periodic sentence, what is periodic sentence, how to write periodic sentence what is periodic sentence

The periodic sentence is one in which the meaning of the sentence is not complete until the very end of the sentence - additional details are placed before the basic statement. The periodic sentence is simply a drastic extension of a natural tendency. It can convey complex ideas. The periodic sentence can be effective when it is used to arouse interest and curiosity, to hold an idea in suspense before its final revelation. In terms of expression, periodic sentences are often used in rhetoric, dramatic speeches and poetry.

Accomplished by the use of parallel phrases or clauses at the opening, or by the use of a succession of dependent clauses as modifiers preceding the independent clause, the periodic sentence unfolds gradually, so that the pollen of thought contained in the subject/verb group shows itself in full only at the sentence's end. It is the opposite of the continuous or running style, which adds phrase onto phrase, and clause onto clause, with each new thought following the last but without any hint in what came before of what might follow, rather than being embedded within each other in a hierarchical structure, as happens in a fugue. Periodic sentences often rely on hypotaxis, whereas running sentences are typified by parataxis.

Now let's have a look at some examples:

1. That he was not altogether free from literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes spoke one thing and wrote another, cannot be dinied.

2. With the aid of colloquialisms, malapropisms, battered and fractured grammar, and a considerable amount of creativity, Colord English, the sound of soul, evolved.

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