Sentence arrangement is the location of ideas and the placement of emphasis within a sentence. Based on these factors, a sentence may be classified as ''loose'', ''balanced'', ''periodic'', or '' cumulative''.

Examples

A loose sentence expresses the main thought near the beginning and adds explanatory material as needed. *''We bashed the

piñata A piñata (, ) is a container, often made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth, that is decorated, filled with candy, and then broken as part of a celebration. Piñatas are commonly associated with Mexico. The idea of breaking a container fille ...

for 15 minutes without denting it'', although we at least avoided denting one another's craniums and, with masks raised, finally pried the candy out with a screwdriver. A cumulative sentence places the general idea in the main clause and gives it greater precision with modifying words,

phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

s, or clauses placed before it, after it, or in the middle of it. In this example, the phrases ''eyes squinting'', ''puffy'', and ''always on alert'' look forward to the pronoun ''he'' in the main clause; the phrases after the word ''forest'' look back to the word ''week'' in the main clause. *Eyes squinting, puffy, always on alert, ''he showed the effects of a week in the forest'', a brutal week, a week of staggering in circles driven by the baying of wolves. Grammar Syntax {{grammar-stub