The various effects a writer may wish to have on his or her readers—to inform, to persuade, to entertain—result in dif-ferent kinds of prose. The most common is prose that in-forms, which, depending on what it is about, is called exposition, description, or narration. | For more material and information please visit 210 THE SENTENCE Emphasis Within the Sentence Emphatic sentences are only occasionally needed. But it is usually necessary to establish appropriate emphasis upon particular words within the sentence. Good writers do this subtly. Rather than scattering exclamation points underlinings and capitals they rely chiefly upon the selection and positioning of words. Modifiers Modifiers are an important source of emphasis. A special class called intensives do nothing but stress the term they modify great greatly extremely much very terribly awfully and many many more. But on the whole intensives are not very satisfactory. They quickly become devalued leading to a never-ending search for fresh words. Imaginative writers can and do discover unusual and effective ones as in this description of the modern superstate These moloch gods these monstrous states . . . Susanne K. Langer Still it is best not to rely upon intensives as a primary device of emphasis. Pairing and Piling Modifiers As we shall see in a few pages adjectives and adverbs can be made emphatic by where they are placed and how they are punctuated. But aside from that they may be paired and piled up that is grouped in units of two or of three or more . Here are a few instances of paired modifiers They a man s children are his for a brief and passing season. Margaret Mead This antiquated and indefensible notion that young people have no rights until they are twenty-one . . Evelyn Jones For more material and information please visit 2 EMPHASIS ill Lady Mary Wort ley Montague was like a dilapidated macaw with a hard piercing laugh mirthless and joyless with a few unimaginative phrases with a parrot s powers of observation and a parrot s hard and poisonous bite. Edith Sitwell Working as a team paired adjectives impress themselves upon the reader. And they often do more reinforcing a point by restatement a brief and passing season or
