Reading Long Sentences Clause by Clause

Use the grammar of a long sentence to decide where your voice rises, pauses, and lands.

Fluent readers of complex prose do not read word by word; they read in grammatical units. A clause is a group of words with its own subject and verb, and each clause is a natural breath group. Before reading a long sentence aloud, find the main clause, the one that could stand alone, and mark the subordinate clauses that lean on it. Consider: 'Although the committee had debated for hours, and although several members were exhausted, the vote, when it finally came, was unanimous. ' The main clause is 'the vote was unanimous. ' Everything else is set-up or interruption.

So you read the two 'although' clauses with a slightly suspended pitch, drop your voice for the interruption 'when it finally came', and then land firmly on 'was unanimous. ' The listener hears the structure because your voice has drawn it. If you instead pause at random or only at the end, the meaning blurs into a list of words.

• 1A clause is a natural breath group.
• 2Find the main clause first; it carries the landing.
• 3Suspend your pitch through set-up clauses.
• 4Your voice should make the grammar audible.