Re: 1200 Graded Sentences for Analysis.

On 11/06/06, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
> just recieved a copy of the book "Graded Sentences for
> Analysis" (Rossman and Mills, 1922 Noble and Noble
> Pub. Inc. N.Y.) which contains 1200 progressively more
> complex sentences beginning with "Birds sing." and
> ending with "Though, in reviewing the incidents of my
> administration, I am unconscoius of intentional error,
> I am nevertheless too sensible to my defects not to
> think it probable that I may have comitted many
> errors."
>
> Each grammatical principle from simple adjectives and
> adverbs through noun clauses, participles, gerunds,
> infinitives, prepositional phrases, etc. etc., is
> systematically represented by model sentences in the
> book.
>
> I suppose that in a sense, one might consider a
> conlang "complete" when all 1200 sentences can be
> translated into that conlang.
Personally I think a language could be more considered complete when
no. 1200 can't be translated in one sentence, and a good reason why
not provided. Gah!

(Does anyone have conlangs with rules that prohibit such mouthfuls
from being expressed in one sentence; or perhaps rules that prohibit
sentences like "Birds sing" from being expressed so comprehensibly? I
go by the theory that I'm probably the only person who's ever going to
write anything in my conlang, so I can make it look the way I want
just by translating it differently, without rules for guiding this.)

--
Tristan