ClearTips: Stunning sentences

Parenthetical asides

Asides plug in material not directly related to the main idea. Parentheticals can also make it easier for readers to make the leap from subject and predicate or to navigate the elements of a series..

Cheering supporters waved little Union Jacks (provided by Blair's ever assiduous campaign staff) and shouted "Tony! Tony!"

What moves this comment about Blair's staff to an aside? Parentheses. Mere commas would have signaled the reader that the parenthetical material was simply adding a bit of dispensable detail.

Sterling's sci-fi protagonist goes through an implausible procedure (albeit one based on an extrapolation of some real medical research) that restores her youth; who would not give most of their worldly goods for that?

She also deserves commendation for teaching (for better or for worse) the male publishing establishment a thing or two about how to sell a book.

After all, action movies, with minimal subtitles, cross linguistic barriers more easily than dramas built on dialogue and nuance. (Boys with toys travel well, the saying goes.)

Sometimes an entire sentence is a parenthetical aside.

Back to Stunning sentencesNext


 
Edit yourself
Stunning sentences
Powerful paragraphs
Riveting reports
ClearWriter
ClearTips