tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post5445421284761864795..comments2023-10-30T12:26:15.822+01:00Comments on Research as a Second Language: Masters of FormThomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-48076177073649766812010-09-08T23:53:50.002+02:002010-09-08T23:53:50.002+02:00We're definitely zeroing in on the subject of ...We're definitely zeroing in on the subject of Friday's post! I'm going to look for some more examples. Maybe we get enthralled by writing at the level of the sentence. If each sentence is well-written, we may not notice that the text as a whole is poorly composed.<br /><br />For a long time, I didn't notice what a great story-teller Hemingway is because the sentences themselves were such a thrill to read, one after the other. I think the first time I noticed "composition" in Hemingway was when I read "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". (That's not entirely right. I understood how "Cat in the Rain" was composed. But more as a prose poem than as a story.)<br /><br />I'm getting off topic...Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-65684282790378788232010-09-08T23:47:19.134+02:002010-09-08T23:47:19.134+02:00Another thing: after reading these posts of yours...Another thing: after reading these posts of yours I looked at a recent article of mine and was surprised how often I wrote paragraphs of more-or-less six or seven sentences. Most of my paragraphs were around this long, with a few made longer if you count all the quotes. I follow a kind of rough guideline without even knowing I do it. Partly, it's just a matter of not letting any paragraph get too long on the computer screen before I divide it into two. And of course, I rarely write extremely short paragraphs of four or fewer sentences in formal contexts.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-83516517558623175812010-09-08T23:22:46.194+02:002010-09-08T23:22:46.194+02:00That's interesting because you would think it ...That's interesting because you would think it wouldn't be hard to find good paragraphs. Maybe paragraphing doesn't actually matter as much as we think it does? Those pieces of writing might still be good enough for their purposes until you decide to look too closely.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-18935048596709020052010-09-08T17:42:54.638+02:002010-09-08T17:42:54.638+02:00That's possible. But I have to say that as I w...That's possible. But I have to say that as I was flipping through my books looking for an example, I wasn't really applying the criterion (5 sentences + key sentence). I assumed that if I found a good paragraph, it would "in some sense" conform (masterfully not slavishly). That's actually what happened with the Ross paragraph.<br /><br />What I discovered was that many texts that I had vaguely considered "good" pieces of writing, didn't really consist of good paragraphs. Not just not well-formed, but in real need of rewriting. To my horror, even Goffman came up short.<br /><br />But maybe I was just tired. (And I didn't think to look in your book ... )Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-52469648133742843472010-09-08T14:33:31.143+02:002010-09-08T14:33:31.143+02:00I think you'll find that in good writing parag...I think you'll find that in good writing paragraphing is fluid and intuitive. You won't necessarily find all that many paragraphs that conform to a pre-conceived idea of "well-formedness," with exactly 6 sentences in support of a topic sentence. That doesn't mean that these writers aren't writing good paragraphs: maybe your criterion is too rigid?Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.com