Thinking About Great Sentences
I tend to write the same sentence patterns again and again. I bore myself, and I (will) inevitably bore readers if I keep this up.
Having just turned 37 a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been in sort of an improving state of mind, so I treated myself to a CD course available through the Teaching Company: “Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writers Craft” taught by Professor Brooks Langdon of the University of Iowa. (The Teaching Company has a vast catalogue of courses available in all kinds of academic areas. Nirvana for my inner geek. I’m now saving up for one covering the history of the Victorian period.)
I’m a few lectures in and, so far, it’s great. Professor Langdon’s approach is very academic, but I love the analytical bent because it gives me a framework to evaluate my own sentences. But I have to say that the most meaningful part so far is his observation that we should “think of a sentence as being a visible piece of writing and the propositions it advances as assumptions and ideas not necessarily written out.” And, as a further explanation of this point, he states that “[t]he basic unit of writing sentences is the proposition, not the word or even sequence of words.”
This concept that the proposition, i.e., the purpose or idea of the sentence, may be unwritten amazed me. It’s quite obvious when you think about it, but it’s absolutely true that the unstated propositions are everywhere and that sequencing and word choice give you the ability to manipulate and modify these unstated propositions.
My takeway from all this is that you have to be aware of the unstated portion of your sentence in order to really be in control of it. I believe that the proposition is in many cases subconsious, which is why I know a particular sentence just sounds “right.” But in circumstances where the sentence keeps slipping and sliding away from me, it may be valuable for me to hone in on the unstated proposition and tease out the layer beneath the words.
More on Brooks Langdon anon.