Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Sentencing: Balance & Series

Balance.*

A pair of phrases or clauses of roughly equal length joined by a comma, semicolon, or conjunction. Another name for balance is "isocolon," a Greek word meaning, roughly, "equal phrases." Choose any of the models below and write a similar sentence of your own.
  • The air cools; the puppy's skin is hot. -- Annie Dillard
  • We will not rest; we cannot think of anything else. -- Marion Winik
  • Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power. -- Gloria Naylor
Series.

A string of grammatically identical elements, such as nouns, verbs, or adjectives. Choose any of the models below and write a similar sentence of your own.
  • That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. -- Amy Tan
  • The preacher preached a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell. -- Langston Hughes
  • I don't want yours, I half-screamed at her, and went crazy, tearing up the house, crawling under the couch, yanking out drawers that hadn't been opened in years. -- Marion Winik
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*I'm taking this text and these exercises from a book called Moves Writers Make by James C. Raymond.

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