Chapter 2: Put your strength at the beginning and the end
At first I found this tool contradictory after the first chapter that preached starting with strong verbs and nouns and branching the weaker to the right. This next chapter talks about putting your strongest words at the end of the sentence, then at the beginning, and hide your weaker stuff in the middle. (My thought–what’s weak stuff doing in there anyway?)
Perhaps this is like the way you learn to dance. You learn a basic two step, then you add a glide. I’m learning that we have a real power when we pick up a pen. Power to craft in the same way an artisan does–but we shape and carve with words chosen not only for power to create pictures, but also for power of place in the sentence.
In analyzing Lincoln’s speech, words like nation, equal, endure, live, earth were at the end of sentences–almost a summary of the speech. In checking out Dr. King’s speech, I was surprised first at the length of the speech–I’ve always heard just the part where every sentence begins with “I have a dream”. Analysis showed there were also key words in the end place in a number of sentences.
I also analyzed an essay I like on how school libraries have to reinvent themselves to keep up with the technology changes. The writer’s points made an impression on me because of his thoughtful ideas which he expressed with power position words, interesting word choices and varied sentence length. He and Lincoln are similar in the way they distilled their thoughts into powerful lines that didn’t depend just on word placement, but also word choice and even the rhythm and alliteration in the sentences. Lincoln’s words are long remembered for their content, and for the beauty and power of their composition.
What did you discover?
