BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES The writer spoke of
BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES The writer spoke of acute body illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him— and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady.
BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES Follow these steps: • Focus on the main idea. Find the subject and verb. • Cross out/eliminate modifying phrases that are not important to the main idea of the sentence. (Clue: usually these phrases are between commas and usually, in Edgar’s case, dashes). • Keep reading. A confusing sentence may be followed by one easier to understand.
BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES Your sentence should look similar to this: The writer spoke of acute body illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him— and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady.
BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES Rewritten it should look like this: The writer spoke of acute body illness, and of an earnest desire to see me, with a view of attempting some alleviation of his malady. Is this version easier to understand? If not….
BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX SENTENCES If you still have a problem comprehending the sentence, break it down further by eliminating describing words. For example, the sentence would now look like: The writer spoke of acute body illness, and of an earnest desire to see me, with a view of attempting some alleviation of his malady.
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