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Colombo Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Must short sentences be used in English?
I've always thought that, at least for the languages I know, using long or short sentences depends on the speaker/writer, or on the context (literary texts, for example, versus newspaper articles), not on the language he's using. But a friend of mine claims that English is a language of short sentences, and that whenever translating a text into English (from Spanish in our case), long sentences should be avoided.
Do you agree with this? Does English use short sentences because it is English, or because - as I think is the case with Spanish, especially nowadays - the average person has less capacity to understand and produce long sentences?
Do you agree with this? Does English use short sentences because it is English, or because - as I think is the case with Spanish, especially nowadays - the average person has less capacity to understand and produce long sentences?
Top answer
No, I don't agree. There is nothing within the English language that prevents or hinders the creation of long sentences. It is purely a matter of style.
- No, I don't agree.
- There is nothing within the English language that prevents or hinders the creation of long sentences.
- It is purely a matter of style.
- It seems that, on average, sentence length in written English has decreased over time.
- Back in the past, the construction of hugely elaborate sentences was seen as a literary skill.
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2 Answers
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No, I don't agree. There is nothing within the English language that prevents or hinders the creation of long sentences. It is purely a matter of style. It seems that, on average, sentence length in written English has decreased over time. Back in the past, the construction of hugely elaborate sentences was seen as a literary skill. Now it is seen more as an impediment to the reader.
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Thanks for your input, GPY. What you've written expresses exactly what I think about this issue. But, after all, my knowledge of English language or English culture is not deep enough to allow me to know whether I'm right or not (and I don't want to be the ignorant pigheaded one in a discussion, so that's why I wanted to know other people's opinions on this). Myself, I tend to use long sentences b
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