英語修辭與寫作·7.5　長句與短句

7.5　長句與短句

7.5A　句子長短同句子結(jié)構(gòu)的關(guān)系

句子的長短和句式結(jié)構(gòu)密切相關(guān)。一般說來，簡單句比較短，復(fù)合句較長。寫作上忌諱的是重復(fù)使用類似長度的相同句型，例如下面這段學(xué)生的作文里就存在這個毛?。?/p>

I took a great deal of courage when I registered for class on June 11. But I am also pleased that I have finally decided to take the step. On that day I purchased all the textbooks that I would need for this class. I wanted to be sure that I would have all the material I needed.

這段作文句式單調(diào)、呆板，有3個方面的原因：

第一、整個段落中的4句話都是由“主句+從句”組成的復(fù)合句；

第二、各句都是以“I”做主語的“主—謂”句型；

第三、各句字?jǐn)?shù)是14－15個。

為此，應(yīng)對這個段落加以改寫，下面是可采用的一種方式：

Although it took great courage of me to register for class on June 11, I'm pleased to have taken the step. On that day I also purchased all the textbooks arranged for the class, so that I would have the necessary material.

7.5B　長句與短句的不同功能

1） 從修辭角度看，長短句的不同功能主要表現(xiàn)為：

第一、短句的特點是具有速度和力度感，在文章的緊張或戲劇性關(guān)頭連用短句能收到良好的效果。例如Joan Didion在寫到圣安娜風(fēng)（Santa Ana，一種吹自沙漠的干熱颶風(fēng)）即將到來時人們的不安心情：

There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing up sandstorms out along Route 66, drying the hills and the nerves to the flash point. For a few days now we will see smoke back in the canyons and hear sirens in the night. I have neither heard nor read that a Santa Ana is due, but I know it, and almost everyone I have seen today knows it too. We know it because we feel it. The baby frets. The maid sulks ...

第二、長句適用于細(xì)節(jié)描寫，人們在從容不迫地進行敘述或說明論點時也往往使用較長的句式，讓事實充分展現(xiàn)，讓說理深入透徹，而且在這樣的幾個長句之后出現(xiàn)一個短句，則有助于調(diào)整節(jié)奏；在段末出現(xiàn)時常常是對前述各句的一個小結(jié)。例如Robert Benchley的“How to Get Things Done”一文在節(jié)奏上就給讀者一個“緊張而有秩序”的感覺，其原因之一是連續(xù)的長句之后出現(xiàn)短句，有的句子僅幾個或一個單詞（如“Now.” “Hello, what's this!”），讓讀者在緊張中感到一陣輕快和幽默，下面這個例子中的段末短句既是小結(jié)，又隱含著問題：“果真是這樣么？”因而它具有承上啟下的功能：

But the fact remains that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country are wondering how I have time to do all my painting, engineering, writing and philanthropic work when, according to the rotogravure sections and society notes I spend all my time riding to hounds, going to fancy-dress balls disguised as Louis XIV or spelling out GREETINGS TO CALIFORNIA in formation with three thousand Los Angeles school children. “All work and all play,” they say.

The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is a simple one ...

2） 在寫作中恰當(dāng)?shù)厥褂瞄L句和短句，是一個應(yīng)當(dāng)認(rèn)真學(xué)習(xí)的技巧，更是一種從大量實踐中獲得的能力，是人類思維和交際習(xí)慣的客觀反映，為此，優(yōu)秀作家的作品都是長短句綜合運用的范例。下面再引Joan Didion的一段文章，其中不僅長句、短句用得恰到好處，各句在結(jié)構(gòu)上也富于變化：

This is a story about love and death in the golden land, and begins with the country. The San Bernardino Valley lies only an hour east of Los Angeles by the San Bernadino Freeway but is in certain ways an alien place: not the coastal California of the subtropical twilights and the soft westerlies off the Pacific but a harsher California, haunted by the hot dry Santa Ana and that comes down through the passes at 100 miles an hour and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on the nerves. October is the bad month for the wind, the month when breathing is difficult and the hills blaze up spontaneously. There has been no rain since April. Every voice seems a scream. It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows.

練習(xí)七?。‥xercise Seven）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What is the purpose of having sentence varieties in rhetoric?

2. Is periodic sentence usually a short simple sentence or a long complicated one?

3. How is the loose sentence different from the periodic sentence?

4. Is the cumulative sentence similar to the periodic sentence or the loose sentence?

5. What rhetoric effects can an anticlimax sentence achieve?

6. Can you cite an example of an elliptical sentence?

7. What effects do you think the rhetoric device of repetition can achieve?

8. Have you learned anything about Quintilian?

II. Read the following and decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）:

In effective sentences the component words, phrases, and clauses are put together not only according to the grammatical principles of coordination and subordination, but also according to certain stylistic principles. There are three basic ones: serial structure, parallel and balanced structure, and hierarchy structure.

First of all, however, we should note that while different, none of these sentence types is better or worse than the others in any inherent, absolute sense. Each works well for some purposes, poorly for others. And none represents an ideal style. A skillful writer uses them all well, knowing when one works better than another.

A second warning: with regard to style, classifications are rarely adequate. The reality is too subtle. The English sentence, like Shakespeare's Cleopatra, possesses infinite variety. It cannot be reduced to rules. And that is a good thing.

Serial structure means that a sentence is built by the simple addition of more or less equal units, one after the other. It exists in three basic varieties: the segregating, the freight train, and the cumulative sentence.

In its purest form the segregating style consists a series of short sentences, each consisting of a single idea. Skillfully handled, this style can be very effective. For example, an English essayist once interviewed the novelist Philip Guedalla and described Guedalla's method of writing in this passage:

He writes, at most 750 words a day. He writes and rewrites. He polishes and re-polishes. He works in solitude. He works with agony. He works with sweat. And that is the only way to work at all.

（Beverly Nichols）

These short repetitive sentences are as strong and seemingly as monotonous as hammer strokes. The monotony suits the point, for what Nichols says is that writing is often tedious, wearing toil.

Another advantage of the segregating style is its potential for dramatic description and narration. By isolating individual details of a scene or an action, the short sentence enables — even forces — us to look very closely.

The freight-train sentence consists of several （three or more） independent clauses. As a style in English literature multiple coordination goes back a thousand years or more to Anglo-Saxon narrative, which is useful when you wish to join a series of events, ideas, impressions, feelings, or perceptions as immediately as possible, without judging their relative value or imposing a carefully ordered logical structure upon them.

In its usual form of the cumulative sentence, a main clause precedes a series — even quite long — of appositive, modifying, or absolute constructions which accumulate details about the scene, person, or event being described, eg:

A creek ran through the meadow, winding and turning, clear water running between steep banks of black earth, with shadow places where you could build a dam.

（Mark Schorer）

Statements:

1. The freight-train sentence consists of three or more independent clauses.

2. The segregating style is monotonous and rarely used by skillful writers.

3. All effective sentences follow not only grammatical rules but also stylistic principles.

4. Cumulative sentences most often appear in description when the writer begins with a general picture and fills in the picture with details.

5. Every sentence type has its advantages and limitations, and no one works better than another in any case.

6. According to Beverly Nichols, writing is by no means a tedious, wearing toil.

7. Multiple coordination has a tradition of more than 1000 years in English literature.

8. Conjunctions like “and”, “but”, “as”, or “nor” are usually used in freight train structures.

III. Fill in each blank with an appropriate word:

One way to achieve sentence variety is to move adjunct phrases of manner, place, or time to the beginning of the sentence. You can use （1）____________sentence structures as well: to get special emphasis, to achieve greater clarity, to break the monotony of using two, three or even （2）____________similar patterns at one place. You can also provide clarifying or colorful details by adding modifiers to elements of the subject, the predicate, or to the sentence as a whole. The latter — the addition of modifiers （3）____________a simple sentence serves as the base clause of an expanded sentence — can be accomplished in two ways.

One is to pile up modifiers before the base clause, resulting in what is usually called a periodic sentence, as in the following sentence （4）____________the base clause is italicized:

When all classes are over, after the students have left, and as few staff members are around, the campus is quiet and serenely beautiful.

Another （5）____________to add sentence modifiers is to state the base clause first, then pile up modifiers after it, e.g.:

They were silent and intent, facing the wind, feathers ruffling, eyes turned upward.

A sentence in this form is called a cumulative （or loose） sentence; most sentences follow this pattern, perhaps because when we start speaking or （6）____________a sentence, we usually think of the main idea first.

Expanded or complex sentences are found in all kinds of communication, formal writing in particular.

IV. Transform the following sentence patterns as required.

1. Mr. Sampson is rumoured to have been involved in a bribe scandle.

　→__________________________（a complex sentence）

2. I believe him to be innocent.

　→__________________________（a complex sentence）

3. He was offered a professional contract after winning two gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, according to the newspaper reports.

　→__________________________（a periodic sentence）

4. The road requires that it should be maintained regularly.

　→__________________________（simple sentence）

5. One cannot accomplish anything if he doesn't take pains.

　→__________________________（a simple sentence）

參考答案

Ⅱ. 1. T　2. F　3. T　4. T　5. F　6. F　7. T　8. F

Ⅲ. 1. other　2. more　3. to　4. where　5. way　6. writing

Ⅳ. 1. It is rumoured that Mr. Sampson has been involved in a bribe scandal.

2. I believe that he is innocent.

3. According to newspaper reports, after winning two gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he was offered a professional contract.

4. The road requires maintaining regularly.

5. One cannot accomplish anything without taking pains.