Sentence Lengths
Staccato
What sentence length is only one or two words?
"My coffee is over there."
What is an example of a declarative sentence?
One independent clause.
"Is water wet?"
What is a rhetorical question?
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
What is repetition?
Five words or less.
How long is a telegraphic sentence?
"I hate bees!"
What is an exclamatory sentence?
"I'm packing my things, and I'm going home."
What is a compound sentence?
All day, all night, all week, all month, all year, I'm working.
What is anaphora?
"Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun."
What is a balanced sentence?
A long sentence.
What sentence length is Twenty(ish) words or more?
"Go get me a Gatorade."
What is an imperative sentence?
"Depending on the time, I might meet up with you later."
What is a complex sentence?
"Look at the American Revolution in 1776. That revolution was for what? For land."
What is a rhetorical fragment?
"Tim was considered to be a good employee because he was always on time, he was very motivated, and he was a good leader."
What is parallel structure?
Between fifteen and twenty(ish) words.
How long is a medium-length sentence?
"What is the land speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"
What is an interrogative?
"Although it pains me to say so, I'm moving out, and I'm joining the circus."
What is a compound-complex sentence?
"An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was thick, warm, heavy, sluggish."
What is asyndeton?
“There were frowzy fields, and cow-houses, and dunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, and gardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beating grounds, at the very door of the Railway."
What is polysyndeton?
Between five and ten words.
How long is a short sentence?
"He might consider paying the higher fees at a private university, if the teacher/student ratio is small, the teachers are highly qualified, and the job placement rate is high."
What is a loose sentence?
“To believe your thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius."
What is a periodic sentence?