Reading time: Just over 1 minute
A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Hendrik Hertzberg
I read the New Yorker enthusiastically but unreliably. So, to keep the magazines from developing into a tower that might tumble and demolish our bedroom, I’ve developed the habit of passing them along to a friend. I dispatch them at the rate of one per week (my friend and I meet for coffee every Monday) as soon as the magazine is five or six months old.
This is why you’ll sometimes catch me madly flipping through an April issue at some point in October, trying to ensure I’ve read everything I’ve wanted to. This week I let go of the April 22/13 issue — but not before I scribbled down a memorable sentence by columnist Hendrik Hertzberg. Writing about Margaret Thatcher, he said:
Her rise was as improbable as it was inexorable.
What a stellar nine-word sentence! Notice how seven of the words are single syllable ones — throwing into sharp relief two longer words — four and five syllables each, respectively. I also love the way he has those two longer words rhyme with each other. And, interestingly, both begin with the letter i. (Imagine how much weaker the sentence would have been if he’d used the word unlikely instead of improbable.)
It may be only nine words long, but it’s my sentence of the week. If you’re interested, you can read the entire article here.
