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Based on the bestselling series from The Great Courses, Building Great Sentences celebrates the sheer joy of language—and will forever change the way you read and write.

Great writing begins with the sentence. Whether it’s two words (“Jesus wept.”) or William Faulkner’s 1,287-word sentence in Absalom! Absalom!, sentences have the power to captivate, entertain, motivate, educate, and, most importantly, delight. Yet, the sentence-oriented approach to writing is too often overlooked in favor of bland economy. Building Great Sentences teaches you to write better sentences by luxuriating in the pleasures of language.

Award-winning Professor Brooks Landon draws on examples from masters of long, elegant sentences—including Don DeLillo, Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, and Samuel Johnson—to reveal the mechanics of how language works on thoughts and emotions, providing the tools to write powerful, more effective sentences.

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This book contains opening lines to stories my readers wish I'd write.

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She walked in with the confidence of a starving stray puppy accustomed to being pummeled by rocks everywhere it went.

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When it was time to leave the restaurant, he appeared to be stalling, mumbling about work and the need to check his phone. His eyes darted from his phone to her face as if checking to see if she believed him.

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It wasn't just a rough patch. He was no longer hopeful. Lying naked on a frozen lake in the middle of the night in the dead of winter could bring more warmth and comfort compared to what he had with her.