Literary Sentences Reading challenging sentences Periodic sentences Inverted

Literary Sentences Reading challenging sentences Periodic sentences Inverted sentences Review A Review B

Reading challenging sentences Literature written hundreds of years ago can still delight us with great stories, beautiful language, and fascinating characters. However, literary language sometimes has features that challenge us. This presentation will show you two kinds of sentences that require special effort to understand.

Periodic sentences It snowed and snowed. Now let’s add some adverbial information, telling when it snowed: This sentence is not difficult to read, is it? Years and years ago, it snowed and snowed. It’s still not too difficult to read. Now let’s add an adverbial clause telling more about when it snowed: Years and years ago, when I was a child, it snowed and snowed.

Periodic sentences Now let’s see what happens when we add several more adverbial clauses and other modifiers. Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor-car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and snowed. This long sentence opens a story by Dylan Thomas, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales. ”

Periodic sentences When the subject and verb of the main clause are delayed until the end of the sentence, the reader has to absorb a great deal of information before understanding what the sentence is about. A sentence with a delayed subject and verb is called a periodic sentence.

Periodic sentences The opposite of a periodic sentence is called a loose sentence. Here’s how Dylan Thomas’s sentence would look as a loose sentence: It snowed and snowed years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harpshaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor-car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback.

Periodic sentences On Your Own Following Dylan Thomas’s example, write a long periodic sentence describing a scene from your own childhood. Then, underline the subject and circle the verb of the main clause. [End of Section]

Inverted sentences In some literary sentences, the usual order of English words is inverted. Full of scorpions is my mind. Away from light steals home my heavy son. Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed.

Inverted sentences To untangle such sentences Verb Subject Full of scorpions is is my my mind. 1. find the subject 2. find the verb 3. rearrange the sentence to follow regular English word order My mind is full of scorpions.

Inverted sentences On Your Own Invert each of the following sentences so that the subject follows the verb. Rearrange or add any other words as necessary. 1. The river runs clear. 2. Crickets chirped long into the night. 3. A guilty conscience weighs heavy. 4. Success in life is won through patience and hard work. 5. Paul knew little that his friends had planned a surprise party for his birthday. [End of Section]

Review A Write a long periodic sentence that describes the last day of school. Then, underline the subject and circle the verb of the main clause.

Review B Write a sentence of seven to ten words, and experiment with the different ways in which you can reorder words and still have the sentence make sense. Say the different forms of the sentence out loud to get a feel for how the emphasis and rhythm change with each version.

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