Dear Geist,

When will you admit that Monty Rose and Wannabe writer are right when it comes to long-winded sentences? Those endless clause-stoked caravans are fine for scholarly and other high-toned lit, but everywhere else they're dinosaurs. If a writer wants more than their mom and their loyal friends to read their work, they'd better dish it out in manageable bits.

—Bob G., Cyberspace

Dear Bob,

We disagree. The long sentence is like any other element of writing style: when well crafted,well placed among other well-written passages, and appropriate for its medium and intended audience, it is absorbed smoothly and seamlessly by readers.

Here is a typical passage from the diary of Samuel Pepys, who lived in London in the seventeenth century and wrote his journal almost every day: “I can gather nothing from him about my Lord Sandwich about the business of the prizes, he being close, but he shewed me a bill which hath been read in the House making all breaking of bulke for the time to come felony, but it is a foolish Act, and will do no great matter, only is calculated to my Lord Sandwich’s case.” Whew. Count your blessings, Bob!

—The Editors