Writing beautiful sentences is not an exact science. Although there are basic rules of grammar, good writers find ways to express themselves through writing in different ways: using different vocabulary, varying the length of sentences, using different sentence types, and more!
As you know, grammatically, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. However, stylistically, it needs much more:
Famous Sentences
The sentences below are some of the most famous in English language literature (although some are translated from their original languages).
As you read each sentence, ask yourself what the writer was trying to accomplish. Also think about the choice of vocabulary, the message, and any other thing that appeals to you.
After you've read them all, choose your favorite and discuss what makes it a good sentence, in your opinion. Post your response in the comment section; respond to at least two of your classmates' choices.
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. — Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
"Call me Ishmael." — Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell
"Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu." —Waiting, by Ha Jin
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." — A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
"All this happened, more or less." —Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." —100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead." —The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
"124 was spiteful." --Beloved, by Toni Morrison
"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." —The Gunslinger, by Stephen King
"It was a pleasure to burn." —Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
"I am an invisible man." —Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." —The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
As you know, grammatically, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. However, stylistically, it needs much more:
- clarity: a sentence should be clear to the reader
- well-chosen vocabulary: choose words whose meaning you are sure of, and use them correctly
- strong verbs: when possible, use verbs that show the action of the sentence. The verb 'be' (in all its forms -- is, are, was, were, etc.) is a weaker choice of verb in many cases. Try to find a verb that shows the action.
- proper length: if your sentence expresses a simple idea, it probably needs to be a short sentence. More complex ideas may need longer sentences. Vary your sentence lengths as well. If all your sentences are short, your writing sounds "choppy." If all your sentences are long, your writing can be overly complicated and hard to understand.
- limited number of clauses and prepositions: the more clauses and prepositions you have in a sentence, the harder it can be to understand. Think about how many clauses you have included in a single sentence.
- subject-verb agreement: be sure you can identify the subject of your sentence, then make sure the verb agrees with it in number. For example:
The cup is full of coffee.
The cups are full of coffee.
- correct verb tense: if you are speaking of things in the past, use past tense verbs. This may seem obvious, but it can be a difficult aspect of English.
Famous Sentences
The sentences below are some of the most famous in English language literature (although some are translated from their original languages).
As you read each sentence, ask yourself what the writer was trying to accomplish. Also think about the choice of vocabulary, the message, and any other thing that appeals to you.
After you've read them all, choose your favorite and discuss what makes it a good sentence, in your opinion. Post your response in the comment section; respond to at least two of your classmates' choices.
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. — Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
"Call me Ishmael." — Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell
"Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu." —Waiting, by Ha Jin
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." — A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
"All this happened, more or less." —Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." —100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead." —The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
"124 was spiteful." --Beloved, by Toni Morrison
"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." —The Gunslinger, by Stephen King
"It was a pleasure to burn." —Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
"I am an invisible man." —Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." —The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
I choose the sentence “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell. It is very clear when it describes the day. Also, the verb striking is very strong and it gives more emphasis to the action of giving the hour
ResponderBorrarThe sentence we chose is "I am an invisible man." —Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. It is an effective sentence because it is short and to the point, but it still provides a context and a description of the character. Paula Soto Miranda and Tatiana Pachkevitch.
ResponderBorrarWe choose " happy families are all alike;every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"
ResponderBorrarWe think it's effective because it uses the same words with an estructure that makes it sounds nice, like a melody .And in our opinión it says something realistic.
Sofia de Albuquerque and Irupé Garcia
Hi girls, I agree with your analysis but I also think that the sentence is like a moral of a fable. And I have to agree with you that the sentence is true.
Borrar‘Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." —100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez’
ResponderBorrarThere are a context-of time and a subject.
Also the phrase ‘he faced the firing squad’ contains a strong verb
We choose the sentence "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; i can't be sure"
ResponderBorrarIn our opinion the author shows the distant relationship of the character with his/her mother. We can assume that they weren't close or in touch as the character doesn't know for sure when the mother died.
Alber Camus chose three clear short sentences with strong verbs to show the reader the conflict that the character has related to his/her mother's death
Molina Vanesa, Chavez Alejandro
Hi Vanesa and Alejandro. We are agree with your analysys but we add that the sentences are short, it made that the writing sound “choppy”
Borrar“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure "
ResponderBorrarThis phrase transmites indifference and distance between the children and their mother. It involves strong emotions.
Written by Julieta Barraza and Estefania Harce.
The author using simple words in short senteces generate a strong impact.
BorrarWe chose the sentence “I am an invisible man”, since it brings clarity upon itself. It doesn’t have many vocabulary nor strong verbs to analyze, but has the proper length to be understood and there’s subject-verb agreement. “I” is the subject, and “am” the verb.
ResponderBorrar-Done by: Conde, Pedranzini, and Torres
Hi Bianca, I can't agree with you in this case. A sentence that only has a verb to be and 5 words can't be a good sentence. But I think that the adjective invisible gives the sentence some impact.
BorrarMother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus.
ResponderBorrarWe think that the sentence is effective because the feeling that the author is transmiting. We understand that he doesn't know what day it is because of the sadness and the situation that he's going through.
Gonzalez Victoria y Libonatto Natalia.
We chose the sentence "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure" - The stranger, by Albert Camus.
ResponderBorrarWe think the sentence offers clarity in the way we know for sure the autor emphasizes on the character's mother's death and its incapacity to remember details of such event; to do that Camus also uses well-chosen vocabulary .
Also ,the sentence has proper lenght(since it gives you enough to develope a certain idea) and uses correrct verb tenses.
Paz Rocio,Alonso Micaela
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
ResponderBorrarThe effectiveness of the sentence chosen by us relies on its clarity. From the beginning of it, it manages to catch the reader's attention and let them know exactly what the author means. In addition, it also reflects that time's beliefs, for example, the necessity of women to get married.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." —The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
This sentence is effective because it shows striking vocabulary, which is used to intrigue the reader to read the book.
Berisso, Agustin - Bisbal, Araceli - Lithitx, Alexia - Molina, Tania
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I can’t be sure”
ResponderBorrar-The Stranger by Albert Camus
This sentence shows how overwhelmed the character felt about his mother’s death. We can notice his desperation and greft when he mentioned that he has no idea about when that terrible loss occurred. We consider it is a good sentence because it’s simple, but if we search deeper, we can see how meaningful and sad it is.
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect”
-The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
We think this sentence has such an important impact in English literature because it’s the beginning of one of the most unhappy novels ever written. Kafka could have chosen other words to describe that situation, nevertheless he uses the beauty and magnificence of language and gives us that simple, but marvelous sentence.
Bovio Camila, Acosta Martina, Figueredo Ainara y Garro Marina.
"It was a pleasure to burn."
ResponderBorrarThis sentences is effective beacuse in the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Guy Muntag believes in what he's doing, so he considers it "a pleasure to burn." In other words, he feels he's doing his patriotic duty by helping to rid the world of provocative material.
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead."
ResponderBorrarIn this sentence the vocabulary used is correct and it has the perfect lenght while still making the point of the sentence clear
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." —The Stranger, by Albert Camus
ResponderBorrarThe reader tries to show us sadness and tragedy with this simple sentence. We think that the main character is so shocked with this situation that the character can not believe its mother death, to the point he or she is very confused.
The structure of the sentence is very simple, divided into three short sentences. Maybe it might show the character is so sad that doesn't know what to say about it.
Axel Yeffal / Miguel Nieva
Hi I´m Facundo Recalde and I chose the following sentence:
ResponderBorrar“All this happened, more or less." —Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
I chose this sentence because its clarity and also its mysterious. It has a proper length that shows that it could be the ending of an explanation.
Hi! We choose the sentence "I am an invisible man".
ResponderBorrarThis sentence only has a verb "to be" and it is short but we think that it is clarity because in my opinion this man try to show that he doesn't exist to other people.
Molina Lucía, González Matías.
HI! I've chosen this sentence:
ResponderBorrar"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect” -The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Kafka could have chosen other words to describe that situation, nevertheless he uses the beauty of language and gives us that interesting sentence. I think it brings up the fact that feeling so bad on the inside, eventually, will "highlight" those feelings on the outside.
Hi miss,
ResponderBorrarI have chosen this sentence because the author is describing in detail the day of Winston Smith and give more suspense in the first sentence in the book.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — 1984, by George Orwell
Hi, miss Sturla.
ResponderBorrarI've chosen the quote of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens because I love how he describe the beginning, sounds like poetry and feels so emotional.
we choose the sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." —Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.
ResponderBorrarIn this book Jane Austen chooses one clarity and long sentence with weak verbs. She wants to transmit that the man who has money is not happy but on the other hand the man who has a wife finds a complement who makes happy.
Bravo-Romano