Sentence arrangement

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Depending on the arrangement of the words within a sentence and the placement of emphasis, a sentence may be classified as loose, balanced, periodic, or cumulative.

A loose sentence expresses the main thought near the beginning and adds explanatory material as needed.

We bashed the piñata for 15 minutes without denting it, although we at least avoided denting one another's craniums and, with masks raised, finally pried the candy out with a screwdriver.

A balanced sentence is constructed so that it emphasizes a similarity or contrast between two or more of its parts (words, phrases, or clauses).

Joe's unusual security system invited burglars and scared off friends.

(Invited contrasts with scared off and burglars contrasts with friends.)

A periodic sentence is one that postpones the crucial or most surprising idea until the end.

Following my mother's repeated threats of being grounded for life, I decided it was time to propose a compromise.

A cumulative sentence places the general idea in the main clause and gives it greater precision with modifying words, phrases, or clauses placed before it, after it, or in the middle of it.

Eyes squinting, puffy, always on alert, he showed the effects of a week in the forest, a brutal week, a week of staggering in circles driven by the baying of wolves.

(The phrases eyes squinting, puffy, and always on alert look forward to the pronoun he in the main clause; the phrases after the word forest look back to the word week in the main clause.)