Once upon a time, I took an English course from an experienced editor named Dorothy Vella. In fact, she might have been the person who proposed the creation of English 408. One day, she mentioned a paragraph-long sentence that, she said, was perfectly fine, grammatically and stylistically.
The sentence about Carl Lewis may qualify as one also, but to me it is difficult to read and fails to lift off the ground with the grace and power its subject did.
I just reread the sentence and have to say that it was much easier the second time. I also noticed the adjective used in the comment below the sentence: horrific.
Not a sentence one would want to encounter in a dark alley, but an amazing construction nonetheless.
3 comments:
Once upon a time, I took an English course from an experienced editor named Dorothy Vella. In fact, she might have been the person who proposed the creation of English 408. One day, she mentioned a paragraph-long sentence that, she said, was perfectly fine, grammatically and stylistically.
The sentence about Carl Lewis may qualify as one also, but to me it is difficult to read and fails to lift off the ground with the grace and power its subject did.
But that is just me, the closet terrorist ;-)
I just reread the sentence and have to say that it was much easier the second time. I also noticed the adjective used in the comment below the sentence: horrific.
Not a sentence one would want to encounter in a dark alley, but an amazing construction nonetheless.
Perhaps that's the difference between a "grammatical" sentence and a good one!
You might be interested to know that in Spanish long sentences aren't taboo, and there's actually an entire novel that is only one sentence!
Post a Comment