Status Updates From Sin and Syntax: How to Craf...

I'm *loving* this book. The examples given, since they come not from classics but from The New Yorker and other modern magazines, as well as politicians' speeches and news articles, truly exemplify the current trends in language. Ms. Hale does an awesome job of explaining the basics (and not-so-basics) of grammar in a fluid way that's easy to remember--and put into use. Great stuff.

I, for one, love the music of voice in fiction. Reading across genres, like listening to different types of music broadens our world. I so agree with the sentiments in this chapter which sums up with: "...we urgently long for writing that is original, passionate and personal. We search for writers whose voices are distinct and recognizable. We celebrate prose that is musical..." Well said. On to Voice...

I like the turn of phrase. "When you want to bolt the clauses together without the softening influence of a conjunction, use a bracing piece of punctuation..."

"If sentences are streams of thought, phrases and clauses are the creeks and underground springs that feed them." Thus, begins the discussion on phrases and clauses. Some good pointers and refreshers. Some amusing examples. On to Sentence Variety next.

Complicated. Purple prose doesn't just exist in sex scenes. Who knew? It really does pay to get out and read large and wide. :-) Next up Phrases and Clauses...

Subject and predicate and agreement. Simplification. "Every sentence is a mini-narrative." Diagramming makes me shudder. In the end, agreement and simplification. And thus on to simple sentences next.

On sentences. "Sentences should be as varied as our objects of desire--sometimes we want them brawny, sometimes we want them brainy, sometimes silken, sometimes brutal. We don't want them to stay the same, day after day." And. "Tame savage sentences, combing through them until every hair is in place. Then muss them up and see how you like the look." Works for me. :)

Well, geez, what more is there to say about interjections... On to sentences...