Remaining in the deep pockets of the short-sentence lobby for years was enough incentive to prevent Roy Peter Clark from writing this piece in favor of the long-sentence opposition party.

“When I fight this anxiety,” he writes, “when I advise writers to ‘Fear not the long sentence,’ my encouragement inspires looks of alarm from teachers as if I were advocating taking all the garter snakes out of high school terrariums and replacing them with anacondas.”

Or a natural fear of powerful, short-sentence lobbyists, who might leave conveniently unedited documents on reporters’ desks which could embarrass their former supporters. Clark appears to have no fear, however, spilling the beans with items like this:

By my count, there are three main reasons to cast a long sentence:

• To take a journey through a physical or emotional landscape.
• To create a catalogue or inventory.
• To build a mosaic of logic or evidence.