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First You Write a Sentence.
First You Write a Sentence.: The Elements of Reading, Writing ... and Life. | Joe Moran
8 posts | 4 read | 5 to read
A style guide by stealth - how anyone can write well (and can enjoy good writing) 'Moran is a past master at producing fine, accessible non-fiction.' - Helen Davies, Sunday Times 'Joe Moran has a genius for turning the prosaic poetic' - Peter Hennessy Advanced maths has no practical use, and is understood by few. A symphony can be widely appreciated, but created only by a genius. Good writing, however, can be written (and read) by anyone if we give it the gift of our time. And a sentence might be as near as many of us will get to orchestrating beauty. Enter universally praised historian Professor Joe Moran. Using minimal technical terms, First You Write a Sentence. is his unpedantic explanation of how the most ordinary words can be turned into verbal constellations of extraordinary grace. With examples from the Bible and Shakespeare to Orwell and Diana Athill, and with support from scientific studies of what most fires people's minds, he shows how we can all write in a way that is vivid, clear and engaging. With chapters from tools of the trade (from typewriters to texting and the impact this has on the craft); and writing and the senses (how to make the world visible and touchable); to how to find the ideal word, build a sentence, and construct a paragraph, First You Write a Sentence. informs by light example. It's an elegant gem in praise of the English sentence.
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review
KimHM
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Pickpick

“. . . a good sentence, like a good life, needs a good death.”

While this is definitely a pick, the first half of the book is superior to the second. Moran gets so caught up in what seem to me strained metaphors and side trips that he begins to sound almost defensive. Still, the approach in the first half is enlightening and will aid the writer in the quest. 💡💡💡💡and a half.

TrishB I used to work with Joe. Very quiet, reserved man. All his thoughts definitely come out in his writing. 5y
KimHM @TrishB I can see that reserve in the later chapters. I loved the first half so much that I may have asked too much of the second. 😍 5y
10 likes2 comments
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KimHM
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Go forth, writers, and melt brains 📚💚📚❤️📚💙

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KimHM
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📚💙📚💙📚💙📚💙📚💙📚💙📚

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KimHM
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I‘ve been looking for a discussion of my favorite grammatical usage—the subjunctive mood—and I‘ve found it! 📚❤️📚💚📚💙

“Verbs are for painting life both as we are forced to live it and as it might be lived” (81).

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Adding this to my #TBR stack thanks to @KimHM

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KimHM
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“Life is a noun but it can only be lived as a verb” (66).

This book is making me so happy—even at five o‘clock in the morning. 📚❤️📚💚📚💙

10 likes1 stack add
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KimHM
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I‘m getting lots of 💡from this so far (page 31). Have a ways to go before I decide how it stacks up with Stanley Fish‘s superb How to Write a Sentence, though. 📚💙

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KimHM
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If you can‘t sleep—read! (And write 😍)

“I want [this book] not to school but to hearten, embolden and galvanize the reader—who is almost always, in some way, a writer” (4).

📚❤️💡📚💚💡📚💙💡