Below we repeat the table of sentence-length averages from Task B - Comparing
Sentence lengths that we constructed in the 'Authorial and text style'
page of Topic 6. We have also included another column for Jane Gardam's
Bilgewater passage, for you to fill in.
We would like you:
(i) to work out the equivalent figures for the Gardam
passage and put them in the table
(ii) note what the sentence-length spread is (what
is the longest and what is the shortest sentence) and
(iii) draw any provisional conclusions from this
data that you think are reasonable. You can then compare your findings
with ours.
The sentence-length spread is from 1 word (sentence 59) to 23 words (sentence
14).
In terms of sentence length this passage is simpler than any of the passages
we looked at when comparing the styles of the Austen, Steinbeck and Lawrence.
Even the longest sentence is not much above the Ellegård norm for
modern English writing. Not surprisingly, with sentence-lengths as short
as this, there is little grammatical complexity either (and so we won't
consider it formally on this page). Note that the relative simplicity
in sentential terms helps us to cope with the discoursal complexities
we have noted in previous pages - for example the 'disorderly' order in
which the interviews are presented and the various speech and thought
presentation changes we noted on the previous page.
