Sentence

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page number)

Sentence Purpose, Length,

Order, and Structure

Special Features and Verbs

How was it
possible that such
effort, such plain
virtue, could
overnight be
reduced to thissmoke, thinning as it
rose and was
received by the big,
annihilating sky
(Paragraph 3, 79)?

This sentence type is

interrogative albeit it's more
retrospective than directed
towards a certain person. In
essence, Erhart is clearly
wondering how such effort
could be diminished overnight
without even the slightest hint
of a legacy. It's a long length
sentence as it contains nearly
thirty words; it possesses an
inverted order as the passive
tense is present and the
sentence itself is an inquiry;
furthermore the sentence is a
complex sentence as it contains
a subordinate clause (that
describes the destruction of this
hard work and virtue) and an
independent clause (that
presents the prospect of plain
virtue being reduced to nearly
nothing in the first place).

Special Features:
Analogy that compares the
effects of death to the
burning of the Clutters
possessions. Diction in the
form of annihilating
implies that even the small
remnants of the Clutters
will consumed in the vast
arena that is the sky.

Last spring, when

they had stayed at a
cell together at

This sentence type is

declarative as Dick is
proclaiming his knowledge of

Special Features: The

anecdotal information
exemplifies the potential

Overall Effect on the Reader

Within the sentence, a perspective on the

human attitude towards death is
exemplified. Herb Clutter is mentioned to
be a philanthropic, tenacious man who
made his own success while his beautiful
daughter Nancy is revered across the
town. As such, Erhart is clearly attempting
to convey his disbelief that a family as
prominent and respected as the Clutters
could be taken apart over the course of a
Verbs: Active and
night by something as mundane as death.
passive voice is present in
The fact that their legacy has been
this sentence, albeit the
effects of passive voice are diminished to merely smoke conveys the
more pronounced as they
drastic contrast in importance and
convey the utter dismay of substance that follows death. By
Erhart and more so his
employing the word, annihilating,
questioning and
Erhart implies that their legacy will be
incredulity at the Clutters
consumed by the sky to the point where
death.
even mere remnants of their presence will
cease to exist.
A principle special feature present within
the sentence is the anecdote recalled by
Dick that gives the audience additional

Kansas State
Penitentiary, hed
learned most of
Perrys lesser
peculiarities: Perry
could be such a
kid, always wetting
his bed and crying
in his sleep (Dad, I
have been looking
everywhere for you,
where you been
Dad), and often
Dick had seen him
sit for hours just
sucking his thumb
and poring over
these phony damn
treasury guides
(Paragraph 5, 108).

Perrys (his partner in crime)

idiosyncrasies; it's a long length
as the sentence contains more
than thirty words; it possesses a
natural order since the subject
(Dick or Perry) always
preceded its corresponding
verb; and the sentence is a
compound-complex sentence
since it contains one dependent
clause and two independent
clauses (detailing Perrys
eccentricities).

motive that is inherently

crucial to inserting some
motive into the confusing
field by alluding to the
whims of Perry. Above all,
Dick sheds more light into
the doings of their
relationships and hints that
it may unravel in the
future.

insight into the kind of man that Perry

really is. Up until this point, Perry
continuously acts like the more keen,
insightful, and above all normal partner
in crime in contrast to Dicks more
ruffian, crude, and savage persona. This
begins to hint that the seemingly low-key
Perry is the more irrational of the two.
Such a revelation might even lead the
audience to question if it was Perry who
Verbs: Active, the
played a bigger role in the crime that
employment of the verbs
in active showcases Dicks occurred earlier in the story than had been
clear assertion that Perry is previously thought. The allusions to his
quite weird, and it in turn
[Perrys] dad indicate that Perry has had
implies that both dont like familial issues in the past. Moreover, the
one another at times.
employment of the active voice asserts the
sureness with which Dick recalls these
acts and even accentuates a feeling of
slight irritation that Dick possesses with
regard to Perry. This in turn, sheds some
more light on their current group dynamic
implying that the soreness that Perry
sometimes regards Dick with is clearly
reciprocated.

He and Dick were

running a race
without a finish
line-that was how it

This sentence type is

declarative as Perry is clearly
stating his exasperation with
the continuous running away

Special Features: The

diction employed here
clearly conveys that Dick
and Perry are both

Within the confines of the sentence, we

can see that the effects of the Clutter
family murder are clearly beginning to
impose their efforts on a weary Perry and

struck him
(Paragraph 3, 202).

from the law; the sentence

length is medium as it contains
17 words; it possesses a natural
order as the subject precedes
the verb in the clauses; and the
sentence is a complex sentence
as it contains an independent
clause (Perrys view on their
lives) and a subordinate clause
(how it appears to him).

fugitives and it accentuates Dick. Their initial positive, optimistic

their mental and physical
hopes have been painstakingly been
stress theyve experienced. replaced due to the sheer mental and
physical extenuation that comes with
Verbs: The verbs are in
evading the law. The analogy to running
active voice because they
a race without a finish line serves to
serve as an exemplar for
exemplify the weary mindset of Perry and
the clear cut frustration
stemming from being on
the innervation that has resulted from
the run for so long due to
treading a path with seemingly no end.
an act committed in cold
The formulation of such a mindset is
blood.
relevant because it presents a shift in the
antagonist's point of view that will be
further stretched as the story goes on.