Comments on: Paragraph Technique: The Two-Line Reverse http://denniscass.com/2010/01/19/paragraph-technique-the-two-line-reverse/ Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:07:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: denniscass http://denniscass.com/2010/01/19/paragraph-technique-the-two-line-reverse/#comment-1483 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:32:07 +0000 http://denniscass.com/?p=1721#comment-1483 Cat, you’re right that the Surowiecki two-liner works especially well because of sentence structure and word choice.

But he would have achieved the same basic aim with sloppier construction:

Debt didn’t get dangerously out of scale because of some flaw in the system. It got out of scale, in part, because the system was functioning for the most part as it was designed.

The expectations busting is still there even if it doesn’t crackle like the original.

This is why I argue that paragraphs are more important than sentences and words. A piece can survive half-assed writing if the paragraphs are strong.

]]> By: Cat Moleski http://denniscass.com/2010/01/19/paragraph-technique-the-two-line-reverse/#comment-1482 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:08:23 +0000 http://denniscass.com/?p=1721#comment-1482 To take it one little step further, I think that these pairs of sentences also work because of the specific word pairs chosen: broken/worked visually relate to each other; alive/die relate both visually and auditorially; hundred/one relate through association – one hundred.

Does that sound crazy?

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