25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way
25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way
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W. W. Norton
Annotation: A guide to the artistry that lifts a sentence from good to great.
 
Reviews: 2
Catalog Number: #6782064
Format: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Copyright Date: 2022
Edition Date: 2022 Release Date: 04/26/22
Pages: 311 pages
ISBN: 0-393-88237-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-393-88237-7
Dewey: 808
Dimensions: 21 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A self-described "language enthusiast" analyzes memorable sentences.Woods, author of English Grammar for Dummies, among dozens of other books on writing and literature, offers an upbeat, informative guide for writers and readers, focused on the power of sentences. Each of the 25 chapters highlights one exemplary sentence, supplemented by many others that illustrate the same technique, drawn from a capacious range of sources, including Virginia Woolf, Stephen King, Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, the King James Bible, and even ads for potato chips, candy, and soda. Woods avoids literary jargon and carefully explains terms that might be unfamiliar to nonspecialist readers. Looking at structure, for example, she identifies several interesting constructions-parallelism, reversed sentences, questions, for example-and "crossed sentences," which she calls "the neon signs of the sentence world. They attract attention." Her primary example is John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," and she also cites Groucho Marx: "Money will not make you happy, and happy will not make you money." Some sentences, notes the author, succeed through surprise, such as Lucille Ball's "The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." A section on diction examines verbs, tone, word shifts (Gertrude Stein's "There is no there there" is one example), and inventive coinage. Poetry appears most frequently in chapters on sound (onomatopoeia, repetition, and matching sounds) and visual presentation. A section on connection/comparison analyzes use of the first person and second person, synesthesia, and contrast-e.g., Neil Armstrong's famous "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." A final section on "Extremes" focuses on unusually long "marathon sentences" and sentences that are marvels of concision, such as E.M. Forster's "Only connect." Each chapter ends with inventive writing exercises.A practical, nonboring companion for writers aiming to hone their style.

Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

This handy, practical guide prompts would-be writers to think critically about how to create effective and meaningful sentences. Woods (Grammar for Dummies), former director of the Horace Mann School-s Independent Study program, selects examples from novelists (Toni Morrison, Ann Beattie), journalists (Red Smith), poets (Martín Espada), and public figures (Neil Armstrong, JFK). She opens each chapter with one of the promised -25 great sentences,- providing a brief analysis of how it illustrates a certain literary device and then additional example sentences to reinforce her point. These include parallelism in Li-Young Lee-s poem -From Blossoms,- shifting word meaning in Joyce-s Ulysses (-Love loves to love love-), and onomatopoeia in Watty Piper-s The Little Engine That Could. Woods-s selections mix classroom staples (Romeo and Juliet) and contemporary classics (Ta-Nehisi Coates-s Between the World and Me), and she also displays a winning enthusiasm for language, as when she illustrates the coinage of new words with Phil Rizzuto-s invention of the verb nonchalanting, or provides a sidebar on the tangled etymology of the word beatnik. This volume should be helpful for students, and older readers will recall memories of favorite English teachers leading them through the intricacies of writing. Agent: Carol Collins. (Aug.)

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Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Reading Level: 6.0
Interest Level: 9-12

We all know the basic structure of a sentence: a subject/verb pair expressing a complete thought and ending with proper punctuation. But that classroom definition doesn't begin to describe the ways in which these elements can combine to resonate with us as we read, to make us stop and think, laugh or cry. In 25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way, master teacher Geraldine Woods unpacks powerful examples of what she instead prefers to define as "the smallest element differentiating one writer's style from another's, a literary universe in a grain of sand." And that universe is very large: the hundreds of memorable sentences gathered here come from sources as wide-ranging as Edith Wharton and Yogi Berra, Toni Morrison and Yoda, T. S. Eliot and Groucho Marx. Culled from fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, song lyrics, speeches, and even ads, these exemplary sentences are celebrated for the distinctive features-whether of structure, diction, connection/comparison, sound, or extremes-that underlie their beauty, resonance, and creativity. With dry humor and an infectious enjoyment that makes her own sentences a pleasure to read, Woods shows us the craft that goes into the construction of a memorable sentence. Each chapter finishes with an enticing array of exercises for those who want to test their skill at a particular one of the featured twenty-five techniques, such as onomatopoeia (in the Sound section) or parallelism (in the Structure section). This is a book that will be treasured by word nerds and language enthusiasts, writers who want to hone their craft, literature lovers, and readers of everything from song lyrics and speeches to novels and poetry.


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