>
Carol,
   I read the article in part because the inbox announced that Martha
Kolln had been consulted. Martha's comments are about the only
thoughtful part of it. It left me thinking that it's not the death of
the sentence that's a problem, but the general shallowness of
conversation about it, including those (Martha the main exception) in
our "discipline" of English who weighed in. I suspect they thought any
working journalist could handle the topic, but the results in this case
are comic.
   The idea that the sentence was "invented several centuries" ago and
"brought order to chaos" is the sort of silliness that fills the bulk
of the article.
   It's high tine for NCTE to begin advocating at least some direct
teaching about language.

Craig >

Hi everyone. This was in my NCTE inbox this morning, so some of you may
> have read it. (This is only part of the article). I bolded the second to
> last line because it interests me: Does anyone know who "invented" the
> sentence?
>  
> The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall?
> By Linton Weeks
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Sunday, June 15, 2008; Page M01
>  
> The demise of orderly writing: signs everywhere.
> One recent report, young Americans don't write well.
> In a survey, Internet language -- abbreviated wds, :) and txt msging --
> seeping into academic writing.
> But above all, what really scares a lot of scholars: the impending death
> of the English sentence.
> Librarian of Congress James Billington, for one. "I see creeping
> inarticulateness," he says, and the demise of the basic component of human
> communication: the sentence.
> This assault on the lowly -- and mighty -- sentence, he says, is
> symptomatic of a disease potentially fatal to civilization. If the
> sentence croaks, so will critical thought. The chronicling of history.
> Storytelling itself.
> He has a point. The sentence itself is a story, with a beginning, a middle
> and an end. Something happens in a sentence. Without subjects, there are
> no heroes or villains. Without verbs, there is no action. Without objects,
> nothing is moved, changed, destroyed or created.
> Plus, simple sentences clarify complex situations. ("Jesus wept.")
> Since its invention centuries ago, the sentence has brought order to
> chaos. It's the handle on the pitcher, a tonic chord in music, a stair
> step chiseled in a mountainside.
>  
>
>
>
>
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