Explanation
This pattern is the simplest form of the series types. Just separate the items by commas. No conjunction links the final two items. Omitting this conjunction is effective because it gives your sentence a quick, staccato sound.
Read the series aloud so you can hear whether the items flow together WITHOUT the conjunction before the last item. Remember that tone and sound and fluency are important here. Also, remember that each item should receive equal emphasis.
Develop your ear!
Examples
It took courage, skill, knowledge -- and he had them all.
Their friendship has endured, in spite of arguments, boyfriends, distance.
I have come to you withoutsin, without guile, without evil, without a witness against me." - The Book of the Dead
EXERCISE -- Copy and paste this entire exercise into your own page. Write your answers in a different color or font. We will chose two people's in class to go over.
1. Look carefully at the following sentence. Does it work? If so, why? If not, where can the sentence be broken into two or shorter ones that are not overwhelming.
Robert Mondavi's father, Cesare, came from Sassafarento near Ancona, on the Adriatic coast of the Marches -- not a particularly rich or fertile part of Italy even now, nor, except for Verdicchio, much of a wine-growing region, and a good deal less so, no doubt, in 1883, when Cesare was born, the son of a large, simple family and possibly the first member of it, I have read somewhere, to be able to sign his name. -- by Cyril Ray "Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley"
2. Does this sentence work? If so, why? If not, please correct. The typical teenage user of snuff is white, active, and athletic, and subjected to very heavy peer pressure.
3. Same instructions -- The children gathered around the clown wishing for a balloon, angling for a smile, bowing before the childhood consumerism.
Explanation
This pattern is the simplest form of the series types. Just separate the items by commas. No conjunction links the final two items. Omitting this conjunction is effective because it gives your sentence a quick, staccato sound.
Read the series aloud so you can hear whether the items flow together WITHOUT the conjunction before the last item. Remember that tone and sound and fluency are important here. Also, remember that each item should receive equal emphasis.
Develop your ear!
Examples
It took courage, skill, knowledge -- and he had them all.
Their friendship has endured, in spite of arguments, boyfriends, distance.
I have come to you withoutsin, without guile, without evil, without a witness against me." - The Book of the Dead
EXERCISE -- Copy and paste this entire exercise into your own page. Write your answers in a different color or font. We will chose two people's in class to go over.
1. Look carefully at the following sentence. Does it work? If so, why? If not, where can the sentence be broken into two or shorter ones that are not overwhelming.
Robert Mondavi's father, Cesare, came from Sassafarento near Ancona, on the Adriatic coast of the Marches -- not a particularly rich or fertile part of Italy even now, nor, except for Verdicchio, much of a wine-growing region, and a good deal less so, no doubt, in 1883, when Cesare was born, the son of a large, simple family and possibly the first member of it, I have read somewhere, to be able to sign his name. -- by Cyril Ray "Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley"
2. Does this sentence work? If so, why? If not, please correct. The typical teenage user of snuff is white, active, and athletic, and subjected to very heavy peer pressure.
3. Same instructions -- The children gathered around the clown wishing for a balloon, angling for a smile, bowing before the childhood consumerism.