Loose and Periodic Sentences

1. Loose and Periodic Sentences Syntax

2. Cumulative Sentence • A basic statement with a string of details added to it. • Basic statement: Bells rang. • Loose sentence: Bells rang, filling the air with euphonic melodies. • Basic statement: The teacher considered him a good student. • Loose sentence: The teacher considered him a good student, willing if not eager.

3. Periodic Sentence • Additional details are placed before the basic statement. • Delay of the basic statement is the key. • Basic statement: John gave his mother flowers. Periodic sentence: It surprised us when the tough kid, John, gave his mother flowers. • Basic statement: The cat scratched Sally. • Periodic sentence: Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the cat scratched Sally.

4. Periodic Interruptive Sentence • Additional details are added inside the basic statement only. • Basic statement: Love is blind. • Interruptive Sentence: Love, as everyone knows except those who happen to be afflicted by it, is blind. • Basic statement: John was angry. • Interruptive sentence: John, usually the calmest of men, was angry.

5. Periodic Expansion of Subject • That boy, the one wearing glasses, is in my class. • The piecrust, tough as it is, tastes pretty good. • The class, usually noisy and inattentive, read the assignment. Consider these methods of expansion of the subject: • Description, appositive (a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it), adjective, prepositional phrases, participles…

6. Loose Structures Expanding Verb or Object Expanding the Verb: • The class read, listlessly at first, and then with interest, the assignment. • The bug flew, crookedly and without much forward motion, into the window. Expanding the Object: • The class read the assignment, a full chapter. • The bug flew into the window, a shiny and bright deathtrap.

7. Assignment • Write 8 basic sentences using the following subjects and verbs. • Horse, wave, pride, assistance, fire, student, bear, school • Gallop, crash, alter, change, roar, sob, growl, drag • Using the sentences you created, change them to reflect the information below: • Change sentence #1 to a loose sentence using a phrase. • Change sentence #2 to a loose sentence that expands the verb. • Change sentence #3 to a periodic sentence using a phrase. • Change sentence #4 to a periodic sentence that expands the subject. Change sentence #5 to a loose sentence that expands the object. • Change sentence #6 to a periodic interruptive. • Change sentence #7 to a loose sentence that expands the verb. • Change sentence #8 to a periodic sentence that expands the subject.