120-Word Sentence
December 13, 2009 by GradingGirl
Filed under Mini-Lessons, Writing Practice
* I just used this activity with my students. Their writing seemed overly reliant on simple sentence structure. As they are preparing their last major research paper for the semester, they need to understand the power of sentence rhythm – it’s not just for poetry!
This is sculpted in Legos!
Introduction
GG’s Example of a 120-Word Sentence illustrates the use of the elongated sentence (122 to be exact!)
If you think back to the best days of your life, you will realize that each of those days was not spent alone but with at least one significant person – or several people – in your life who made you laugh, held your hand as you squeezed tightly, and stayed by your side when you needed him or her . . . all things that you can’t buy at the store or search for online; because, you see, the important things in life are not things at all because things can’t love you back or listen to your worries or sing your praise or keep you company, but special people can – and I am lucky to be able to count on both hands those I love! (Grading Girl)
Note GG’s use of conjunctions and punctuation.
A passage from “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner also illustrates the long-worded sentence:
“They held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers, with a crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men – some in their brushed Confederate uniforms – on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she has been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottle-neck of the most recent decade of years.” (Faulkner)
Note Faulkner’s use of prepositions and variety of phrases.
Procedure (I used this in the classroom, but this is a great exercise for anyone interested in refreshing his or her writing)
* Have students a 120-word sentence. Pick a topic for the class; a sentence in which students sort out what is important in life (see GG’s example) works well. This activity works best if students write about whatever is on their minds at the moment . .
* Read some of these aloud (or have students read them). specific techniques did they use to elongate the sentence . . . phrases? gerunds? conjunctions? other?
* As a follow-up, have students alter sentence structure again; this time, they are to re-write the 120-word sentence into at least seven different sentences! This truly illustrates the use of varied sentences. Enjoy!
~ adapted from Going Bohemian by Lawrence Baines & Anthony J. Kunkel
