AP® English Language and Composition · Big Idea 4 Style: Syntax and Sentence Structure (Skills 7.B, 8.B)
7.B The Loose and Cumulative Sentence
Watch it explained
- How it worksHow does a cumulative sentence deliver its claim first and then keep accreting detail behind it?
- Worked exampleWalk me through where He ran, breathing hard, arms loose, eyes on the gate could legally end.
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't a cumulative sentence read as a run-on even though it keeps going and going?
- Ties togetherHow do periodic and cumulative shapes build opposite kinds of suspense inside one paragraph?
Check yourself
Your turnmedium1 of 3
'He ran the 9 blocks, breathing hard, arms loose, eyes on the gate.' At how many points could this sentence legally have ended, and why?End of topic.