loose sentence
- noun
- /luːs ˈsɛntəns/
- Specialized
:
oración suelta
- An occasional loose sentence prevents the style from becoming too formal and gives the reader a certain relief.
Examples
-
Consequently, loose sentences are common in easy, unstudied writing.
Academic text (2005) -
This rule refers especially to loose sentences of a particular type: those consisting of two clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction or relative.
Academic text (2005) -
A loose sentence can create a more conversational tone and enhance the flow of ideas.
-
Writers often use a loose sentence to convey their thoughts more naturally and clearly.
-
In her essay, she included a loose sentence that effectively combined multiple concepts in a single thought.
Antonyms
How Grammatical
499
1.0
- Specialized
15
7.6
- Specialized
3
9.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
Combining 'loose' (not tightly constructed) with 'sentence' gives a general sense of a sentence that is not tightly structured, so a B1 learner could guess something like a sentence with a relaxed or extended structure. However, the precise rhetorical/syntactic meaning — that the main clause comes first followed by subordinate material — is a technical description not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The term loose sentence comes from the image of something loose that lets parts hang on after it. In a loose sentence, the 'main idea' comes first and then extra parts follow, so the sentence keeps going and 'adds more detail'.