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Subject:Complex sentences (Was: It is . . . . . ) From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Thu, 10 Aug 1995 11:05:54 +0800
> Betsy Maaks wrote:
> I run across a lot of writers who *love* to construct these multi-topic,
> complex, say-it-all-in-one-breath sentences:
> (example snipped)
The lure of these complex sentences is the challenge. Cramming a
paragraph into a single sentence is so tricky that the writer gets a
marvellous feeling of achievement from pulling it off. Unfortunately
this feeling is not usually shared by the reader.
The problem is that making the sentence work at all is so hard that
making it readable misses out. It's like those puzzles where you must
get the pencil from point A to point B while passing through each square
once and only once. If all you want to do is get to B, there are much
easier ways.
Betsy's example is a good one. Three points are being made:
1) some background information you need to know
2) the problem
3) the solution
To fit all these in the writer must forget about putting them in the
best and most logical order.
Michelangelo made David from a single block of stone. Engineers build
bridges from well-defined components. Technical writers should be
engineers and not sculptors.
Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield (slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au) Voice: +61 9 328 8288
Functional Software Fax: +61 9 328 8616
PO Box 192
Leederville, Western Australia, 6903
