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Loose, and Periodic Sentences

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Title: Loose, and Periodic Sentences


1
Loose, and Periodic Sentences
2
From a rhetorical point of view, sentences are
loose, periodic, or balanced.
  • I. loose sentence and periodic sentence
  • 1. A loose sentence puts the main idea before
    all supplementary information in other words, it
    puts first things first, and lets the reader know
    what it is mainly about when he has read the
    first few words. The reverse arrangement makes a
    periodic sentence the main idea is expressed at
    or near the end of it, and it is not
    grammatically complete until the end is reached.
    The reader does not know what it is mainly about
    until he finishes reading it.( A Handbook of
    Writing Ding Wangdao)

3
a. She decided to study English though she was
interested in music.b. Although she was
interested in music, she finally decided to study
English.
  • The main idea of both sentences is the fact that
    she decided to study English. This idea is put at
    the beginning of the first sentence and at the
    end of the second, thus making one a loose
    sentence and the other a periodic one. Besides,
    the first part of the first sentence is complete
    in structure, but that of the second is only an
    adverbial clause and cannot be called a sentence
    without the second part.

4
2. The definition offered in the Websters New
World Dictionary
  • Loose sentence (p.798) a sentence in which the
    essential elements, in the main clause, come
    first, followed by subordinate parts, modifiers,
    etc., as in a compound sentence.
  • Periodic sentence (p.1005) a sentence in which
    the essential elements, in the main clause, are
    withheld until the end or separated as by
    modifiers or subordinate clauses.

5
  • a. She decided to study English though she was
    interested in music.
  • b. Although she was interested in music, she
    finally decided to study English.

6
3. The definition in English(book 6)given by
Professor Yu Dayin
  • Loose sentence a loose sentence is one that may
    be brought to a grammatical close before the end
    is reached.
  • Periodic sentence a periodic sentence is one
    that is not grammatically complete until the end
    is reached. For example,
  • You cannot make great progress in English without
    good study habits.
  • Without good study habits, you cannot make great
    progress in English.

7
A. You cannot make great progress in English
without good study habits.B. Without good study
habits, you cannot make great progress in English.
  • Sentence a and sentence b are semantically same,
    but different in structure. Sentence a is a loose
    sentence, but sentence b the periodic sentence.
    The main idea is put at the beginning of the
    first sentence followed by the supplement and
    explanation and at the end of the second
    sentence, thus making one a loose sentence and
    the other a periodic one.

8
  • 4. Translated terms loose sentence
    ??????p,44???????1993??1?p.92???????p.1053
    ?
  • Periodic sentence ???????p,45
    ???????1993??1?p.92???,????????p.1348?
  • The popular translated terms are loose
    sentence????Periodic sentence????

9
II. The difference between the two types of
sentences
  • Loose sentences are easier, simpler, more
    natural and direct periodic sentences are more
    complex, emphatic, formal, or literary.
  • 1. He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet,
    powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you
    with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head
    forward, and a fixed-from-under stare which made
    you think of a charging bull. His voice was deep,
    loud, and his manner displayed a kind of dogged
    self-assertion which had nothing aggressive in
    it.

10
  • It seemed a necessity, and it was directed
    apparently as much at himself as at anybody else.
    He was spotlessly neat, appareled in immaculate
    white from shoes to hat, and in the various
    Eastern ports where he got his living as
    ship-chandlers water-clerk he was very popular.
  • Most of the sentences are compound and
    compound-complex, and all of them, except the
    second half of the last sentence, are loose in
    structure.

11
  • 2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a
    single man in possession of a good fortune must
    be in want of a wife.
  • Jane Austen
  • This is the sentence with which Jane Austen
    begins her Pride and Prejudice. Its a periodic
    sentence because the last word being the most
    important, and because many words are piled up
    before the key word.

12
III. The methods of making loose sentences and
periodic sentences
  • 1.Preposing or postposing the adverbial clause
  • (1) Loose ( postposition) The world wont end
    even if we fail again and again.
  • Periodic (preposition) Even if we fail again and
    again, the world wont end.
  • (2) Loose ( postposition)Bill had cleaned the
    room before Tom returned.
  • Periodic (preposition)Before Tom returned, Bill
    had cleaned the room.

13
  • 2.Preposing or postposing the adverbial phrase
  • (1) Loose ( postposition)Bill started to write
    his composition early in the morning.
  • Periodic (preposition)Early in the morning, Bill
    started to write his composition.
  • (2) Loose ( postposition)We feel much honored
    to have you come to visit our country.
  • Periodic (preposition)To have you come to visit
    our country, we feel much honored.

14
  • 3. Preposing or postposing the ppl(participle)
    phrase
  • (1) Loose ( postposition) She came up
    shouldering a spade.
  • Periodic (preposition)Shouldering a spade,
    she came up.
  • (2) Loose ( postposition) He came back,
    utterly exhausted.
  • Periodic (preposition) Utterly exhausted, he
    came back.

15
  • 4. Preposing or postposing the prepositional
    phrase
  • (1) Loose (postposition)Tom was cutting a
    piece of metal with great care.
  • Periodic (preposition)With great care, Tom
    was cutting a piece of metal.
  • (2) Loose (postposition) This was done without
    my knowledge and without my consent.
  • Periodic (preposition)Without my knowledge
    and without my consent, this was done.

16
  • 5. Preposing or postposing the apposition
  • (1) Loose (postposition) Tom became fond of
    Bill, a cheerful, hard-working apprentice.
  • Periodic (preposition) A cheerful,
    hard-working apprentice, Tom became fond of Bill.
  • (2) Loose (postposition) He read all kinds of
    books, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign.
  • Periodic (preposition) Ancient and modern,
    Chinese and foreign, he read all kinds of books.

17
  • 6. Preposing or postposing the adjective or
    adjective phrase
  • (1) Loose (postposition) She took down what he
    said, conscientious and eager.
  • Periodic (preposition) Conscientious and
    eager, she took down what he said.
  • (2) Loose (postposition) Bill was cleaning the
    lathe full of energy.
  • Periodic (preposition) Full of energy, Bill
    was cleaning the lathe.

18
IV. The rhetoric function of loose sentence and
periodic sentence
  • 1. loose sentence
  • (1) loose sentence gives prominence to emphases
    and comes straight to the point
  • She was offered a professional contract after
    winning the Olympic gold medal for figure
    skating, according to the newspaper reports.

19
  • The most valuable information--she was offered a
    professional contract--appears at the beginning
    of the sentence and the other information
    follows, which is in accordance with our thinking
    practice. For example,
  • The moral imperative to get involved is
    applicable in the tiniest and the largest of our
    daily considerations, in everything from helping
    a neighbor all the way to caring about the state
    of the world.

20
  • Loose sentences fit writing in a flat way most.
    Stephen Leacok, the Canadian writer, described a
    mothers hard work in a ten-year-old boys stain.
    He adopted many loose sentences which implies the
    boy lingering between the mature and the naïve
    mind and sets off the mothers endless hard work

21
  • Well, we had the loveliest day up among the hills
    that you could possibly imagine, and Father
    caught such big specimens that he felt sure that
    Mother couldnt have landed them anyway, if she
    had been fishing for them, and Will and I fished
    too, though we didnt get so many as Father, and
    the two girls met quite a lot of people that they
    knew as we drove along, and there were some young
    men friends of theirs that they met along the
    stream and talked to, and so we all had a
    splendid time.

22
2. periodic sentence
  • causes anticipation and suspense in readers
    because the important information readers are
    eager to know is postposed at the end of the
    sentence.
  • Though Jim Thorpe had brought great glory to his
    nation, though thousands of people cheered him
    upon his return to the United Stages and attended
    banquets and a New York parade in his honor, he
    was not a citizen.

23
  • The two though.concessive clauses push Jim
    Thorpes personal achievements and the craze from
    the American people towards him to the climax.
    When readers finish reading the two clauses, they
    will desire to wait for the answer being
    disclosed however, the writer only uses five
    words-he was not a citizen (???????????)-to bring
    to a sudden end to the sentence. During the
    course, readers follow the anticipation-suspense-s
    uddenness track and this is the charm of periodic
    sentences. Please compare

24
  • There was a lamp burning on the table in the
    empty room and a little cat lying near the
    lamp.(loose)
  • On the table burned a lamp in the empty room, and
    near it lay a little cat.(periodic)
  • The key wordsa lamp and a little catare
    withheld at the end of the sentence b, so the
    suspense and anticipation comes up.

25
  • periodic sentences can focus on expressing the
    sadness and happiness of the writer and
    strengthen the power of the words.
  • The one absolute, unselfish friend a man may have
    in this selfish world, the one that never deserts
    him, the one that never proves ungrateful or
    treacherous, is his dog.
  • ( A Tribute to the Dog--George Graham West
  • The writer uses three parallel construction
    sentences and three repeated ones push the noble
    personality of this friend up to the top.
    However, the answer isonly three wordsis his
    dog.

26
V. Balanced sentence
  • When a sentence contains two or more parts of
    the same form and grammatical function, it is one
    with parallel construction
  • Let us be ruthless in our criticism, cruel
    to personal vanities, indifferent to age, rank or
    experience if these stand in our way.
  • --Norman
    Berthune

27
  • It does not do to live in memories, in regrets
    for the good old days, or in sadness about
    friends who are dead. Ones thoughts must be
    directed to the future, and to things about which
    there is something to be done.
  • --Bertrand
    Russell
  • The feeling of the nation must be quickened the
    conscience of the nation must be roused the
    propriety of the nation must be startled the
    hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its
    crimes against God and men must be proclaimed and
    denounced.
  • --Frederick
    Douglass

28
  • Such parallel sentences are emphatic and
    forceful. When a sentence contains two parallel
    clauses similar in structure but contrasted in
    meaning, it is a balanced sentence.
  • On hearing the news, he was angered, and I was
    saddened.
  • In Platos opinion man was made for philosophy
    in Bacons opinion philosophy was made for man.
  • --Thomas Babington Macaulay

29
  • In a word, a balanced sentence is one in which
    sentence elements (words, phrases, clauses) of
    equal importance are set off against each other.
    Thus it is particularly effective for comparisons
    and contrasts, as well as for emphatic
    statements. Study the following examples
  • The President wanted an increase in taxes to
    reduce the national debt the Congress wanted a
    reduction in taxes to stimulate business.

30
  • Thus, good sentences are more than grammatically
    correct. They are varied in length in word order,
    and in their rhetorical patterns. As you read
    essays, consider the sentence structure of each
    selection. And as you write your own essays,
    apply the techniques for attaining sentence
    variety that we have discussed.

31
Short and Long Sentence
  • Short sentences are usually emphatic, whereas
    long sentences are cable of expressing complex
    ideas with precision, because it may contain many
    modifiers. Short sentences are suitable for the
    presentation of important facts and ideas, and
    long sentences for the explanation of views and
    theories, or the description of things with many
    details.

32
Look at the following passage which makes good
use of short sentences
  • Our city is on the threshold of a great era. Of
    this we can be sure. We must be willing to
    workand to spend in order to fulfill the promise
    of the future. We need a large police force for
    public protection. We need a modernized fire
    department. We need an enlarged library. We need
    to improve our water supply. For all these needs
    there is but one solution. We must see that the
    bond issue is approved by the voters in the
    November election.

33
  • Here each short sentence puts forward an
    important suggestion. If the points were grouped
    into two or three longer sentences, there would
    not be the force and clarity of these short
    sentences.

34
The following passage describes how a man saved
a drowning girl
  • He crouched a little, spreading his hands under
    the water and moving them round, trying to feel
    for her. The dead cold pond swayed upon his
    chest. He moved again, a little deeper, and
    again, with his hands underneath, he felt all
    around under the water. And he touched her
    clothing. But it evaded his fingers. He made a
    desperate effort to grasp it.

35
  • He laid her down on the bank. She was quite
    unconscious and running with water. He made the
    water come from her mouth, he worked to restore
    her. He did not have to work very long before he
    could feel the breathing begin again in her she
    was breathing naturally. He worked a little
    longer. He could feel her live beneath his hands
    she was coming back. He wiped her face, wrapped
    her in his overcoat, looked round into the dim,
    dark gray world, then lifted her and staggered
    down the bank and across the fields.

36
  • The many short sentences in the above passage
    vividly describe the mans rapid movements and
    make the reader feel the tension the man was
    experiencing at the moment.
  • Long sentences are common in legal, political and
    theoretical writing, which depends on
    modification for accuracy.

37
  • Art, in the sense here intendedthat is, the
    genetic term subsuming painting, sculpture,
    architecture, music, dance, literature, drama,
    and filmmay be defined as the practice of
    creating perceptible forms expressive of human
    feeling. I say perceptible rather than
    sensuous forms because some works of art are
    given to imagination rather than to the outward
    senses. A novel, for instance, usually is read
    silently with the eye, but is not made for
    vision, as a painting is and though sound plays
    a vital part in poetry, words even in poetry are
    not essentially sonorous structures like music..

38
  • The writer is trying to define such abstract term
    as art and feeling, and it is necessary for
    her to use so many words to make the definitions
    accurate and prevent misunderstanding.
  • In fiction long sentences are sometimes used to
    describe a person, a thing or a scene.

39
  • Mrs. Chalmers was kind of fat and her hair was
    pretty blond and her complexion was soft and pink
    and she always looked as though she had been in
    the beauty parlor all afternoon. She always said
    My, youre getting to be a big boy to Peter
    when she met him in the elevator, in a soft
    voice, as though she was just about to laugh. She
    must have said that fifty times by now. She had a
    good, strong smell of perfume on her all the
    time, too.

40
  • Mr. Chalmers wore pince-nez glasses most of the
    time and he was getting bald and he worked late
    at his office a good many evenings of the week.
    When he met Peter in the elevator he would say,
    Its getting colder, or Its getting warmer,
    and that was all, so Peter had no point abut him,
    except that he looked like the principal of a
    school.
  • -- Irwin Shaw

41
  • Of the five sentences in the above passage four
    are long, and they give detailed descriptions of
    the tow characters. Were they broken into many
    short sentences, the contrast between the normal
    Chalmers couple and the couple on that particular
    occasion would not be so striking.

42
  • Various sentence structures have been discussed.
    The basic principle is that the structure should
    fit the idea being expressed. In other words, the
    idea determines the choice of the structure, not
    the other way round.
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