Page 29 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

hard, cold waking and all its penalties; [3] so Mole, after struggling
with his memory for a brief space, shook his head sadly and followed

the Rat.

Notice how Grahame has done things that show his skill level. He’s started
the paragraph with a conjunction (see section 14.0). He’s used a semicolon (see

section 16.6) to lead into the conclusion (where most modern writers would have
made it a new sentence; The Wind in the Willows was first published in 1908).

He’s used repetition in the narrative to give it almost a spoken-word feel: “the

beauty of it, the beauty!” These things indicate he is skilled, but using them is
not what makes him skilled. What makes him skilled is his ability to make the
reader feel the story.

Grahame’s use of “But” at the start of the sentence is probably something

you’ve been told not to do in your writing. Too right! Why? Because beginning
writers tend to overuse conjunctions at the starts of sentences, as they seem to

provide easy continuity when you’re not really sure how else to make your
sentences connect. Grahame, however, uses conjunctions at the beginning of

sentences sparingly, so they have a forceful impact rather than just being a bland
paste that holds the sentences together into a paragraph.

Ernest Hemingway is a good example of a writer who explains complex

ideas with simple language, as in this paragraph from The Sun Also Rises.

[1] The fiesta was really started. It kept up day and night for seven
days. [2] The dancing kept up, the drinking kept up, the noises went

on. The things that happened could only have happened during the

fiesta. Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as
though nothing could have any consequences. It seems out of place
to think of consequences during the fiesta. All during the fiesta you

had the feeling, even when it was quiet, that you had to shout any

remark to make it heard. It was the same feeling about any action. [3]
It was a fiesta and it went on for seven days.