Download Cumulative periodic and inverted sentences

GRAMMAR AS RHETORIC AND
STYLE
CUMULATIVE, PERIODIC, AND
INVERTED SENTENCES
STANDARD SENTENCE PATTERNS
Subject/Verb (SV)
My father cried.
Subject/Verb/Subject Complement (SVC)
Even the streams were now lifeless.
Subject/Verb/Direct Object (SVO)
We believed her.
Subject/Verb/Indirect object/Direct Object (SVIO)
Larry showed me a graph.
SENTENCE TYPES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Simple
Compound
Complex
Compound-Complex
Cumulative
Periodic
Inverted
SIMPLE SENTENCE: A SENTENCE WITH ONE
INDEPENDENT CLAUSE AND NO DEPENDENT CLAUSES.
• The Bears are better than the Packers.
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A SENTENCE WITH MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT CLAUSES BUT NO
DEPENDENT CLAUSES.
• The clown frightened the little girl, and she ran off
screaming.
• The clown frightened the little girl; she ran off
screaming.
• The clown frightened the little girl: she is easily
scared.
COMPLEX SENTENCE: A SENTENCE WITH ONE
INDEPENDENT CLAUSE AND AT LEAST ONE DEPENDENT
CLAUSE.
• After Mary added up all the sales, she discovered
that the lemonade stand was 32 cents short.
COMPLEX-COMPOUND SENTENCE: A
SENTENCE WITH MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT CLAUSES AND AT
LEAST ONE DEPENDENT CLAUSE.
• Catch-22 is widely regarded as Joseph Heller's best
novel, and because Heller served in World War II,
which the novel satirizes, the zany but savage wit of
the novel packs an extra punch.
CUMULATIVE SENTENCE
Begins with standard sentence pattern like this:
“The women moved through the streets as winged
messengers.”
ADDING THE DETAILS
Details can be dependent clauses or different kinds
of phrases…
“twirling around each other in slow motion”
“peeking inside homes and watching the easy sleep
of men and women.”
These phrases add meaning to the standard
sentence pattern.
CUMULATIVE SENTENCE
The women moved through the streets as winged
messengers, twirling around each other in slow
motion, peeking inside homes and watching the
easy sleep of men and women.
-Terry Tempest Williams
ONE FINAL EXAMPLE
“It is the wilderness.”
What is the pattern?
S=It
V=is
O=wilderness
THE DETAILS…
That is beautiful, dangerous, abundant, oblivious of
us….
Mysterious….
Never to be conquered or controlled or second
guessed….
Or known more than a little.
THE RESULT…
“It is a wilderness that is beautiful, dangerous,
abundant, oblivious of us, mysterious, never to be
conquered or controlled or second-guessed, or
known more than a little.”
-Wendell Berry
What is the effect?
PERIODIC SENTENCES
Begins with multiple details and holds off a standard
sentence pattern until the end.
LET’S BEGIN WITH THE STANDARD
SENTENCE…
I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.
What is the standard pattern?
S=I
V=have enjoyed
O=perfect exhilaration
THE DETAILS…
The details go BEFORE the standard sentence
pattern…
Crossing a bare common
In snow puddles
At twilight
Under a clouded sky
Without having in my thoughts any occurrence of
special good fortune.
PERIODIC SENTENCE
Complete!
“Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at
twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my
thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I
have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
What is the effect?
ONE MORE EXAMPLE
“Often, after filling several notebooks with dozens of
interviews, reading several books, diving into all
manner of research materials, and making research
trips, when I sit down to write, I do so without looking
at my notes at all.”
-Daniel Glick
STANDARD SENTENCE AND DETAILS
What is the standard
sentence?
Description?
I do so without looking
at my notes at all.
Often, after filling
several notebooks with
dozens of interviews,
reading several books,
diving into all manner
of research materials,
and making research
trips, when I sit down to
write…
INVERTED SENTENCE
Typical standard
sentence
(SV)
Inverted sentence
(VS)
The shadow of death
was everywhere.
Everywhere was the
shadow of death.
How is the effect
different in the standard
pattern vs. the inverted
sentence?