Quote:
Originally Posted by R. Reed
I have used sentence fragments to show that a character's thoughts are jumbled, or the character is in shock. It can be effective, but you have to follow the rules most of the time so breaking them is effective.
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I'm a very latecomer to this thread, but these two sentences triggered a memory for me.
Long long ago in a place that's far, far away, I aced a freshman English composition class intended to teach us the rules for clear writing. The instructor's plan, announced during the initial class session, was to assign us one specific rule each week, such as "avoid repetition" for example, and we were to write a 500-word theme illustrating same.
At the end of the session I buttonholed the graduate student serving as our instructor, and declared my intention to illustrate each rule by blatantly violating it. "An ambitious effort, Mister Kyle," he replied, " but I'll respect it. If you're successful you'll get an A; if not, you'll fail. There'll be no in between."
I thanked him and proceeded to carry it out. Every paper got the A, as did my end of term mark. It was quite an effort, of which I was somewhat arrogantly proud.
The following year my girl friend, also a journalism student, asked to copy my work in order to get her own good grade in the required course. Unfortunately she had a different instructor, didn't inform him of the plan in advance, and made a few small "corrections" in the text to make it a bit closer to the rule.
She flunked, of course.
My point? One should never violate the rules by accident -- which means that you must know them, before deciding to do so. And to be effective, you can't do it too frequently.
Sorta like Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son, to not insult anyone accidentally.