Persuasion: beginning or end?
Experts and stylists disagree about this point: What sentence location carries the most emphasis--the beginning or the end?
Here are some examples of both approaches. To emphasize "intent"--
- To properly apply the legal standard, the court must focus on the actor's intent.
- The actor's intent must remain the court's focus if it is to apply the legal standard properly.
To emphasize "deception"--
- When GenCorp told Mr. Mills he was fired for health reasons, it committed deception.
- The deception arose when GenCorp told Mr. Mills he was fired for health reasons.
To emphasize "Rule 16"--
- The only authority for making a competency determination is Rule 16.
- Rule 16 is the only authority for a making a competency determination.
Most experts say the end of the sentence is the most emphatic point. For example, Strunk & White favor the end of the sentence for emphasis. The Elements of Style at 32.
Others favor the beginning.
What do you think?
posted by Wayne Schiess at 11:09 AM
7 Comments:
I'm with Strunk and White on this one. Of course, emphasis results from distinguishing factors. If most sentences are structured the same way as the sentence containing the point of special emphasis, the reader is not likely to discern much emphasis.
It depends upon other factors, such as the position of the sentence within a paragraph. In most paragraphs the emphasis falls on the first few and the last few words.
If the sentence is the only one in the paragraph, then I would go with Strunk & White, and place the point requiring emphasis at the end.
I think that at in a sentence, generally the most important information should go toward the end of the sentence. Here's why. A sentence should say something old (what the reader already knows) and something new (what the reader is about to learn from reading the sentence). The purpose of the sentence is to convey the new information; otherwise why write it? That makes the new information the most important information in the sentence. The purpose of the old information is to put the new information in context. To understand the new information, the reader needs the context before the new information. So the old precedes the new. If you write your sentences that way, you will generally find yourself putting the new information, which is also most important information, toward the end of the sentence.
Here are some exercises that will tell you, intuitively, which end of a sentence tends to bestow greater emphasis:
1. Which sentence would you rather hear to describe your new roommate?
a. He's rather strange, but people like him.
b. People like him, but he's rather strange.
2. Which sentence would you rather hear from your boss?
a. You deserve a raise, but times are hard.
b. Times are hard, but you deserve a raise.
3. Which sentence is more likely to sell you lawn fertilizer?
a. Although the blades of grass will brown and die, the roots will remain alive and capable of regenerating the plant when moisture returns.
b. The roots will remain alive and capable of regenerating the plant when moisture returns, although the blades of grass will brown and die.
4. Which sentence is the more riveting start to a murder mystery?
a. When Max returned from the store, he found the body slumped over the kitchen table.
b. Max found the body slumped over the kitchen table when he returned from the store.
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