TYPE SIX SENTENCES. ------- , ------- , ------- ; ------- , ------- , ------- .

 
     These sentences are more descriptive, and allow you to develop two related ideas in more detail.  Type Six sentences allow you to be very creative, descriptive, and full of feeling.  In summary, Type Six sentences should be about the development of feelings, set in the context of one’s observations of life.  It has its own distinctive character (like each of the other sentence types).  It is almost a miniature story; as such, it should, if necessary, be able to stand on its own.  Again, although such “neo-classical” ways of writing these sentences are very artificial, they give you good practice in creative and disciplined writing.  Here, sentence unity is very important, since the sentence is so long, and often complex; if you do not have good unity, the length and content will pull everything apart. 
 
     A wide range of structures and styles are possible with Type Six sentences.  In terms of use, there are two main ones: as part of a paragraph, and alone.  Sentences in a paragraph can be shaped according to the general direction of the paragraph.  However, sentences written in isolation need their own seed of “two-half” creativity, so as to get them started.  “Contrasting halves” are a very striking and effective way to develop a central idea in a Type Six sentence.  For example: 
(a) like/write/night , (b) peaceful/quiet , (c) think/write ; (d) dislike/write/day , (e) tense/noisy, (f) rest/compose. 
(a) I really like to write my poems during the peaceful hours of night, (b) as the whole universe is peaceful and quiet, (c) and the Muse allows me to think and set down my collected thoughts; (d) I so dislike writing anything during the daylight hours, (e) for the people around me are both tense and noisy, (f) and I have absolutely nowhere to rest in peace and compose new ideas. 
If you break up this sentence into lines, as in poetry, then you get this: 
(a) I really like to write my poems during the peaceful hours of night,
(b) as the whole universe is peaceful and quiet,
(c) and the Muse allows me to think and set down my collected thoughts;
(d) I so dislike writing anything during the daylight hours,
(e) for the people around me are both tense and noisy,
(f) and I have absolutely nowhere to rest in peace and compose new ideas. 
You can see that it is easy to study the structure (and the “logical links”) of this sentence, when all the lines are divided like this. 
 
     Some people like to visualize the sentence at the beginning, but not the whole–they start at the beginning, and “feel” their way to the end.  You choose which way you like best, and which works best for you. 
 
     In summary, when writing Type Six sentences, one can choose to have “free” sentences, with no structure, or else, one can be hyper-structured and neo-classical: you choose. 
 
     Here is the writing sequence for a Type Six sentence: Topic – Plan structure – Plan key words – Develop each part (by writing, editing, expanding, and contracting). 
 
     First: Choose a topic, making sure it is big enough for the demands of this type of sentence.  Some topics are too “small” for a Type Six sentence, so choose a fruitful one.  Ask yourself, “What is it that I want to say?”; do not think, “How shall I say it?”  Your writing should be driven by content, not by style.  Remember, you must do this whole process in English, to avoid the many problems associated with originating language in Chinese.  Do not first think through the sentence in Chinese, and then try to “translate” it!  
 
     Second: Make a plan, to clearly show the structure and logic of the sentence.  Here is an illustration of this concept: 
       (???) , (???) , (???) ; (???) , (???) , (???) .   
 
     The symbol (???) represents a key word (or two words).  Do not use more words, or try to make sentence fragments!  That will come later. 
 
     If you have a well-made sentence plan, writing the actual sentence later will be easier, as the basic structure, as well as the logical inter-connections within the sentence, will be in order. 
 
     Please note the following: sentence structure should direct, and have precedence over creativity, and in particular, “loose” creativity.  You might disagree; that is all right.  I feel that when you have the basic sentence structure taken care of, your creativity will be free to work within modest limits.  It is a sort of “freedom within limits”.  However (paradoxically), with these sentences, let the structure serve you; do not feel overly controlled by the structure. 
 
     The two halves of the Type Six sentence can be developed, in one of two ways: (a) as two parts of a unified, progressive trend, or (b) as a balanced pair (parallel, or in contrast).  Here are some examples: 
 
     As two parts of a unified, progressive trend.  (a) As the morning mist was rising off the pond, (b) the ducks were feeding on the roots of water lilies, (c) and skimming the surface of the water for algae ; (d) when the sun was shining strongly over the whole countryside, (e) the whole flock of ducks took off to visit the nearby salt-marsh, (f) as they knew the water would be warmer to swim in.  In this sentence, the first half of the “walnut-like” sentence leads into the second half; there is unity of progression. 
     As a balanced pair (parallel).  (a) Mary works in the factory from eight to four o’clock, (b) as she likes using the daylight hours to earn her salary, (c) leaving her free to care for her Spanish grandmother in the evening; (d) her sister Jenny looks after the grandmother during the day, (e) as the grandmother is sometimes lonely and likes to talk a lot, (f) giving Jenny a good opportunity to practice her Spanish.  Here, there is a certain parallel structure existing between the two “halves” of this sentence. 
 
     As a balanced pair (contrast).  (a) Robert goes off to school early every morning, (b) with his homework neatly completed, (c) and the day’s questions for the teacher carefully arranged in his mind; (d) John leaves his home ten minutes before class is due to begin, (e) with his homework forgotten or incomplete, (f) and his mind focused on what he will do after class.  This sentence is also balanced, but the ideas are in opposition to each other. 
 
     Notice the following about these three sentences.  There is a parallelism of structure, with each “half” being developed, in a variety of ways (sequential, parallel, or in contrast).  There may be other ways, but these are the main ones for Type Six sentences, here.  Again, with the semi-colon, an idea can be developed in a sequential, or a parallel way. 
 
     Concerning the “logic links”: In a Type Six sentence, (a) and (b) and (c) can go together, as can (d) and (e) and (f).  Also, (a) has a relationship with (d), (b) with (e), and (c) with (f).  Think about these relationships as you make sentence plans, for a structurally sound sentence plan will greatly help you to write a good sentence.  Once the structure and the key words have been written down, the Type Six sentence is fairly easy to write, for you are only dealing with six smaller parts (which, when appropriately combined, will give you a good sentence). 
 
     Third.  So, remember, write down key words, or an SVO cluster, for each section.  Pay attention to the unity and the logical connections of the sentence. 
 
     Fourth.  Once you have the basic sentence written down, you move on.  Start the sentence (language) short and very simple, and then expand cautiously (both internally, and in terms of the sentence’s length), just as you did for the other sentence types. 
 
     Concerning the use of subordinate clauses, you have the following choices (and perhaps there are others....): 
       Main, Sub, Sub; Main, Sub, Sub. 
       Main, Sub, Main; Main, Sub, Main. 
       Main, Sub, Sub; Sub, Sub, Main. 
 
     As with the other sentence types, the Type Six sentences can be written down with one line for each part, like six-line poetry.  It is also good to use a blackboard in the classroom.  This makes the expanding and editing process much easier to do, and you can often end up with some very beautiful writing.  You can do the writing of Type Six sentences either by yourself, or with some friends, or with the whole class; you have time and space to compose something interesting by yourself, friends can help each other to make an interesting “shared product”, and the sheer mass of numbers in a classroom can let you build a sentence by consensus or voting.  There is another reason: the Type Six sentences are sometimes very long, and it takes the wide-open spaces of a blackboard to adequately contain them.  Moreover, having these sentences written like poetry greatly helps the development of the sentence’s internal unity, logical connections, balance, consistency, and overall quality. 
 
     Here are some opinions.  Again, it is essential that you go through this whole process–from conception to the final draft–in English!  Also, I feel that the blackboard is the best place to try out these sentences, as you can edit freely, and you will have a panoramic view of everything.  When you are editing the sentence, try to use many different colors of chalk, so the “writing process” is easy to discern and follow.  Remember: “Writing is a process”!  When you are writing on the blackboard, use one part of the blackboard (e.g., the left half) for writing the actual sentence; the other part (e.g., the right half) can be used for experimenting with the structure.   The structure, which you have thought about first (usually), is always nearby to help the creativity to flow out naturally. 
 
     Here are some examples, by stages: 
Example 1–Topic: Cooking. 
(a) Father/cook, (b) interesting, (c) art ; (d) me/scavenge, (e) hurried, (f) write. 
(a) My father cooks a beautiful dinner every day, (b) as he thinks it is an interesting thing to do in the evening, (c) and he likes to create a work of art ; (d) I choose to scavenge scraps and leftovers from the refrigerator, (e) as I am often in a hurry, (f) and I want to use my time to write this “sentence-and-paragraph” book.                                 
Example 2–Topic: Washing dishes. 
(a) Prefer/wash, (b) easy/clean, (c) dislike/unfinished ; (d) if/later, (e) hard/difficult, (f) waste/time. 
(a) I prefer to wash the dishes right after I have finished eating, (b) as most plates are very easy to clean when the gravy and fat is still soft, (c) and because I really dislike leaving dishes unwashed ; (d) if I leave
the washing to a later time, (e) I find the food scraps have become very hard and therefore difficult to clean, (f) which wastes a lot of time. 
 
     Do you understand how to write these sentences?  Here are some exercises for you.  Using the above examples, please make five Type Six sentences.  Remember, making a well-balanced sentence is more important than making a long sentence.