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Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style
In Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style,Virginia Tufte shows how standard sentence patterns and forms contribute to meaning and art in more than a thousand wonderful sentences from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book has special interest for aspiring writers, students of literature and language, and anyone who finds joy in reading and writing.
". . . Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, generally recognized as the best study of sentence style." Brooks Landon, University of Iowa, in Building Useful Sentences, page 122.
". . . Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, generally recognized as the best study of sentence style." Brooks Landon, University of Iowa, in Building Useful Sentences, page 122.
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
October 17, 2008
As far as style guides go, this is one of my favorites. I like how it stayed away from listing "rules" and instead talked about how different sentences create meaning differently. For about a month after I read this book it was really hard to write, because I wanted every sentence to be as perfect as the examples in this book.
Here is the book review I wrote for one of my classes:
“The streets were calm with Sunday.”
With this quote from Aimee Bender, Virginia Tufte begins; she continues with over 700 additional examples of graceful, stylish sentences. But Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style is more than a catalogue of beautifully written writing samples. It is a well-written grammar guide, a book on style that embodies its subject, and a clear, descriptive analysis of the English sentence and its myriad forms.
Articulating the complex and varied possibilities offered by the sentence is a difficult task. Traditional writing manuals and style guides (such as Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and Williams’ Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace) usually explain principles, lessons, or rules for students to follow, prescribing the way that good writing should be done. Tufte takes a different approach, one of description. She illustrates what sentences are made of, and how small changes in word order can have a huge impact on not only style, but meaning as well.
Tufte gives her purpose in the book’s closing passages when she states: “Artful Sentences shows specific skills, widely applicable, that a writer can learn. It offers models that can be imitated, organizing them in a way that makes them accessible and comprehensive” (272). What is unique about the models, or examples, it contains, is their diversity. They are taken from every written discipline. Poetry is paired with technical writing, and science fiction with art criticism. Readers find themselves faced with Joan Baez, Virginia Woolf, Bill Clinton, Timothy Ferris, and many, many others.
Moreover, her range and variety of contributors is a parallel to her range and variety of sentence types and constructions. Although she begins with the simple sentence, she moves through compound, complex, and compound complex sentences quickly, describing the sentence parts and how they can be used. Her descriptions are clear and well organized, her own sentences often competing with her examples in artfulness. And even as she uses advanced terms that may be unknown to the beginning writing student, she explains and defines them. Terms such as parataxis, synecdoche, as well as the elusive wysiwyg clause (what you see is what you get), are defined for readers who may not yet be familiar with them. The vocabulary required to understand this book may seem daunting to a student, and may be too much for a beginning writer to take in. But Tufte makes it easier on them by defining many difficult terms, and an observant and patient reader can learn much.
Vocabulary acquisition is only one of the benefits this book offers students. Just as she claims, Tufte also gives the reader the valuable skills and models to follow. And also important, she offers the student a flexible and optimistic view of the possibilities sentences offer. Early on in the book she writes: “our language is richly flexible, responsive to innovative molding by skilled hands” (109). Tufte expands on this idea in her closing lines: “Forms that seem limited, and even limiting, in fact offer a range of opportunities to a writer in command of them—and one who knows how to transgress against them—to achieve undreamed of effectiveness, grace, and versatility” (272). This optimistic view of the flexibility language provides for us is a liberating one. It gives the reader a sense of excitement and is a great antidote to the pessimistic, rule-bound, feeling that traditional grammar study can present. Tufte truly illustrates the infinite capacity to create sentences form finite means. And in looking at hundreds (even approaching thousands) of types of sentences, she frees students from feeling bound to particular constructions, offering them freedom and autonomy.
This creation of autonomy through mastery of the sentence is similar to the know-the-rules-before-you-can-break-the-rules attitude of other style guides. The difference is her almost complete absence of instruction, or “rules” that students should know before they break them. She describes examples to follow, but only rarely does she give set rules.
Placing the focus on style and flexibility instead of rules provides tutors in the Writing Center with an excellent model for non-directive tutoring. Often the rules of grammar and syntax seem very prescriptive and directive. But by treating each sentence as a flexible and open piece of language that can be molded to suit the writer’s needs, the tutor can both show a student their syntactic, and consequently semantic options, while still leaving the student in complete control.
An excellent example of this is given by Tufte on page 172. She first gives a model sentence from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, “Sensing a possible rival, I watched him warily, wondering who he was” (315). And after providing the example, Tufte describes the syntactic options that could be considered in revision:
Sensing a possible rival, wondering who he was, I watched him warily,
I, sensing a possible rival, wondering who he was, watched him warily.
I watched him warily, sensing a possibly rival, wondering who he was.
These options are each unique in both syntax and semantics, and by describing their individual attributes and effects, principles of style are easily learned and understood.
The method of offering students variations of their own sample sentences, both as examples and options for revision, is very non-directive. It assures that students keep their autonomy, while also effectively communicating writing principles. By following the strategies that Tufte uses in teaching effective styles, tutors can teach students to write sound prose, that not only follows the traditional grammatical conventions, but is stylistically effective as well.
Another method that can be beneficial for tutors is that of vocalizing the students prose. Tufte places an emphasis on the flow of writing, continually using word such as “rhythm” (108), and “energy” (106). She warns her readers against writing that might “create awkward unintended rhythms” (120), and devotes an entire chapter to “cohesion” between sentences, phrases and ideas. Vocalizing the written words is a common strategy adopted by tutors. Sometimes the tutor will read out loud to the student, sometimes the student to the tutor. If, while reading the piece, a tutor listens for rhythm, flow, cohesion and the general “sound”, this strategy could be even more effective.
In her last chapter, “Syntactic Symbolism,” Tufte takes this strategy of vocalization to another level, citing examples of prose that itself embodies the ideas it describes. “Here syntax as style has moved beyond the arbitrary, the sufficient,” she says of her examples, “and is made so appropriate to content that, sharing the very qualities of the content, it is carried to that point where it seems not only right, but inevitable.” This concept, that of syntax symbolically representing the actions semantically described, is what Tufte sees as the crowning achievement of style. And she achieves it. Artful Sentences: Style as Syntax is what it sounds: artful.
Here is the book review I wrote for one of my classes:
“The streets were calm with Sunday.”
With this quote from Aimee Bender, Virginia Tufte begins; she continues with over 700 additional examples of graceful, stylish sentences. But Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style is more than a catalogue of beautifully written writing samples. It is a well-written grammar guide, a book on style that embodies its subject, and a clear, descriptive analysis of the English sentence and its myriad forms.
Articulating the complex and varied possibilities offered by the sentence is a difficult task. Traditional writing manuals and style guides (such as Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and Williams’ Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace) usually explain principles, lessons, or rules for students to follow, prescribing the way that good writing should be done. Tufte takes a different approach, one of description. She illustrates what sentences are made of, and how small changes in word order can have a huge impact on not only style, but meaning as well.
Tufte gives her purpose in the book’s closing passages when she states: “Artful Sentences shows specific skills, widely applicable, that a writer can learn. It offers models that can be imitated, organizing them in a way that makes them accessible and comprehensive” (272). What is unique about the models, or examples, it contains, is their diversity. They are taken from every written discipline. Poetry is paired with technical writing, and science fiction with art criticism. Readers find themselves faced with Joan Baez, Virginia Woolf, Bill Clinton, Timothy Ferris, and many, many others.
Moreover, her range and variety of contributors is a parallel to her range and variety of sentence types and constructions. Although she begins with the simple sentence, she moves through compound, complex, and compound complex sentences quickly, describing the sentence parts and how they can be used. Her descriptions are clear and well organized, her own sentences often competing with her examples in artfulness. And even as she uses advanced terms that may be unknown to the beginning writing student, she explains and defines them. Terms such as parataxis, synecdoche, as well as the elusive wysiwyg clause (what you see is what you get), are defined for readers who may not yet be familiar with them. The vocabulary required to understand this book may seem daunting to a student, and may be too much for a beginning writer to take in. But Tufte makes it easier on them by defining many difficult terms, and an observant and patient reader can learn much.
Vocabulary acquisition is only one of the benefits this book offers students. Just as she claims, Tufte also gives the reader the valuable skills and models to follow. And also important, she offers the student a flexible and optimistic view of the possibilities sentences offer. Early on in the book she writes: “our language is richly flexible, responsive to innovative molding by skilled hands” (109). Tufte expands on this idea in her closing lines: “Forms that seem limited, and even limiting, in fact offer a range of opportunities to a writer in command of them—and one who knows how to transgress against them—to achieve undreamed of effectiveness, grace, and versatility” (272). This optimistic view of the flexibility language provides for us is a liberating one. It gives the reader a sense of excitement and is a great antidote to the pessimistic, rule-bound, feeling that traditional grammar study can present. Tufte truly illustrates the infinite capacity to create sentences form finite means. And in looking at hundreds (even approaching thousands) of types of sentences, she frees students from feeling bound to particular constructions, offering them freedom and autonomy.
This creation of autonomy through mastery of the sentence is similar to the know-the-rules-before-you-can-break-the-rules attitude of other style guides. The difference is her almost complete absence of instruction, or “rules” that students should know before they break them. She describes examples to follow, but only rarely does she give set rules.
Placing the focus on style and flexibility instead of rules provides tutors in the Writing Center with an excellent model for non-directive tutoring. Often the rules of grammar and syntax seem very prescriptive and directive. But by treating each sentence as a flexible and open piece of language that can be molded to suit the writer’s needs, the tutor can both show a student their syntactic, and consequently semantic options, while still leaving the student in complete control.
An excellent example of this is given by Tufte on page 172. She first gives a model sentence from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, “Sensing a possible rival, I watched him warily, wondering who he was” (315). And after providing the example, Tufte describes the syntactic options that could be considered in revision:
Sensing a possible rival, wondering who he was, I watched him warily,
I, sensing a possible rival, wondering who he was, watched him warily.
I watched him warily, sensing a possibly rival, wondering who he was.
These options are each unique in both syntax and semantics, and by describing their individual attributes and effects, principles of style are easily learned and understood.
The method of offering students variations of their own sample sentences, both as examples and options for revision, is very non-directive. It assures that students keep their autonomy, while also effectively communicating writing principles. By following the strategies that Tufte uses in teaching effective styles, tutors can teach students to write sound prose, that not only follows the traditional grammatical conventions, but is stylistically effective as well.
Another method that can be beneficial for tutors is that of vocalizing the students prose. Tufte places an emphasis on the flow of writing, continually using word such as “rhythm” (108), and “energy” (106). She warns her readers against writing that might “create awkward unintended rhythms” (120), and devotes an entire chapter to “cohesion” between sentences, phrases and ideas. Vocalizing the written words is a common strategy adopted by tutors. Sometimes the tutor will read out loud to the student, sometimes the student to the tutor. If, while reading the piece, a tutor listens for rhythm, flow, cohesion and the general “sound”, this strategy could be even more effective.
In her last chapter, “Syntactic Symbolism,” Tufte takes this strategy of vocalization to another level, citing examples of prose that itself embodies the ideas it describes. “Here syntax as style has moved beyond the arbitrary, the sufficient,” she says of her examples, “and is made so appropriate to content that, sharing the very qualities of the content, it is carried to that point where it seems not only right, but inevitable.” This concept, that of syntax symbolically representing the actions semantically described, is what Tufte sees as the crowning achievement of style. And she achieves it. Artful Sentences: Style as Syntax is what it sounds: artful.
January 4, 2020
“Prose is linear. It is read and is said to move. It must by nature, therefore, generate a symbolics of spatial or temporal movement widened by its context beyond the limits of the actual sentence read from left to right in so many seconds. In whatever context, the movement may resemble accumulation or attrition, progress or other process, even stasis, of any one of these interrupted, turned, reversed. In space or time or both, it can go in any direction as continuous or repetitive, accelerated or retarded, smooth, halting, or halted. The variety is enormous.”
My husband, who is a total gem, gave me this book for Christmas, because Lydia Davis told him to. Davis, Queen of My Heart, was a visiting scholar at the university in our town, and gave a series of lectures, all of which I was unable to attend, because of work duties, and I was devastated. My husband went to all but one of them and took notes for me. When he gave me this book, which I had not previously heard of, he said that in Davis's talk on writing, she referenced Artful Sentences as a favorite resource. She said she liked to turn to it for examples of the marvelous variety of sentences that could be created and find inspiration therein.
And inspiration abounds! Virginia Tufte is like an industrious scientist of English syntax. She shares more than 1,000 sentences as examples of all the types of good and beautiful sentences that one can create and divides the book logically by grammatical types. It is a delight and a refreshing study of the gorgeous variety of English. In my intent to worship at THE CHURCH OF WRITING SENTENCES with Wei this year, this shall be our primary sacred text. And I plan on returning to it again and again.
Thank you, dear Guion, and thank you, dear Lydia Davis. You both shall always remain treasured in my heart.
“Writing is difficult. Whether a writer’s sensitivities are informed by one or several languages, it is not easy to capture a unique perception or idea in poetry or prose. Professional writers, however, do the best they can in whatever circumstances they find themselves. That best is often eloquent and precise, artful but unpretentious enough to become a model for other writers.”
My husband, who is a total gem, gave me this book for Christmas, because Lydia Davis told him to. Davis, Queen of My Heart, was a visiting scholar at the university in our town, and gave a series of lectures, all of which I was unable to attend, because of work duties, and I was devastated. My husband went to all but one of them and took notes for me. When he gave me this book, which I had not previously heard of, he said that in Davis's talk on writing, she referenced Artful Sentences as a favorite resource. She said she liked to turn to it for examples of the marvelous variety of sentences that could be created and find inspiration therein.
And inspiration abounds! Virginia Tufte is like an industrious scientist of English syntax. She shares more than 1,000 sentences as examples of all the types of good and beautiful sentences that one can create and divides the book logically by grammatical types. It is a delight and a refreshing study of the gorgeous variety of English. In my intent to worship at THE CHURCH OF WRITING SENTENCES with Wei this year, this shall be our primary sacred text. And I plan on returning to it again and again.
Thank you, dear Guion, and thank you, dear Lydia Davis. You both shall always remain treasured in my heart.
“Writing is difficult. Whether a writer’s sensitivities are informed by one or several languages, it is not easy to capture a unique perception or idea in poetry or prose. Professional writers, however, do the best they can in whatever circumstances they find themselves. That best is often eloquent and precise, artful but unpretentious enough to become a model for other writers.”
August 27, 2014
This is my favorite book on writing. It's not for beginners; Tufte won't waste your time explaining the parts of speech. There are a great many books out there that do this already. Instead, Tufte is an expert on how careful usage of different parts of speech gives different effect.
But the joy in reading this book isn't simply from her well-curated samples from literature; it is also from Tufte's writing itself, which often subtly uses the devices she's talking about. For example, consider the introduction to The Noun as Fragment:
A few years ago a staff member at a large university, cleaning out an old cabinet in the English department's offices, came across a neat black box. Inside were long-unused rubber stamps, twenty or more, apparently in the distant past employed to mark student papers. It is easy to visualize an overburdened writing teacher efficiently, firmly, perhaps even angrily, stamping with red ink the margins in stacks of student compositions: AWK. AGR. NOT CLR. CHOP. JARG. TRNS NDED. SPLT INF. COMM SPLS. RUN-ON. And what was probably regarded as the greatest of all sins, FRAG. I remember a teacher long ago who announced that any student paper containing a fragment automatically receiving an F, unless the student had labeled the fragment "intentional."
See what she did there? She introduced the concept of sentence fragments using a sentence fragment. This book is full of little clever moments like this for the astute reader, and though I read this book cover-to-cover, I'm sure I haven't caught them all. While the examples she uses are fun to read, I think the way Tufte uses the various parts of speech in her own writing is as educational than the examples she gives.
But the joy in reading this book isn't simply from her well-curated samples from literature; it is also from Tufte's writing itself, which often subtly uses the devices she's talking about. For example, consider the introduction to The Noun as Fragment:
A few years ago a staff member at a large university, cleaning out an old cabinet in the English department's offices, came across a neat black box. Inside were long-unused rubber stamps, twenty or more, apparently in the distant past employed to mark student papers. It is easy to visualize an overburdened writing teacher efficiently, firmly, perhaps even angrily, stamping with red ink the margins in stacks of student compositions: AWK. AGR. NOT CLR. CHOP. JARG. TRNS NDED. SPLT INF. COMM SPLS. RUN-ON. And what was probably regarded as the greatest of all sins, FRAG. I remember a teacher long ago who announced that any student paper containing a fragment automatically receiving an F, unless the student had labeled the fragment "intentional."
See what she did there? She introduced the concept of sentence fragments using a sentence fragment. This book is full of little clever moments like this for the astute reader, and though I read this book cover-to-cover, I'm sure I haven't caught them all. While the examples she uses are fun to read, I think the way Tufte uses the various parts of speech in her own writing is as educational than the examples she gives.
July 18, 2008
One of the best ways of teaching is to show rather than just to tell, and in this book, Virginia Tufte (Edward Tufte's mother [thanks, Dan, for correcting my misperception that she was his wife!]) fills her chapters with literary examples of the stylistic elements that she wants to illustrate. The extracts tend to be short, but they're no less beautiful or illustrative for that.
April 6, 2010
This book is titillating, if you're the kind of person who's titillated by whole chapters on short sentences and parallelism. IF YOU ARE, I might also recommend Edward Tufte's book on diagrams, "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information". IF YOU ARE NOT, well, who would blame you.
June 28, 2014
This is a marvelous book. Not good for sitting down and just reading through necessarily, but excellent as a reference and style manual.
Virginia Tufte's long experience allows her to gracefully accept variations in style and therefore avoid prescriptive dogmas. Elegant explanations of current thinking on matters of syntax, combined with numerous examples that demonstrate the differences between valid stylistic choices provide the reader, whether relatively new to grammatical thinking or confidently knowledgeable, with a tool to help understand and critique the way authors choose their words.
Lest you think this book gives an author carte blanche to write in any way imaginable, she does also include several examples of "what not to do." Like William Zinsser (see my review on On Writing Well), she believes that clear, direct, concise writing is generally preferable to extra verbiage. And, like Zinsser, she also affirms that some authors do write beautifully with long, complicated sentences.
The course I am taking Winter and Spring at The Evergreen State College is going through this book one chapter a week -- which is a good pace, considering its dense, thought-provoking materia.
Virginia Tufte's long experience allows her to gracefully accept variations in style and therefore avoid prescriptive dogmas. Elegant explanations of current thinking on matters of syntax, combined with numerous examples that demonstrate the differences between valid stylistic choices provide the reader, whether relatively new to grammatical thinking or confidently knowledgeable, with a tool to help understand and critique the way authors choose their words.
Lest you think this book gives an author carte blanche to write in any way imaginable, she does also include several examples of "what not to do." Like William Zinsser (see my review on On Writing Well), she believes that clear, direct, concise writing is generally preferable to extra verbiage. And, like Zinsser, she also affirms that some authors do write beautifully with long, complicated sentences.
The course I am taking Winter and Spring at The Evergreen State College is going through this book one chapter a week -- which is a good pace, considering its dense, thought-provoking materia.
Read
May 1, 2024There were sentences in this book! 🐢
April 22, 2013
The hardest part of reading this book was the first chapter. I needed to learn the meaning of several words. I'd never learned what an intransitive, transitive, syntactic punctuation, etc.
After some work it helped me write freely, I still look back at part of it. :-)
After some work it helped me write freely, I still look back at part of it. :-)
dnf
February 10, 2014Not what I was expecting. This is much more analytical that I anticipated. Will come back to it another time.
March 11, 2019
I can’t imagine who or what led me to take up Virginia Tufte’s Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style. The title? A persuasive ad or commentary? I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s about as self-indulgent as any book is likely to be — published, in fact, under an imprint owned by the author’s husband and since discontinued.
Surely none of the authors whose sentences are presented as examples ever thought in Tufte’s terms while in the act of writing. And no reader needs to be aware of Tufte’s terms in order to appreciate the sentences.
After a while, I skipped Tufte’s text altogether and just skimmed through the sample sentences, some of which are memorable, others of which have all the oomph of the language on a box of cereal.
Don’t bother with this book. If a teacher assigns it for a course, drop the course.
Surely none of the authors whose sentences are presented as examples ever thought in Tufte’s terms while in the act of writing. And no reader needs to be aware of Tufte’s terms in order to appreciate the sentences.
After a while, I skipped Tufte’s text altogether and just skimmed through the sample sentences, some of which are memorable, others of which have all the oomph of the language on a box of cereal.
Don’t bother with this book. If a teacher assigns it for a course, drop the course.
Read
August 7, 2024Admirably opting for the descriptive, rather than prescriptive, Tufte cleanly and precisely dissects a wide array of different ways in which writing can function, chapter-by-chapter stacking stylistic elements from the most basic to the most complex such that the work neatly unfolds into a study of how each piece of a sentence can work in harmony with the rest. It is also a bit amusing that she does include one sentence of her own as an exemplar in the study — you go and celebrate yourself, Virginia. You’ve earned it.
October 29, 2020
Fabulous book! If you’re a writer or someone who would like to get a comprehensive overview of what our English language, in the right hands, is capable of then this book is for you. I learned a lot and had other ideas reaffirmed and others still rejected. This is the book I’ve been looking for. Kudos to the author!
February 17, 2020
Dry but rewarding. One of the most useful writing books I own.
March 22, 2008
This is a book for writers, and those who have to read and grade papers. Myself, I'm not big on deconstruction as that path usually leads to meaninglessness and dissatisfaction. So, I galloped through the dissections, but the book is bursting with culled sentences as examples of the different constructions. And, they are good 'uns.
A writer will learn by reading this book, whether she reads Virginia Tufte's parsing or not. Tufte breaks the sentences down quite well (I sneaked a peek, now and then) although sometimes the explanations were a bit dense in that academic style that infuriates students under a deadline. Choosing to just sample her smorgasbord of sentences will fill you up, too.
I copied down various examples that Tufte uses to demonstrate a syntactic style, but I've included two paragraphs--first and last--that she wrote to display her excellent writing skill.
"Anthony Burgess is right: it is the words that shine and sparkle and glitter, sometimes radiant with an author's inspired choice. But it is syntax that gives words the power to relate to each other in a sequence, to create rhythms and emphasis, to carry meaning--of whatever kind--as well as glow individually in just the right place."
"This is the nature, the great beauty of approaching the art of the sentence through syntactic categories along with prolific displays of the splendid sentences good writers achieve. Artful Sentences shows specific skills, widely applicable, that a writer can learn. It offers models that can be imitated, organizing them in a way that makes them accessible and comprehensive. Forms that seem limited, and even limiting, in fact offer a range of opportunities to a writer in command of them--and one who knows how to transgress against them--to achieve undreamed of effectiveness, grace, and versatility."
A writer will learn by reading this book, whether she reads Virginia Tufte's parsing or not. Tufte breaks the sentences down quite well (I sneaked a peek, now and then) although sometimes the explanations were a bit dense in that academic style that infuriates students under a deadline. Choosing to just sample her smorgasbord of sentences will fill you up, too.
I copied down various examples that Tufte uses to demonstrate a syntactic style, but I've included two paragraphs--first and last--that she wrote to display her excellent writing skill.
"Anthony Burgess is right: it is the words that shine and sparkle and glitter, sometimes radiant with an author's inspired choice. But it is syntax that gives words the power to relate to each other in a sequence, to create rhythms and emphasis, to carry meaning--of whatever kind--as well as glow individually in just the right place."
"This is the nature, the great beauty of approaching the art of the sentence through syntactic categories along with prolific displays of the splendid sentences good writers achieve. Artful Sentences shows specific skills, widely applicable, that a writer can learn. It offers models that can be imitated, organizing them in a way that makes them accessible and comprehensive. Forms that seem limited, and even limiting, in fact offer a range of opportunities to a writer in command of them--and one who knows how to transgress against them--to achieve undreamed of effectiveness, grace, and versatility."
May 21, 2014
Yikkes! I bought this book from A seminar I attended with Edward Tufte. Shameless self promotion! It sounded good and I kept it by my side and needing some literary help pulled it off the " to- read" shelf. I believe it is a book without beginning or end. I feel like I missed the first week of class and was thrown into a lecture that makes no sense. Introduction? Guidance? Nope?! Just throw us into your expert minds thoughts?
I don't think I could even use it as reference. I like the samples of use with excellent references in literature, but as a read? Well I think I will keep my Strunk and White close at hand.
And just as a side note, does skimming in desperation count as "read"?
I don't think I could even use it as reference. I like the samples of use with excellent references in literature, but as a read? Well I think I will keep my Strunk and White close at hand.
And just as a side note, does skimming in desperation count as "read"?
July 19, 2015
I read this book a few pages at a time over a couple of months. It is rich with examples – literally thousands of sentences from acclaimed and not so-acclaimed writers are examined.
Tufte’s observations and analysis are excellent, but for someone like me, who hasn’t diagrammed a sentence in decades, sometimes hard to fully grasp. For me it was a little like reading something in French, I understood the words, but the meaning was occasionally elusive and required me to go back and look at what she said after I studied the examples.
That’s not a defect of the book. This is a challenging book for someone who is not strong in grammar terms, but that shouldn’t dissuade someone from reading it. For me it was the worth the challenge. And I’m going to read it again.
Tufte’s observations and analysis are excellent, but for someone like me, who hasn’t diagrammed a sentence in decades, sometimes hard to fully grasp. For me it was a little like reading something in French, I understood the words, but the meaning was occasionally elusive and required me to go back and look at what she said after I studied the examples.
That’s not a defect of the book. This is a challenging book for someone who is not strong in grammar terms, but that shouldn’t dissuade someone from reading it. For me it was the worth the challenge. And I’m going to read it again.
July 29, 2020
This was an interesting concept for a style guide (if that's even the correct categorization for this book): There is very little explanation of parts of speech or definition of terms, with the author rather focusing on merely showing and commenting on thousands of different syntactic variations from hundreds of sources. It's certainly not for beginners, and not for anyone looking for a step-by-step guide on how to replicate different syntactical models. Still, seeing all of these examples could be quite helpful for experienced writers looking to add some variety to their prose, no matter what genre or style they're writing in.
December 13, 2021
I was looking to for ways to improve my sentence structure when writing and this book was perfect for that - methodical without being boring, and with very well chosen examples of gorgeous prose. I didn't understand many syntax terms going into it and I don't know that many going out of it either, but that didn't stop me from understanding what she was saying. Bonus points for having so many Joyce examples.
August 7, 2012
One of my favorite go-to books about writing. The sentence is handled as deftly as the complex character that it is. Learn how to end and begin sentences for specific effects. It contains superlative examples of each part of speech from well known and obscure writers.
To know the sentence is to love it and wish to perfect one's command of it.
To know the sentence is to love it and wish to perfect one's command of it.
May 26, 2013
This is a reference book, so I admit I didn't read it cover to cover. There are a lot of great analyses in here and useful examples...but I could have used a "how to use this book" section. I still don't know what the logic was behind the division of topics. Overall, useful to someone doing a close reading...less useful to someone for their own writing.
November 14, 2013
A pretty dry compilation of examples of syntax in writing.
In 1946, a quarter meant popcorn, candy, a movie, a cartoon, and a serial, plus a trip to the projection booth to visit Snooky, who read Mickey Spillane books. And after the movie, he could go next door to the Trolley Car Diner, where Jimmy, their boarder, would fry him a burger if he was not too busy. - Fannie Flagg
In 1946, a quarter meant popcorn, candy, a movie, a cartoon, and a serial, plus a trip to the projection booth to visit Snooky, who read Mickey Spillane books. And after the movie, he could go next door to the Trolley Car Diner, where Jimmy, their boarder, would fry him a burger if he was not too busy. - Fannie Flagg
April 11, 2011
Lots of cool sentences and plenty of ideas to think about them with (and you'd think I'd write a better one here after reading it, right?)
April 2, 2013
All the different kinds of sentences examined. Construction as basic to meaning. A delight - and one you can dip into anywhere.
Read
February 4, 2015It's encyclopedic and amazing in its approach to how grammar and sentence construction affect style and meaning. That said, it just CANNOT be read straight through without boredom.
May 27, 2017
Excellent book. Goes through all possible sentence structures.
June 3, 2022
Many great examples of literary artistry, examined.
January 20, 2023
Slow motion videos are pretty cool to look at. It's fascinating to see new details of life unfolding, like how an egg cracks if you shoot it with a gun, or how a balloon collapses if you poke it with a needle.
This book is like a slow motion camera, but for language.
Unlike other books analysing literature, Artful Sentences is entirely focused upon sentences. It doesn't care about well-made characters or fascinating plot points, it just wants to show you what happens in your head as you move from word to word in a sentence. The central idea is that sentences don't just convey a meaning, they "unfold" in your head.
When you read the start of a sentence, your head automatically starts to organize insanely fast. If you see the word "but", you know the rest of the sentence will somehow present a contrast to what was said previously. If you see the word "suddenly", your mind starts to picture something happening really fast. As you read, you move through these constant shifts in your attention, whether you want to or not. This book categorizes and demonstrates exactly what those shifts are and what they are doing inside your head. And it exemplifies everything by using quotes and passages from a huge variety of books.
One thing that I hadn't thought about before was this: Sometimes when you are truly shocked by an event or a plot twist in a novel, you have been set up by the syntax itself. Your mental images and predictions were betrayed; all because of the damn sentence structure.
All in all, I ended up feeling that I could "see" slow motion footage of eggs cracking and balloons popping all over the place. Perhaps a bit of a nerdy book, definitely not for everyone, but I liked it and will go back to reread chapters from time to time.
This book is like a slow motion camera, but for language.
Unlike other books analysing literature, Artful Sentences is entirely focused upon sentences. It doesn't care about well-made characters or fascinating plot points, it just wants to show you what happens in your head as you move from word to word in a sentence. The central idea is that sentences don't just convey a meaning, they "unfold" in your head.
When you read the start of a sentence, your head automatically starts to organize insanely fast. If you see the word "but", you know the rest of the sentence will somehow present a contrast to what was said previously. If you see the word "suddenly", your mind starts to picture something happening really fast. As you read, you move through these constant shifts in your attention, whether you want to or not. This book categorizes and demonstrates exactly what those shifts are and what they are doing inside your head. And it exemplifies everything by using quotes and passages from a huge variety of books.
One thing that I hadn't thought about before was this: Sometimes when you are truly shocked by an event or a plot twist in a novel, you have been set up by the syntax itself. Your mental images and predictions were betrayed; all because of the damn sentence structure.
All in all, I ended up feeling that I could "see" slow motion footage of eggs cracking and balloons popping all over the place. Perhaps a bit of a nerdy book, definitely not for everyone, but I liked it and will go back to reread chapters from time to time.
March 25, 2023
Imagine the shock, this book opening up to a beginner. Like an A. I. beating the Turing Test, suddenly, the writer interprets sentences and syntax as a form of artistic expression. It’s just a shame that Tufte doesn’t effectively translate the excitement of this discovery to the words on the page.
Artful Sentences has plenty to say about syntax, but lacks in explaining grammatical jargon. This actually is a sort of blessing, if long ago a term like “appositive” or “split infinitive” slithered from one's brain and out the ears. Have a grammar reference around. It will be opened repeatedly.
Often, thanks in part to the jargon, unconscious passage-skimming begins, the reader desperately searching for more art in a sea of tedium. There are a few fantastic sentences. But for every one of them, there are many others that deflate the satisfaction of the few.
Like using bloated passages from cookbooks and legal contracts. With over one-thousand examples already, was it difficult to find sentences that didn’t come from such eye-meltingly boring sources?
Tufte does attempt to throw the reader–drowning in the drudgery–a life-jacket, by writing sentences that mirror the syntax of the current lesson. It serves as practical repetition and inserts tiny “aha, I see what you did there” moments. The problem is, if approaching this text as a novice, most of these clever constructions will be missed. Doubtful that many will want to return to find them after one read through.
So use this book as an occasional reference. Syntax is a powerful tool in every writer’s toolbox. Much of the writer’s own voice will derive from how it is wielded.
Tufte relates, "writing is hard." And after this book, the sentiment is understood. Hopefully, it is also less daunting.
Artful Sentences has plenty to say about syntax, but lacks in explaining grammatical jargon. This actually is a sort of blessing, if long ago a term like “appositive” or “split infinitive” slithered from one's brain and out the ears. Have a grammar reference around. It will be opened repeatedly.
Often, thanks in part to the jargon, unconscious passage-skimming begins, the reader desperately searching for more art in a sea of tedium. There are a few fantastic sentences. But for every one of them, there are many others that deflate the satisfaction of the few.
Like using bloated passages from cookbooks and legal contracts. With over one-thousand examples already, was it difficult to find sentences that didn’t come from such eye-meltingly boring sources?
Tufte does attempt to throw the reader–drowning in the drudgery–a life-jacket, by writing sentences that mirror the syntax of the current lesson. It serves as practical repetition and inserts tiny “aha, I see what you did there” moments. The problem is, if approaching this text as a novice, most of these clever constructions will be missed. Doubtful that many will want to return to find them after one read through.
So use this book as an occasional reference. Syntax is a powerful tool in every writer’s toolbox. Much of the writer’s own voice will derive from how it is wielded.
Tufte relates, "writing is hard." And after this book, the sentiment is understood. Hopefully, it is also less daunting.
August 12, 2018
Between her two books, I liked her other on Grammar as Style slightly better. The two are quite a bit comparable, but this might appeal more to someone who needs the beginning chapter to be more specific in it's basic examples.
I liked Grammar as Style better for the precise reasons others found the book less useful. She starts at the beginning and drives into style afterward. I think people take what she says in these sections too much for granted. In this regard, if you are going to read that section in Grammar as Style and miss her point, then yeah, this book will be better.
Here, she goes right into examples of the basic structure, the sentence first. I like it not less or more, just different. For my purposes, it's nice, but I like better the why that comes along with knowing the parts of speech.
The latter parts of the two books have significant similarity, although I really liked her section on Appositives which is less accentuated in the other book.
Whether you will like this book or not comes down to the reason you are reading it. For me, i'm thinking about grammar in the context of what makes comprehension difficult, so this is a great fit. If you're trying to figure out something else, like slightly more advanced grammar, maybe you don't like it as much. Might be above you, as it's clearly written by grammar lovers for grammar lovers. Since I'm not a grammar lover, I can empathize with those that are not as in love with the book. But I do however, give her full marks because I truly appreciate how seriously she's taken the subject and how much research and thoughtfulness went into a fairly rigorous treatment.
I liked Grammar as Style better for the precise reasons others found the book less useful. She starts at the beginning and drives into style afterward. I think people take what she says in these sections too much for granted. In this regard, if you are going to read that section in Grammar as Style and miss her point, then yeah, this book will be better.
Here, she goes right into examples of the basic structure, the sentence first. I like it not less or more, just different. For my purposes, it's nice, but I like better the why that comes along with knowing the parts of speech.
The latter parts of the two books have significant similarity, although I really liked her section on Appositives which is less accentuated in the other book.
Whether you will like this book or not comes down to the reason you are reading it. For me, i'm thinking about grammar in the context of what makes comprehension difficult, so this is a great fit. If you're trying to figure out something else, like slightly more advanced grammar, maybe you don't like it as much. Might be above you, as it's clearly written by grammar lovers for grammar lovers. Since I'm not a grammar lover, I can empathize with those that are not as in love with the book. But I do however, give her full marks because I truly appreciate how seriously she's taken the subject and how much research and thoughtfulness went into a fairly rigorous treatment.
September 22, 2025
A tour de force. No other book on writing instruction I have read (Elements of Style by Strunk & White, Sense of Style by Steven Pinker, On Draft No. 4 by John McPhee, George Orwell's Essays on the English Language, A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver, The Art of Fiction by John Gardner, Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing) have been as well researched and practical and fun to read as Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style. Tufte includes over 1,000 example sentences within 271 pages, all neatly categorized into 14 chapters: 1. Short Sentences, 2. Noun Phrases, 3. Verb Phrases, 4. Adjectives and Adverbs, 5. Prepositions, 6. Conjunctions and Coordination, 7. Dependent Clauses, 8. Sentence Openers and Inversion, 9. Free Modifiers: Branching Sentences, 10. The Appositive, 11. Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamatory, 12. Parallelism, 13. Cohesion, 14. and Syntactic Symbolism. This is a must read for any apprentice writer, to be read cover to cover then referred to continuously. I will certainly keep it close to my writing desk.
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