Definition:
A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses. Contrast with periodic sentence. See also: Running Style.
Examples and Observations:
- "At its simplest the loose sentence contains a main clause plus a subordinate construction:
We must be wary of conclusions drawn from the ways of the social insects, since their evolutionary track lies so far from ours. (Robert Ardrey)
The number of ideas in loose sentences is easily increased by adding phrases and clauses, related either to the main constructions or to a preceding subordinate one:- I found a large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit, and packed with cots. (Eric Hoffer)
- I knew I had found a friend in the woman, who herself was a lonely soul, never having known the love of man or child. (Emma Goldman)
(Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing. Oxford Univ. Press, 1988) - "A loose sentence makes its major point at the
beginning and then adds subordinate phrases and clauses that develop or modify the point. A loose sentence could end at one or more points before it actually does, as the periods in brackets illustrate in the following example:
It went up[.], a great ball of fire about a mile in diameter[.], an elemental force freed from its bonds[.] after being chained for billions of years.
A periodic sentence delays its main idea until the end by presenting modifiers or subordinate ideas first, thus holding the readers' interest until the end."
(Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu, The Business Writer's Companion. Macmillan, 2007)
