Posts Tagged → sentence openers
Sentence Openers In Tolstoy’s War And Peace: Book I Ch2
By reading closely for sentence openers, aspiring writers can imitate the models that Leo Tolstoy uses.
“Anna Pavlovna’s living room was slowly filling. The highest Petersburg society was gathered there: people differing largely in age and character but alike in the social circle to which they belonged. Prince Vasili’s daughter, the gorgeous Helene, came to take her father to the ambassador’s entertainment; she wore a ball dress and her badge as maid of honor. The young little Princess Bolkonskaya, known as la femme la plus seduisante de Petersbourg, * was there, too. She had been married during the past winter, and being pregnant did not go to any crowded gatherings, but only to small gathering. Prince Vasili’s son, Hippolyte, had come with Mortemart, whom he introduced. The Abbe Morio and many others were also there.”
It is quite unusual for Tolstoy to have an entire paragraph which shows no sentence variation. As we can see above, all the sentences are of the ‘subject-verb-object’ pattern. A continuous discourse of this nature will turn off the reader. Some may argue that in the 19th century that is the way people wrote and read; that things moved more slowly than today. To this we can say that, that is exactly the point. It is nearly impossible to accept 19th century language in the composition of prose in the 21st century. Contemporary readers deman a more dynamic narrative.
“To each new guest that arrived Anna Pavlovna said, ‘Have you not yet seen my aunt,’ or ‘Don’t you know my aunt?’”
Notice how the ‘To” preposition introduces the sentence. A lesser writer would have simply said: ‘Anna Pavlona said to each new arrival:…’
“The young Princess Bolkonskaya had brought some needle work in a gold-embroidered velvet bag. Her pretty little upper lip, on which a delicate fuzz was just noticeable, was too short for her teeth, but it lifted all the more sweetly, and was particularly charming when she at times drew it down to meet the lower lip. As is always the case with a quite attractive woman, her defect-the shortness of her upper lip and her half-open mouth-seemed to be her own special and peculiar form of beauty. Everybody brightened at the sight of this lovely young woman, so soon to become a mother, so full of life and health, and carrying her burden so lightly.”
For 21st century readers, the above lengthy paragraph would bore them to tears. There’s no variety. But we can use this example to warn the reader not to open the sentences with articles (the, a, or an), pronouns, or nouns. This warning will force writers, students, and teachers to vary their sentence. Teachers could benefit by accepting this piece of advice, and thus teach their charges how to write an essay that isn’t soporific.
But in spite of this lowest-grade greeting, a look of anxiety and fear, as at the sight of something too large and unsuited to the place, came over her face when she saw Pierre come in. Though he was surely rather bigger than the other men in the room, her anxiety could only have been due to the clever though shy, but observant and natural, expression which marked him from everyone else in that living room.”
‘But’ is a coordinating conjunction being used as an opener. ‘Though’ is a subordinating conjunction that introduces a dependent clause. This constructions is quite useful, and it is often used instead of the more formal ‘although.’
“With his head bent, and his big feet splayed, he began to explain his reasons for thinking the abbe’s plan chimerical.”
A prepositional phrase ‘With his head bent, …” accounts for agility in the narration.
By using the sentence openers we are pointing out, students will learn how to write a college essay.