Re: Circumfixes?

Andreas Johansson wrote:

> You find a 40-word sentence very long? Hm, I guess I wouldn't. But IMHO,
> what makes a sentence difficult isn't usually length but complexity, ie
> whether it's got lots of embedded clauses, relative pronouns etc.
I wouldn't find a 40-word sentance too long, in English. I'd struggle
with it if it was in German, or French, or even my beloved Ajuk.

> PS Speaking of complex language, I like to believe I write in a rather
> relaxed and casual way, altho' I do recognize my sentences sometimes get
> longer than some would like, but my last Swedish paper missed the top grade
> because the teacher thought that the language in it was too formal and
> advanced, seeing that the text was according to the instruction supposed to
> be written in the form of an article for a youth magazine. I told the
> teacher that was rather harsh on readers of youth magazines. She replied,
> fully seriously, that I had to realize most people aren't on my level. What
> to you say to something like that??
Long sentances are a problem I have too, I can't help but write essays
and the like using long sentances. I'm digging for an example, but I
can't find one...

Ah... here's one. It's from an outline of the Soyuz program: "The
Russian government has said that it will no longer be able to send more
than one mission into space each year, and certain systems that were
originally considered essential by the designers to the Soyuz craft,
such as the automatic docking systems, can no longer be used, because
they are made in former Soviet Republics other than Russia, and
therefore are not free to the Russian government."  That's 68 words, and
feels entirely comfortable to me. Actually, I'm more comfortable with
long sentances rather than short ones, both when reading and writing.
Short sentances seem very jarring, and often make it difficult to convey
meaning as quickly as one "big-ass" sentance. Generally, anything
shorter than a paragraph-length sentance is OK by me.

I generally haven't had any trouble with it, although recently my
English teacher marked an essay poorly for style, because she
interpreted the long sentances as being far too pretentious. *I* didn't
see it like that, at least.

--
Robert

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