Firstly, let's revise simple, compound and complex sentences.
To do this you need to remember definitions of nouns, verbs, clauses and phrases.
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.
Eg, she worked
A phrase is a group of words without a subject and a verb.
Eg, at the bank
A simple sentence contains a single independent clause. It contains a subject and a predicate. It expresses a complete thought.
Eg, She worked at the bank.
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a conjunction. Conjunctions are and, but, for, as, yet, or.
Eg, She worked at the bank and was very happy.
A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. The dependent clause begins with a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions are after, before, because, although, when, since, if, whenever, unless, while, so that, even though, wherever, and so on.
Eg, She worked at the bank half an hour from her home so that she could feed her family.
Mood
In English there are these main types of sentences. They function according to their use and purpose. They are referred to as moods in English (not to be confused with the mood of a piece of literature which might be a synonym for atmosphere). Mood refers to a verb category or form which indicates what the verb expresses.
Indicative
The indicative mood is used in factual statements. It is the most commonly used mood and is found in all languages. Also known as declarative.
Eg: Women are safe to walk outdoors at night.
Imperative
The imperative mood expresses commands, direct requests, and prohibitions. In many circumstances, directly using the imperative mood seems blunt or even rude, unless you are in command and giving an instruction.
Eg: Women, walk outdoors at night!
Subjunctive
The subjunctive mood has several uses in independent clauses. Examples include discussing hypothetical or unlikely events, expressing opinions or emotions, or making polite requests. It uses forms of a verb which are used to express a wish, desire, hope, possibility, doubt, or uncertainty.
Eg: I propose that women have the right to feel safe enough to walk outdoors at night.
Interrogative
The interrogative mood asks questions. It uses verbs that ask questions. (There is a book called The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?, written by Padgett Powell - every sentence is a question.)
Eg: Are women safe to walk outside at night?
Conditional
The conditional mood uses might, could, would or should and the statement is conditional, that is, something is required for something else to happen.
Eg: Women would be safe to walk outdoors at night if men respected them.
Exclamatory
The exclamatory mood makes a statement with excitement or emotion. It ends with an exclamation mark.
Eg: How wonderful that women are safe and free!
Branching
Sentences are either left or right branching.
Periodic or left branching sentences only make complete sense at the final clause or phrase. The predicate of the sentence comes at the end (the period). These are used to suspend the sense to create confusion or interest. The brain needs to work harder to find out what is happening. It requires more cognitive load. The main clause is last.
Eg1: The roofs were flung off, the cars flipped, the debris scattered while families huddled in fear during the cyclone in Darwin.
Eg2: "It turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; to photograph people is to violate them". - rewriting of Susan Sontag
Cumulative or right branching or loose sentences put the main subject first, followed by a sequence of modifiers. It requires less cognitive load for the reader because the reader understands the situation sooner. The main clause is first.
Eg1: During the cyclone in Darwin the roofs were flung off, the cars flipped, the debris scattered while families huddled in fear.
Eg2: "To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. " - Susan Sontag
Length
This might be the first thing you notice about a sentence; whether it is short or long.
A short sentence says something with great confidence. It is almost a slogan or an aphorism - it has the ring of truth. Monosyllables help too. Function and form are working together.
Eg: I did not.
A long sentence recreates a situation or a thinking process that is more complex. It might represent a meandering, with interruptions and digressions. Function and form are working together.
Eg: Virginia Woolf, On Illness
“Considering how common illness is, how tremendous the spiritual change that it brings, how astonishing, when the lights of health go down, the undiscovered countries that are then disclosed, what wastes and deserts of the soul a slight attack of influenza brings to light, what precipices and lawns sprinkled with bright flowers a little rise of temperature reveals, what ancient and obdurate oaks are uprooted in us in the act of sickness, how we go down into the pit of death and feel the waters of annihilation close above our heads and wake thinking to find ourselves in the presence of the angels and the harpers when we have a tooth out and come to the surface in the dentist’s arm chair and confuse his ‘Rinse the mouth—rinse the mouth’ with the greeting of the Deity stooping from the floor of Heaven to welcome us—when we think of this and infinitely more, as we are so frequently forced to think of it, it becomes strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love, battle, and jealousy among the prime themes of literature.”
Doesn't this sentence recreate the feeling of being feverish and ill?
See This Sentence has Five Words by Gary Provost which demonstrates the value of varying sentence length.
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