Loose Balanced Parallel and Periodic Sentences With a

Loose, Balanced, Parallel, and Periodic Sentences With a special appearance by Dangling Modifier!

From a rhetorical point of view, sentences are loose, periodic, or balanced. n n 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)

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. n 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.

2. The definition offered in the Webster’s 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. n 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. n

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

II. The difference between the two types of sentences n n *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-fromunder stare which made you think of a charging bull. His voice was deep, loud, and his manner displayed a kind of dogged selfassertion which had nothing aggressive in it.

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. It’s a periodic sentence because the last word being the most important, and because many words are piled up before the key word. n

III. The methods of making loose sentences and periodic sentences n n n 1. Preposing or postposing the adverbial clause (1) Loose ( postposition): The world won’t end even if we fail again and again. Periodic (preposition): Even if we fail again and again, the world won’t end. (2) Loose ( postposition): Bill had cleaned the room before Tom returned. Periodic (preposition): Before Tom returned, Bill had cleaned the room.

Balanced Sentences Definition: A sentence made up of two parts that are roughly equal in length, importance, and grammatical structure: a paired construction. n A balanced sentence that makes a contrast is called antithesis. n

Examples n n "Sleeping on a Seely is like sleeping on a cloud. " (advertising slogan for Seely mattresses) "Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun. " (advertising slogan for KFC) "If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer. " (advertising slogan for Miller beer) "Vision without action is daydream; action without vision is nightmare. " (Japanese proverb)

Parrallel Definition: Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. Also called parallel structure. n By convention, items in a series appear in parallel grammatical form: a noun is listed with other nouns, an -ing form with other ingforms, and so on. Failure to express such items in similar grammatical form is called faulty parallelism. n

Examples n "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative. " (Martin Luther King, Jr. ) n "New roads; new ruts. " (G. K. Chesterton)

Dangling Modifier n A modifier does exactly what it sounds like: it changes, alters, limits, or adds more info to something else in the sentence. A modifier is considered dangling when the sentence isn't clear about what is being modified. For example, "The big" doesn't make sense without telling what is big which leaves "big" as a dangling modifier; but, "the big dog" is a complete phrase.

Fixing them Up! Hoping to excuse my lateness, the note was written and given to my teacher. n Problem: Here, it seems as though we have a subject- my. However, my is part of the modifier and not the subject itself. n Correction: We need a subject that is modified by hoping to excuse my lateness, since obviously the note didn't have those hopes. Hoping to excuse my lateness, I wrote a note and gave it to my teacher.

Retry – What types of sentences are these? The lightening flashed outside, rain pelted down and suddenly a face appeared in the window! n Periodic n Brown Chickens lay brown eggs and white chickens lay white eggs n Balanced n

I won a gold medal after practicing for weeks and weeks n Loose n Inside the classroom I saw pencils moving, pages turning, and students learning! n Parallell n