Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Writing

(32,723 posts)

9. One thing I've seen repeated often is, "The shortest sentence in the English Language is: "I am."

Sat Sep 5, 2015, 12:32 PM

Sep 2015

To which I reply, "So?"

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

32 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

This sentence has five words. [View all] rug Sep 2015 OP

It's the Hemingway effect. rug Sep 2015 #3

Well, there is the other extreme, for sure! hlthe2b Sep 2015 #4

I was about to mention Hemingway packman Sep 2015 #6

This is great. Thank you. I shared it with a writer friend. lamp_shade Sep 2015 #2

Thank you for this post. classof56 Sep 2015 #5

Have you ever read the essay "Notes on Punctuation" by Lewis Thomas? arcane1 Sep 2015 #27

Thanks for the ref! classof56 Sep 2015 #30

Semicolons; lol Brainstormy Sep 2015 #29

Five are often too many. DirkGently Sep 2015 #7

Is that last bit passiveporcupine Sep 2015 #18

Beautiful. The English language is beautiful. PatrickforO Sep 2015 #8

Reminds me of a joke about double negatives RufusTFirefly Sep 2015 #11

Perfect shadowmayor Sep 2015 #17

Last time I heard that one was in the 80s. Spitfire of ATJ Sep 2015 #21

Haha. Yeah, it's, like, totally out of date now. RufusTFirefly Sep 2015 #23

Some things are timeless. Spitfire of ATJ Sep 2015 #24

And the longest sentence in the English language is: "I do." 1monster Sep 2015 #14

.....heh....... Spitfire of ATJ Sep 2015 #22

An entire thought of anything can be expressed in one sentence lunatica Sep 2015 #10

I agree. I think of music when I write too. nolabear Sep 2015 #12

What a terrific teaching graphic! 1monster Sep 2015 #13

Except, Then, You Have a One Sentence Paragraph mckara Sep 2015 #15

copying and emailing to my old English (2) teacher w0nderer Sep 2015 #16

Yes! frogmarch Sep 2015 #19

Premature punctuation is very unsatisfying. rug Sep 2015 #20

And speaking of punctuation RufusTFirefly Sep 2015 #25

Hmmm, it looks okay to me. Is it the dash? rug Sep 2015 #26

I can live with em dashes. Sometimes I really like them. RufusTFirefly Sep 2015 #28

THIS sentence is a Lie Americananuck Feb 2016 #31

Yes! aswanson Feb 2016 #32