Monday, November 16th and Tuesday, November 17th American Literature Standards 2 & 3 ACT Prep: Subject Verb Agreement Gothic Stories: Read aloud Notes on Style Letter from Birmingham Jail page 157 Compare and contrast Birmingham Jail and Civil Disobedience Transcendentalism in Pop Culture Extra credit Opportunity

Grammar and Style Vary Sentence Length Good writers vary the length of their sentences to help sustain the reader’s interest and to establish rhythm. Notice in this passage from “Nature” how Emerson follows a long sentence with a short one: Crossing a bare common in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear.

In “Nature” and “Self-Reliance,” Emerson often follows a very long sentence with one or more short ones. If he had relied entirely on long sentences, he could easily have lost the reader’s interest or made his writing difficult to follow. On the other hand, if he’s relied mainly on short sentences, his writing would have been choppy. By varying the length of this sentences, he makes his writing lively and engaging. In addition, you may notice that he often uses a short sentence to clarify or emphasize ideas he’s expressed in the longer sentence preceding it.

Rewrite the following passage to create more sentence variety: Like Emerson, I love nature. I enjoy taking long walks. Most often, I walk in a forest near my house. The ground is covered with pine needles. I usually take a path that leads to a waterfall. When I reach the waterfall, I take time to reflect on events in my life.

Style refers to the manner in which a writer puts his or her thoughts in to words. In Walden, Thoreau’s style is closely related to his purpose, which is to encourage us to examine the way we live and think. To achieve his purpose, Thoreau constructs paragraphs so the sentences build to a climax. He uses repetition and presents a series of examples to build to a climactic point stated in the final sentence. Some would say that Thoreau creates an effect that can be compared to a hammer driving a nail into wood.