Loose sentence


A loose sentence is a type of sentence in which the main idea is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases.

Construction

It adds modifying elements after the subject, complement, and verb.

Effect

Loose sentences may make a work seem informal, relaxed, and conversational. However, according to Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, a succession of loose sentences, especially those of two clauses, is to be avoided because of "mechanical symmetry and sing-song".

Examples

If the writer finds that he or she has written a series of sentences of the type described, they should recast enough of them to remove the monotony, replacing them by simple sentences, by sentences of two clauses joined by a semicolon, by periodic sentences of two clauses, by sentences, loose or periodic, of three clauses—whichever best represent the real relations of the thought.
For example, if the writer wanted to rewrite the above examples he could write: