Long sentences have their uses. They can be more concise than a string of simple ones, because having a subject and main verb for each thought wastes words. And sometimes long sentences are useful for the opposite reason: not to save words but to expend them, to stretch out a thought so the reader can keep up as you think it through. “To know that simplifying may often mean expanding,” Flesch wrote, “is the beginning of wisdom.”
Long sentences have their uses. They can be more concise than a string of simple ones, because having a subject and main verb for each thought wastes words. And sometimes long sentences are useful for the opposite reason: not to save words but to expend them, to stretch out a thought so the reader can keep up as you think it through. “To know that simplifying may often mean expanding,” Flesch wrote, “is the beginning of wisdom.”
