Sentence Variety
Look again at the paragraph by Edwin Way Teale (in the Adjective lesson), only this time looking at the length of the sentences. Sentence length is an important part of sentence variety, a way to establish rhythm in your paragraphs.
Song of the Whitethroat
Windless, silent, under a low ceiling of gray, this first morning of the new year is like an echoing room. (19 words)
Sounds carry far as I walk the mile along the swamp edge, past the Insect Garden hillside and on to Milburn Pond. (22 words)
In a tangle of cat-briar and shadbush, near the edge of the frozen water, a white-throated sparrow is singing a snatch of its springtime song. (26 words)
Again and again, I hear the pure, ethereal strain, simple, moving, bringing back in memory a late spring day on a lake shore in the forests of Maine. (28 words)
No other voice among all the singers of nature affects me more deeply. (14 words)
The song of the white-throated sparrow—how fine a beginning for a new year! (15 words)
The paragraph contains sentences of the following number of words: 19, 22, 26, 28, 14, 15
Sentence length is not the only kind of variety. Look at the circles that
you made, indicating the subjects of the sentences.
The first one comes after the tenth word.
The second begins with the subject.
The third comes after the eighteenth word.
The fourth after the third word.
The fifth comes after the second word.
The sixth comes after the first word.
Since the subject is the most important part of the sentence, and the standard sentence has the subject in the first position, any change from this standard produces variety within the sentence; however, Teale produces variety within his paragraph by varying the placement of the subject with each sentence. Only one sentence begins with the subject, another begins after one word, :the.” Another begins after two words. Another after three. And then others after many, many words.
The placement of the subject in the sentence is often an overlooked part of sentence variety.
By placing the subject in different parts of his sentences, Teale establishes rhythm through the use of pauses brought about by comma and dashes, as well as the periods that end the sentences.
Look at the first sentence:
Windless, silent, under a low ceiling of gray, this first morning of the new year is like an echoing room.
A visual diagram indicating the pauses looks like this:
-----------, -------- , ----- - --- --------- -- ------ , ---- ----- ---------- -- --- --- ------ -- ----- -- ------------- ------- .
Sentence variety is complex. Here, at least, are three factors:
Sentence length
The placement of the subject
The use of commas.