Cumulative, Periodic, and
Inverted Sentences
By: Suraj Verma and Devin
Moran
What is a Cumulative Sentence?
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A cumulative sentence, also known as a loose sentence, begins with a
standard sentence pattern(main clause) and adds multiple details after it.
It is used to make a better image for the reader.
Ex: The women moved through the streets as winged messengers,
twirling around each other in slow motion, peeking inside homes and
watching the easy sleep of men and women. ~Terry Tempest Williams
In this example the main clause is “The women moved through the streets as
winged messengers” and the rest of the sentence is simply just supporting
details.
What is a Periodic Sentence?
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A periodic sentence is a sentence that begins with multiple details and
holds off a standard pattern sentence.
It is used for emphasis and can be persuasive by putting reasons for
something at the beginning before the final point is made.
It is simply the opposite of a cumulative sentence.
Ex: Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a
clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special
good fortune, I have enjoyed perfect exhilaration. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
In this example the supporting detail is placed before the main clause.
Cumulative and Periodic Sentence Vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McQ1UovI70s
Cumulative and Periodic Examples
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It is a wilderness that is beautiful, dangerous, abundant, oblivious of us,
mysterious, never to be conquered or controlled or second-guessed, or
known more than a little.
~Wendell Berry
Cumulative Sentence
Often, after filling several notebooks with dozens of interviews, reading
several books, dividing into all manner of research materials, and making
research trips, when I sit down to write, I do so without looking at my
notes at all.
~Daniel Glick
Periodic Sentence
Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the
yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of
exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.
~Truman Capote
Periodic Sentence
What is an Inverted Sentence?
Inverted sentences are sentences in which the verb comes before the subject
this makes them “inverted”. This is done to put more emphasis on the verb.
Remember : An inverted sentence often switches the placement of the verb
before the subject of a sentence as if in a question.
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Placing an adjective after the noun it qualifies e.x. the soldier strong
Placing a verb before its subject e.x. shouts the policeman
Placing a noun before its preposition e.x. worlds between
What is an Inverted Sentence?
Sentences that begin with here or there are also inverted. To conjugate the
verb correctly in these sentences, you must correctly identify the true subject.
Ex: Here is the book you wanted.
Ex: There was a big fight yesterday.
Ex: There stands the king's statue.
Identify each of the following as periodic,
cumulative, or inverted sentences.
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2.
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4.
Now when I had mastered the language of this water, and had come to
know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I
knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition.
In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.
Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and
inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own
psyche.
Nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain
and valley, each in its place to hush the angry winds and waves, balance
the extremes of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony,
and beauty may reign supreme.
Answers
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2.
3.
4.
Now when I had mastered the language of this water, and had come to know every
trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the
alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition.
Periodic Sentence
In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.
Inverted Sentence
Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and
inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche.
Periodic Sentence
Nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain and
valley, each in its place to hush the angry winds and waves, balance the extremes
of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony, and beauty may reign
supreme.
Cumulative Sentence
Work Cited
Works Cited
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. Rearsby, Leicester: W.F. Howes, 2007. Print.
"Cumulative Sentence - Examples and Definition." Literary Devices. N.p., 11 Apr. 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
"Rarely Have I Understood You - Inverted Sentences in English." About.com Education. N.p., 08 Apr. 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
Shea, Renée Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric.
Boston, MA: Bedford / St. Martins, 2008. Print.