10. The ship seemed quite proud|| of being left to take care of itself, and, with its huge white sails bulged out, strutted off like a vain turkey.
When the words in a sentence are so arranged that the sense is not immediately complete, the sense is said to be suspended. A sentence in which the sense is suspended until the end, or near the end, is called a periodic sentence. A sentence in which the sense is not suspended until the end, or near the end, is called a loose sentence.
A periodic sentence, unless it is long and clumsy, often stimulates the attention. You cannot understand it at all until you get near the close, and this very fact keeps your interest alive and leads your mind on.
In the following passage the sentences are periodic:—
In the midst of a garden grew a rosebush covered with roses. In one of them, the most beautiful of all, there dwelt an elf. So tiny was he that no human eye could see him. Behind every leaf in the rose he had a bedroom. Oh, what a fragrance there was in his rooms! The walls, which were made of the pale pink rose leaves, were very clear and bright. Flying from flower to flower, dancing on the wings of the butterflies, rejoicing in the warm sunshine, he led a peaceful and happy life.
Here is the same paragraph, so written that none of the sentences is periodic. Does not the paragraph seem a little flat?
A rosebush covered with roses grew in the midst of a garden. An elf dwelt in one of them, the most beautiful of all. No human eye could see him, he was so tiny. He had a bedroom behind every leaf in the rose. Oh, there was a great fragrance in his rooms! The walls were very clear and bright, and were made of the pale pink rose leaves. He led a peaceful and happy life, flying from flower to flower, dancing on the wings of the butterflies and rejoicing in the warm sunshine.
The point here, as in the other similar matters we have discussed, is that the mind likes variety in expression. You need not worry yourself by thinking much about the form of your sentences; but you should, if possible, get into the habit of varying them from time to time. Let them be sometimes short and sometimes long; sometimes simple, and sometimes complex or compound. And above all, when you are revising what you have written, try to make sure that in some cases the sense is sufficiently suspended to make your sentences interesting.
Exercise 16.—In the passage quoted on page 00, mark the place where the sense is complete in each simple or complex sentence. In compound sentences mark the place in each independent clause.
Exercise 17.—Construct periodic sentences by placing phrases before the following statements.
Example. We idly floated. In among the lily pads we idly floated.
1. The child slept. 2. They eagerly searched. 3. The prisoner escaped. 4. We explored the creek. 5. The boys laughed. 6. The people rejoiced. 7. We despaired. 8. The girl fainted. 9. He blithely sang. 10. She succeeded. 11. He failed. 12. He received his diploma. 13. The soldiers retreated. 14. Mary turned.