Let's take a minute to examine some lines from one of the greatest modern poems ever, T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
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For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room, So how should I presume? |
A characteristic of this poem is that the ideas here flow from one thought to another associationally, in a way that feels very naturalistic, very much like human thought and how our internal monologues work and sound in our own heads. We notice immediately that the connections are not random--there's a reason Prufrock moves from idea A to idea B to idea C.
However, we also notice how Eliot has made Prufrock's transitions clear for us, How does he do it? Four big ways: Repetitions, prepositions, conjunctions, and rhyme. Let's take another look. In this example below, I've highlighted places where we see these linkages. For now, I've just highlighted repetitions: |
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room, So how should I presume? |
And here, I've highlighted the end rhymes:
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For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room, So how should I presume? |
And here are the prepositions that continue the sentences and link phrases to phrases:
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For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room, So how should I presume? |
Aaaaand just for funsies, here's the whole thing, including the conjunction "So."
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For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room, So how should I presume? |
Overview
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One of the problems in student writing is the LACK of linkages between and among sentences and ideas. If you cut the sentences of their paragraphs into strips, it would be nearly impossible to reconstruct them into a coherent whole because--and there's that word "coherent" again--there's no linkage between ideas.
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Okay, so let's join these things!
Now get fancy! Add a dash!
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The "Before" Picture
The "After" Picture
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Example from the Writing Center at the University of Colorado:
Research that uses numbers in collecting and interpreting data is quantitative research. Two primary methods of quantitative research are experimental studies and quantitative descriptive studies. Both of these quantitative research methods rely on five basic concepts: reliability, validity, randomization, probability, and the null hypothesis. Reliability and validity are qualities that affect how scholars grant credibility and importance to the results of a quantitative research project.... |
Prepositions, conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, subordinators--these are the superglue workhorses of the sentence, linking together ideas and placing them in a relationship with each other. Short, choppy sentences can be joined together in a more mature, graceful "flow."
The "Before"
The "After"
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One way to link ideas is to combine short sentences by using a dash to set off information or add new information immediately after a word, usually a noun. The dash allows you to expand information and combine choppy sentences.
Pick an important noun or idea that you believe needs expansion and specificity and use that as an opportunity to say more. The "Before"
The "After"
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