

The point of the long and winding sentence - fonzie
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-pico-iyer-20120108,0,2137466.story

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ward
As a little addendum to that: the way that the articles of sites of some news
agencies have this uncanny tendency to turn every single sentence in a
paragraph of its own is something that's been bugging me. I know everyone
feels like getting their article online as quickly as possible, but does that
really have to make for worse content? I say worse, because if you take a step
back and look at one of those articles it just feels like there's way too much
whitespace and the entire article just looks like some laid out "tree" for
content still to come.

Side note, I've been told, especially when in elementary school, that I made
my sentences too long, though I was never sure if it was just the contrast
with other kids. Do I still do that? It's been a while since someone told me
so, not to mention that I'm not aware whether that property passed over to my
English, a language I didn't "properly" start learning in high school, as a
third language.

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mattmanser
Go read a newspaper. You'll notice that every paragraph is one or two
sentences. That's why they do it. They're just transferring the news article
from the paper to the web.

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adam-a
When you hide your meaning and the centre of your argument in mazes of long
sentences, as the author does, you necessarily lose it a little. Which is kind
of the point. If you want to confuse your reader with contradictions and
vagueness, then long sentences are a good idea.

I don't think clarity is a bad thing, and certainly doesn't preclude
strangeness or multi-faceted descriptions of Istanbul. It does hurt
understanding. Even in fiction and poetry, surely writing is primarily a
communicator, a tour-guide to your thoughts. Making it easy for your reader to
follow you makes it easier to take them on the journey of your choosing. Go
slowly over rough terrain; stop and stare at the acropolis; don't run zig-zag
through the forest till they can barely keep up.

