Loose and Periodic Sentences

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Loose and Periodic Sentences
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From a rhetorical point of view, sentences are
loose, periodic, or balanced.

• I. loose 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

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Periodic

• 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.

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a. She decided to study English though she was
interested in music. (Loose)b. Although she was
interested in music, she finally decided to study
English.(Periodic)

• 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.
• The first part of sentence a is complete in
  structure, but that of bis only an adverbial
  clause and cannot be called a sentence without
  the second part.

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2. The definition offered in the Websters New
World Dictionary

• Loose sentence a sentence in which the essential
  elements, in the main clause, come first,
  followed by subordinate parts, modifiers, etc.,
  as in a compound sentence.
• Periodic sentence a sentence in which the
  essential elements, in the main clause, are
  withheld until the end or separated as by
  modifiers or subordinate clauses.

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A Further Explanation

• Loose sentence a loose sentence is one that may
  be brought to a grammatical close before the end
  is reached.
• Periodic sentence a periodic sentence is one
  that is not grammatically complete until the end
  is reached. For example,
• You cannot make great progress in English without
  good study habits.
• Without good study habits, you cannot make great
  progress in English.

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A. You cannot make great progress in English
without good study habits.B. Without good study
habits, you cannot make great progress in English.

• Sentence a and sentence b are semantically same,
  but different in structure.
• Sentence a is a loose sentence, but sentence b
  the periodic sentence. The main idea is put at
  the beginning of the first sentence followed by
  the supplement and explanation
• The main idea is at the end of the second
  sentence, thus making it a periodic sentence.

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II. The difference between the two types of
sentences

• Loose sentences are easier, simpler, more
  natural and direct.
• periodic sentences are more complex, emphatic,
  formal, or literary.

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III. The methods of making loose sentences and
periodic sentences

• 1.Preposing or postposing the adverbial clause
• (1) Loose ( postposition) The world wont end
  even if we fail again and again.
• Periodic (preposition) Even if we fail again and
  again, the world wont end.
• (2) Loose ( postposition)Bill had cleaned the
  room before Tom returned.
• Periodic (preposition)Before Tom returned, Bill
  had cleaned the room.

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Adverbial phrases An adverbial, or
adverbial phrase (AdvP) is a linguistic term for
a group of two or more words operating
adverbially when viewed in terms of their
syntactic function

• Compare the following sentences
• I'll go to bed soon.
• I'll go to bed in an hour.
• I'll go to bed when I've finished my book.
• In the first, soon is an adverb (as distinct from
  a noun or verb), and it is an adverbial (as
  distinct from a subject or object). Clearly, in
  the second sentence, in an hour has the same
  syntactic function, though it does not contain an
  adverb therefore, a preposition and a noun
  (preceded by its article) can function together
  as an adverbial. Such a multi-word adverbial may
  be called an adverbial phrase. In the third
  sentence, we see a whole clause functioning as an
  adverbial.

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• 2.Preposing or postposing the adverbial phrase
• (1) Loose ( postposition)Bill started to write
  his composition early in the morning.
• Periodic (preposition)Early in the morning, Bill
  started to write his composition.
• (2) Loose ( postposition)We feel honored to
  have you come to visit our country.
• Periodic (preposition)To have you come to visit
  our country, we feel honored.

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• 3. Preposing or postposing the ppl (participle)
  phrase
• (1) Loose ( postposition) She came up
  shouldering a spade.
• Periodic (preposition)Shouldering a spade,
  she came up.
• (2) Loose ( postposition) He came back,
  utterly exhausted.
• Periodic (preposition) Utterly exhausted, he
  came back.

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• 4. Preposing or postposing the prepositional
  phrase
• (1) Loose (postposition)Tom was cutting a
  piece of metal with great care.
• Periodic (preposition)With great care, Tom
  was cutting a piece of metal.
• (2) Loose (postposition) This was done without
  my knowledge and without my consent.
• Periodic (preposition)Without my knowledge
  and without my consent, this was done.

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• 6. Preposing or postposing the adjective or
  adjective phrase
• (1) Loose (postposition) She took down what he
  said, conscientious and eager.
• Periodic (preposition) Conscientious and
  eager, she took down what he said.
• (2) Loose (postposition) Bill was cleaning the
  lathe full of energy.
• Periodic (preposition) Full of energy, Bill
  was cleaning the lathe.

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IV. The rhetorical function of loose sentence and
periodic sentence

• 1. loose sentence
• (1) loose sentences give prominence to to the
  beginning of the sentence.
• She was offered a professional contract after
  winning the Olympic gold medal for figure
  skating, according to the newspaper reports.

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• The most valuable information--she was offered a
  professional contract--appears at the beginning
  of the sentence and the other information
  follows, which is in accordance with our thinking
  practice. For example,

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2. periodic sentence

• causes anticipation and suspense in readers
  because the important information readers are
  eager to know is postposed at the end of the
  sentence.
• Though Jim Thorpe had brought great glory to his
  nation, though thousands of people cheered him
  upon his return to the United Stages and attended
  banquets and a New York parade in his honor, he
  was not a citizen.

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• The two thoughts Jim Thorpes achievements and
  the craze expressed by the people are made to be
  climactic.
• When readers finish reading the two clauses,
  they anticipate the ending and discover that
  simply,he was not a citizen to bring the sentence
  to a sudden end. The impact of him not being a
  citizen is hightened. Readers understand the
  severity of his situation he has made great
  contributions and is well loved, but still is
  unable to be recognized as a citizen.
• During the course, readers follow the
  anticipation-suspense-suddenness track. This is
  the charm of periodic sentences.

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Compare

• There was a lamp burning on the table in the
  empty room and a little cat lying near the
  lamp.(loose)
• On the table burned a lamp in the empty room, and
  near it lay a little cat.(periodic)
• The key wordsa lamp and a little catare
  withheld at the end of sentence b, so as to
  create suspense and anticipation.

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• periodic sentences can focus on expressing the
  sadness and happiness of the writer and
  strengthen the power of the words.
• The one absolute, unselfish friend a man may have
  in this selfish world, the one that never deserts
  him, the one that never proves ungrateful or
  treacherous, is his dog.
• -George Graham West
• The writer uses three sentences with parallel
  construction and the repetition of ones to
  emphasize the noble personality of his friend.
  The impression of the friend is more important
  than who the friend is (the dog).

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V. Balanced sentence

• When a sentence contains two or more parts of
  the same form and grammatical function, it is one
  with parallel construction
• Let us be ruthless in our criticism, cruel
  to personal vanities, indifferent to age, rank or
  experience if these stand in our way.
• --Norman
  Berthune

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• It does not do to live in memories, in regrets
  for the good old days, or in sadness about
  friends who are dead. Ones thoughts must be
  directed to the future, and to things about which
  there is something to be done.
• --Bertrand
  Russell
• The feeling of the nation must be quickened the
  conscience of the nation must be roused the
  propriety of the nation must be startled the
  hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its
  crimes against God and men must be proclaimed and
  denounced.
• --Frederick
  Douglass

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• Such parallel sentences are emphatic and
  forceful. When a sentence contains two parallel
  clauses similar in structure but contrasted in
  meaning, it is a balanced sentence.
• On hearing the news, he was angered, and I was
  saddened.
• In Platos opinion man was made for philosophy
  in Bacons opinion philosophy was made for man.
  
• --Thomas Babington Macaulay

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• In a word, a balanced sentence is one in which
  sentence elements (words, phrases, clauses) of
  equal importance are set off against each other.
  Thus it is particularly effective for comparisons
  and contrasts, as well as for emphatic
  statements. Study the following examples
• The President wanted an increase in taxes to
  reduce the national debt the Congress wanted a
  reduction in taxes to stimulate business.

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• Thus, good sentences are more than grammatically
  correct. They are varied in length in word order,
  and in their rhetorical patterns. As you read
  essays, consider the sentence structure of each
  selection. And as you write your own essays,
  apply the techniques for attaining sentence
  variety that we have discussed.

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Short and Long Sentence

• Short sentences are usually emphatic, whereas
  long sentences are capable of expressing complex
  ideas with precision, because it may contain many
  modifiers.
• Short sentences are suitable for the presentation
  of important facts and ideas, and long sentences
  for the explanation of views and theories, or the
  description of things with many details.

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Look at the following passage which makes good
use of short sentences

• Our city is on the threshold of a great era. Of
  this we can be sure. We must be willing to
  workand to spend in order to fulfill the promise
  of the future. We need a large police force for
  public protection. We need a modernized fire
  department. We need an enlarged library. We need
  to improve our water supply. For all these needs
  there is but one solution. We must see that the
  bond issue is approved by the voters in the
  November election.

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• Here each short sentence presents an important
  suggestion. If the points were grouped into two
  or three longer sentences, there would not be the
  force and clarity of these shorter sentences.

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The following passage describes how a man saved
a drowning girl

• He crouched a little, spreading his hands under
  the water and moving them round, trying to feel
  for her. The dead cold pond swayed upon his
  chest. He moved again, a little deeper, and
  again, with his hands underneath, he felt all
  around under the water. And he touched her
  clothing. But it evaded his fingers. He made a
  desperate effort to grasp it.

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• He laid her down on the bank. She was quite
  unconscious and running with water. He made the
  water come from her mouth, he worked to restore
  her. He did not have to work very long before he
  could feel the breathing begin again in her she
  was breathing naturally. He worked a little
  longer. He could feel her live beneath his hands
  she was coming back. He wiped her face, wrapped
  her in his overcoat, looked round into the dim,
  dark gray world, then lifted her and staggered
  down the bank and across the fields.

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• The many short sentences in the above passage
  vividly describe the mans rapid movements and
  make the reader feel the tension the man was
  experiencing at the moment.

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• Long sentences are common in legal, political and
  theoretical writing, which depends on
  modification for accuracy.
• Art, in the sense here intendedthat is, the
  genetic term subsuming painting, sculpture,
  architecture, music, dance, literature, drama,
  and filmmay be defined as the practice of
  creating perceptible forms expressive of human
  feeling. I say perceptible rather than
  sensuous forms because some works of art are
  given to imagination rather than to the outward
  senses. A novel, for instance, usually is read
  silently with the eye, but is not made for
  vision, as a painting is and though sound plays
  a vital part in poetry, words even in poetry are
  not essentially sonorous structures like music..

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• The writer is trying to define such abstract term
  as art and feeling, and it is necessary for
  her to use so many words to make the definitions
  accurate and prevent misunderstanding.
• In fiction long sentences are sometimes used to
  describe a person, a thing or a scene.

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• Mrs. Chalmers was kind of fat and her hair was
  pretty blond and her complexion was soft and pink
  and she always looked as though she had been in
  the beauty parlor all afternoon. She always said
  My, youre getting to be a big boy to Peter
  when she met him in the elevator, in a soft
  voice, as though she was just about to laugh. She
  must have said that fifty times by now. She had a
  good, strong smell of perfume on her all the
  time, too.

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• Mr. Chalmers wore pince-nez glasses most of the
  time and he was getting bald and he worked late
  at his office a good many evenings of the week.
  When he met Peter in the elevator he would say,
  Its getting colder, or Its getting warmer,
  and that was all, so Peter had no point about
  him, except that he looked like the principal of
  a school.
• -- Irwin Shaw

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• Of the five sentences in the above passage four
  are long, and they give detailed descriptions of
  the two characters. Were they broken into many
  short sentences, the contrast between the normal
  Chalmers couple and the couple on that particular
  occasion would not be so striking.

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• Various sentence structures have been discussed.
  The basic principle is that the structure should
  fit the idea being expressed.
• In other words, the idea determines the choice of
  the structure, not the other way round.