, 119, 121, 122, 199

mid-branching modifiers, 76, 78

“Midnight in Dostoevsky” (DeLillo), 67

Miles, Josephine, 45–47, 48, 76, 151–52, 245

mini-balances, 218–220

mini-scripting, 176–182

mixed cumulative sentence levels, 85, 89, 91, 111–13

Modern English Usage
(Fowler), 18, 136

modes of progression in prose, 45–48

modifying words or phrases

and adjectival strategy, 44, 45

article leads in, 115

Christensen on, 56

clauses compared to, 75

containing verbals, 71–72

definition of, 71

direction provided by, 58–59, 76, 79

Erskine on primacy of, 57–58, 76

final phrases, 102–3, 125–130, 135–36

free modifiers, 32–33, 48–51, 56–57, 76, 106–8

gerund phrases, 72–73

infinitive phrases, 73

levels of generality in, 59–62

misplaced modifiers, 77–79

mixed cumulative sentence levels, 85, 89, 91

multiple levels of, 101–2

participial phrases, 72, 74

modifying words or phrases (
cont
.)

prepositional phrases, 73

and relative clauses, 50