by arrangement

(order of ideas and emphasis)

Loose (main thought at beginning then modification) aka continuous or running (succession of simple and compound structures)

Use: sentences mimic the “rambling, associative syntax of conversation.” Richard Lanham Analyzing Prose (Continuum, 2003)

Balanced (one clause) uses parataxis (parts of equal importance)

Periodic (main thought not complete until the very end) uses hypotaxis (parts of unequal importance or modification that builds cumulatively)

• dependent clause, dependent clause, independent clause.
• dependent clause, dependent clause, and dependent clause, independent clause.

Cumulative, right-branching

(modification builds to the main thought at the end, but the independent clause is at the start or middle )

“The typical sentence of modern English, the kind we can best spend our efforts trying to write, is what we will call the cumulative sentence. The main or base clause, which may or may not have sentence modifiers like this before or within it, advances the discussion or the narrative. The other additions, placed after it, move backward (as in this sentence), to modify the statement of the base clause or more often to explain it or add examples or details to it, so that the sentence has a flowing and ebbing movement, advancing to a new position and then pausing to consolidate it.” (Francis Christensen and Bonniejean Christensen, A New Rhetoric. Harper & Row, 1976)

Good for
• independent clause, followed by the accumulation of dependent clauses and phrases that modify the independent clause
• independent clause, absolute phrase (noun + a verb used as an adjective)
also modification, main thought, modification called cumulative
cumulative same as loose
details > point vs point < details

by style

Segregating vs Aggregating

“Segregating sentences are especially useful in descriptive and narrative writing. They analyze a complicated perception or action into its parts and arrange these in a significant order.” (Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing, Oxford Univ. Press, 1988)

“The virtues of the segregating style are power and clarity; its vices are monotony and disjunction. It’s jumpy; it doesn’t differentiate one piece of action or argument or information from another. It may sound detached, sometimes cold.” (Mark Tredinnick, Writing Well: The Essential Guide, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008)

by purpose

show what information depends on what other information

show what results from what

show equality or balance (parallelism, compound sentence)

tell the reader what is important at the start (a loose sentence)

keep the reader in suspense until the end of the sentence (periodic sentence)

introduce a topic

contrast

avoid emotion

jolt the reader

question

demand

show a negative

by function

(by use in communication)

Assertive Sentence/Declarative Sentence – positive
Makes a statement, expresses a feeling/opinion, or describes something in the affirmative. Ends in a period. (May take the form of an interrogative in rhetorical questions.)
: She read the book.

Assertive Sentence/Declarative Sentence – negative
Asserts or declares a statement, feeling, or opinion in the negative. Ends in a period.
: He is not an athlete.

Interrogative Sentence – positive
Asks a question. Ends in a question mark.

Interrogative Sentence – negative
Asks a question. Ends in a question mark.

Imperative Sentence – positive
tell others what to do
make a request or give a command

Imperative Sentence – negative
tell others what not to do
make a request or give a command

Exclamatory Sentence – positive
A sentence expressing extreme emotion. Begins with What or How. (May take the form of assertive, interrogative, or imperative sentences.)

Exclamatory Sentence – negative
A sentence expressing extreme emotion. Begins with What or How. (May take the form of assertive, interrogative, or imperative sentences.)

by inflection

Inflect = change the form of (a word) to express a particular grammatical function or attribute, typically tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender.

Grammar any of the inflected forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence: the accusative case. • the relation of a grammatical case to other words in the sentence, whether indicated by inflection or not: English normally expresses case by the use of prepositions. 

by tense

by mood

In English, there are three grammatical moods:

Imperative mood
direct commands and firm requests.

Subjunctive mood / Optative mood
express wishes, describe hypothetical situations, and outline conditional events.

Indicative mood: Use the indicative mood to make statements of fact or ask questions.

by person

by case

nominative
“naming case; used for subjects.”

dative
“indirect object and prepositional case; used to indicate indirect receivers of action and objects of prepositions. Also used to indicate things that are being used”

genitive
“possession case; used to indicate ownership.”

accusative
“direct object case; used to indicate direct receivers of an action.”

See: https://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/gram/GrammarBook/GramCases.html