In poetry, parataxis doesn’t just mean short sentences; it’s a literary technique whereby
“two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar . . ., are juxtaposed without a clear connection. Readers are then left to make their own connections implied by the paratactic syntax” (Wikipedia). Hypotaxis, by contrast, uses lots of connecting words to make explicit associations between words and ideas. I’ve never really thought about using intentionally paratactic language in academic writing - an interesting idea!
I really appreciate being asked to go to extremes in order to find a middle that works for us. It's like we get to be a pendulum swinging back and forth until we come to rest at a balanced, even middle--whatever that looks like for our writing.
Looking forward to trying out this prompt! I definitely tend to fall into the ‘hypotaxis’ category but have noticed since starting to write haikus that they are a really good training in brevity and clarity, as I am forced to express myself in exactly 17 syllables...
At the same time, I do appreciate the value in longer sentences for expressing a more complex thought or argument. I set myself the challenge of reading George Eliot’s “Middlemarch” a few years ago and initially found it a struggle to hold the sense of what she was saying in sentences that could last a paragraph and which used quite complex language. However, once I got into it, I could literally feel my brain expanding a bit and absolutely loved the book.
I am reminded too of my undergraduate Latin translation classes – with Latin, the verb often comes at the end of a sentence, so you have to hold all the pieces as you go along and can only resolve the full meaning at the end. It has definitely been good training for following people’s spoken arguments, I find.
p.s. I love the bit about academic ‘passive-aggressive’ writing – spot on!!!
Middlemarch is sooo good! I had Dorothea in mind when naming my cat “Theodora.” 🐈⬛💕 To this day, Casaubon remains (to me) the most terrifying villain in all of literature!
Casaubon has definitely inspired some of my nightmares where I dream I’m in the future looking back on my academic work and realise all the time I wasted writing things that were ultimately insignificant…. 😱😱😱
Oh my goodness, I know exactly what you mean! I like to think that fear of Casaubon can work as a sort of inoculation against becoming him! Here’s hoping 🤞🙏🤞
I discovered that the paragraph I chose from my original draft already contains two "megasentences" (sort of), so that part of the exercise wasn’t as fruitful.
But chopping these sentences up wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be. It almost felt like I was editing content (summarizing it) in order to create bullet points in a PPT, but only in micro sentences rather than phrases. And it made me think of revising content into Plain Language, something often done in disability communities. But putting those puzzle pieces back together again? I found it easier to condense even more, combine these tiny sentences into slightly longer ones. I also realized important parts of my discussion/argument were missing--they were included in the paragraph above, so I did a little finagling and added to this draft paragraph instead, but only with one short sentence. I also had to let go of the urge to add more explanatory text, when that wasn’t necessarily part of this exercise (i don't need to explain everything in an exercise) but it did tell me how “choppy” my writing is. Now i’m a bit reinvigorated!
Very interesting! I've always been influenced both in speech and writing by others around me. I adopt accents I shouldn't have very quickly. All to say, I just completed a book review and I've been chagrined to see how that author is immediately more evident in my own writing. I think when my brain combined my style with hers, the result has been a whole lot of hypotaxis. I appreciate how this prompt could help me not just find myself again, but perhaps a better version of me.
In poetry, parataxis doesn’t just mean short sentences; it’s a literary technique whereby
“two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar . . ., are juxtaposed without a clear connection. Readers are then left to make their own connections implied by the paratactic syntax” (Wikipedia). Hypotaxis, by contrast, uses lots of connecting words to make explicit associations between words and ideas. I’ve never really thought about using intentionally paratactic language in academic writing - an interesting idea!
Ohh thank you! This makes me realize I DO love parataxis!
I really appreciate being asked to go to extremes in order to find a middle that works for us. It's like we get to be a pendulum swinging back and forth until we come to rest at a balanced, even middle--whatever that looks like for our writing.
Looking forward to trying out this prompt! I definitely tend to fall into the ‘hypotaxis’ category but have noticed since starting to write haikus that they are a really good training in brevity and clarity, as I am forced to express myself in exactly 17 syllables...
At the same time, I do appreciate the value in longer sentences for expressing a more complex thought or argument. I set myself the challenge of reading George Eliot’s “Middlemarch” a few years ago and initially found it a struggle to hold the sense of what she was saying in sentences that could last a paragraph and which used quite complex language. However, once I got into it, I could literally feel my brain expanding a bit and absolutely loved the book.
I am reminded too of my undergraduate Latin translation classes – with Latin, the verb often comes at the end of a sentence, so you have to hold all the pieces as you go along and can only resolve the full meaning at the end. It has definitely been good training for following people’s spoken arguments, I find.
p.s. I love the bit about academic ‘passive-aggressive’ writing – spot on!!!
Middlemarch is sooo good! I had Dorothea in mind when naming my cat “Theodora.” 🐈⬛💕 To this day, Casaubon remains (to me) the most terrifying villain in all of literature!
Casaubon has definitely inspired some of my nightmares where I dream I’m in the future looking back on my academic work and realise all the time I wasted writing things that were ultimately insignificant…. 😱😱😱
Oh my goodness, I know exactly what you mean! I like to think that fear of Casaubon can work as a sort of inoculation against becoming him! Here’s hoping 🤞🙏🤞
I discovered that the paragraph I chose from my original draft already contains two "megasentences" (sort of), so that part of the exercise wasn’t as fruitful.
But chopping these sentences up wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be. It almost felt like I was editing content (summarizing it) in order to create bullet points in a PPT, but only in micro sentences rather than phrases. And it made me think of revising content into Plain Language, something often done in disability communities. But putting those puzzle pieces back together again? I found it easier to condense even more, combine these tiny sentences into slightly longer ones. I also realized important parts of my discussion/argument were missing--they were included in the paragraph above, so I did a little finagling and added to this draft paragraph instead, but only with one short sentence. I also had to let go of the urge to add more explanatory text, when that wasn’t necessarily part of this exercise (i don't need to explain everything in an exercise) but it did tell me how “choppy” my writing is. Now i’m a bit reinvigorated!
Very interesting! I've always been influenced both in speech and writing by others around me. I adopt accents I shouldn't have very quickly. All to say, I just completed a book review and I've been chagrined to see how that author is immediately more evident in my own writing. I think when my brain combined my style with hers, the result has been a whole lot of hypotaxis. I appreciate how this prompt could help me not just find myself again, but perhaps a better version of me.
Team Hypotaxis over here 🙋♀️ Thanks for the fun prompt, Inger!