I recently was described as the “M.C. Escher of the sentence”
by a thespian of excellent stature!
My goodness what a compliment my ego embraced in that
comment.
And I suppose there are some sentences in which I do attempt
to turn the predicate around to move back toward the subject that it may then again
travel toward the predicate.
But generally, I merely attempt to adorn a simple subject and
predicate with application of adjective and adverb. I garnish the simple
sentence with punctuation in hopes to pull into the simple, though adorned,
sentence informative concepts that otherwise would remain extra-sentence stand
alone grammatical creatures in their own, unadorned, right.
Well, as an example of how I develop a grammatically correct,
yet labyrinthine group of words, I offer the following scenario.
I begin with a very simple sentence such as…
“I ate pie.” So what!
Therefore, to give the sentence charm, I add a descriptor…
“I ate lemon-meringue pie.” You see how now you can almost taste
the lemon and see the yellow and white coloring.
Now, allow me to describe, not only further the kind of pie I
ate, but my personal character in doing so…
“I ate precisely sliced
lemon-meringue pie without guilt.”
Still, “without guilt” does not adequately describe the undisciplined
character of the subject. So, let me further besmirch this deserving subject…
“I, in willful iniquity, ate
precisely sliced lemon-meringue pie without entertaining even a hint of guilt.”
I suppose that sentence would be generally accepted as full
and complete and soundly in compliance with generally accepted grammatical
style. It is composed of only sixteen words, two commas, one hyphen, and one
period. It is quite economical.
But, it is not yet fun enough for me!
So, allow me, in conclusion (I promise) my signature
fatiguing style of grammatical excess.
“I, in willful iniquity, and as an
exercise in punch-to-the –nose insult of on-watching calorie spies, ate
precisely sliced lemon-meringue pie without entertaining even a hint of guilt!”
