Geraldine Woods - 25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way

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Geraldine Woods gives new meaning to the term topic sentence by turning the sentence itself into the topic. Using hundreds of examples from writers as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and Virginia Woolf, she articulates the precise ways in which a writer can send a sentence spinning. This book will give anyone who opens it a new appreciation for the glories of syntax, which can only increase ones capacity for creating them.

Mary Norris , author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

On Veep , we would obsess over every sentence in the script. Word by word, we fine-tuned every straight line and joke right up to the moment we shot the show. Its comforting to know now that someone else is paying attention to sentences the same way we did. From James Joyce to Judy Blume, from Yoda to Toni Morrison, Geraldine Woods breaks down twenty-five of the greatest sentences in the history of the written word and obsesses over them in a way that writers and nonwriters can appreciate.

David Mandel , Emmywinning executive producer of Veep

Finally, someone who appreciates the engine of a fine sentence and isnt afraid to tinker with all the parts! As Geraldine Woods writes in her introduction: A sentence is the smallest element differentiating one writers style from anothers. Her guidance will be so useful for anyone who enjoys writing and wants to take it all to the next level.

Brenda Miller , author of An Earlier Life and coauthor of Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction

Geraldine Woods was the English teacher who made me fall desperately in love with grammar. Who knew such a thing was possibleespecially at the age of fifteen? Ms. Woodss approach to the art of the sentenceand her methodology in imparting this approachis on glittering display in this engrossing text. Her inspired dissection of beloved sentences makes you fall deeper in love with writers youve long cherished; you come to understand why exactly you cherished them in the first place, while becoming a better writer and more attuned reader yourself.

Halley Feiffer , actor and playwright, author of Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow and The Pain of My Belligerence

Geraldine Woods is the awesome teacher you had in high school and wanted to keep for life. Its no surprise that she crafted an engaging, instructive manual for self-proclaimed word nerds and those who aspire to write like them. If you want to enhance your confidence and craft as a writer, this is your book.

Lara Setrakian , CEO and executive editor of News Deeply

As a high school English teacher, this volume gives me exactly what I want my students to have in mind as they read and write. Woods considers structure, sound, grammar, diction she deconstructs and explains, and then sends readers out to construct and create on their own. Thought-provoking. Woods had me revisiting texts that Ive taught before as well as thinking about my own writing process. This is a book I will be using in class, for sure!

Alex Myers , author of Revolutionary, Continental Divide , and The Story of Silence

Theres not a dull moment in this collection. Woodss selection of sentences is both varied and surprising, her analyses refreshing and illuminating, with sources like Virginia Woolf or John F. Kennedy. Have you ever needed a book without knowing it, until its in your hands? 25 Great Sentences is that book. Youll savor it. Youll pick it up again and again.

John Allman , winner of the Pushcart Prize and Helen Bulls Prize for poetry, author of Loews Triboro and Clios Children

GREAT SENTENCES

AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY

Geraldine Woods

Copyright 2020 by Geraldine Woods

All rights reserved

First Edition

Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all the copyright notices, pages 299301 constitute an extension of the copyright page.

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Book design by Fearn Cutler de Vicq

Production manager: Lauren Abbate

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Woods, Geraldine, author.

Title: 25 great sentences and how they got that way / Geraldine Woods.

Other titles: Twenty-five great sentences and how they got that way

Description: First edition. | New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2020] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019047655 | ISBN 9781324004851 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781324004868 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: English language Sentences. | English language United States Rhetoric.

Classification: LCC PE1441 W67 2020 | DDC 808/.042dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047655

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110

www.wwnorton.com

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS

For Harry,
who lives in my heart.

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T his book is a child of my mind, and it did indeed take a village to raise it. Im grateful to the thoughtful readers and supportive friends who offered insight, encouragement, and invaluable suggestions. Here is a partial list, all of whom can claim credit and, if they wish, a celebratory dinner: Harriet Benzinger, Catherine Conley, Pilar Enright, Jacqueline Friedman, Matt Hedges, Karen Johnson, Deborah Kassel, Sharon Kunde, David Schiller, Wendy Steiner, Amanda Summers, and Don Yates. I also appreciate the efforts of Sophia Seidner, Carol Collins, Sara McBride Tuohy, and Nancy Palmquistpublishing professionals whose expertise is matched only by their kindness and diligence. Finally, I offer thanks to the writers whose work appears in this book. The beauty theyve created is a gift to us all.

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S entences. When I was a kid, I had to label, diagram, and write them to fit my teachers chalk-dusted definition: a subject/verb pair expressing a complete thought and ending with proper punctuation. I dont discount the value of those lessons; in fact, Im grateful for them. But that definitionor, more accurately, prescriptionis far too limited. Stay within its confines and you understand why the word sentence also applies to a jail term.

No one told me, in my school days, that sentences could be artful. No one had to. The writers I loved showed me what a sentence could achieve, how careful crafting could make a sentence great. This book is a celebration of those authors and many others who create with languagejournalists, poets, lyricists, and orators.

Before I get to great , a subjective category if ever there was one, a redefinition of sentence is in order, one that pries the word away from grammar. Wendell Berry establishes a good starting point. To him, the sentence is both the opportunity and limit of thoughtwhat we have to think with, and what we have to think in. I agree with Berry in part: there is opportunity and limit in a sentence. But few people, if any, think in sentences. Words are more basic, and underlying words is a still more basic, nonverbal stew of ideas. Only with purposeful effort does a sentence emerge, which, in my view, is best defined as a unit of discourse. A sentence is also the smallest element differentiating one writers style from anothers, a literary universe in a grain of sand.