3 ms·
Yes, long sentences can be great, in fiction. They're rather like wandering trains of thought. With sequences of phrases that evoke shifting perspectives, feeli
by mirimir 8y ago
Yes, long sentences can be great, in fiction. They're rather like wandering trains of thought. With sequences of phrases that evoke shifting perspectives, feelings, etc.
But long sentences in scientific and technical writing can be impenetrable. Sort of like stand-alone proofs. Or even code, which must essentially be parsed. That stuff, I'd rather see broken out in a list or outline. And in fact, I sometimes do that.
- rangibaby 8y agoYour sentences should be as long or short as they need to be to communicate clearly
- newsbinator 8y agoIn fiction, catching 50% - 75% of the payload on a long sentence is pretty good, especially for the first read-through. Mixed metaphors and wandering trains and all that. In scientific and technical writing, catching 50% - 75% of the payload on a sentence is how human casualties happen.
- lucas_membrane 8y agoIn a paragraph that presents a line of reasoning, long sentences are great for connecting one thought to the next, or for connecting several thoughts together, without a full stop in between, thus driving the readers forward with the development of the thesis toward a climactic statement of a conclusion as the paragraph ends.
- ahazred8ta 8y agoOn a more farcical note, the Dark And Stormy Night purple prose awards are, as many will learn, an annual compost-laden hotbed of long complicated sentences. https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/latest-winners https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/latest-winners >>> "He blended with the bleak city storefronts as people fled the cold, hard rain that sounded like a funeral dirge on an unforgiving sidewalk, seen yet unseen, someone yet no one, and like a lion stalking a weakened wildebeest from the tall grass of the Serengeti, he sprang toward a beautiful woman struggling to find purchase in her high heels and handed out another coupon for twenty percent off at Sneaker Jungle."
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]