# this is a really long sentence: **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148 "2012-03-18T18:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/1 "2012-03-18T18:25:40Z")
Early on, Kant’s notion associated critique with the disestablishment of false, unprovable, or dogmatic philosophical, social, and political beliefs, because Kant’s critique of reason involved the critique of dogmatic theological and metaphysical ideas and was intertwined with the enhancement of ethical autonomy and the Enlightenment critique of superstition and irrational authority, or, at least, this has been the ahistorical interpretation of his intentions commonly embraced in contemporary ‘critical theory’ circles. > **[Critical theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory)** > > South Asia > Middle East > Europe ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/2 "2012-03-18T18:53:36Z")
This is a sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/3 "2012-03-18T19:09:47Z")
Not this. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/4 "2012-03-18T22:29:59Z")
Really! ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/5 "2012-03-18T22:38:27Z")
“Early on, Kant’s notion associated critique with the disestablishment of false, unprovable, or dogmatic philosophical, social, and political beliefs, because Kant’s critique of reason involved the critique of dogmatic theological and metaphysical ideas and was intertwined with the enhancement of ethical autonomy and the Enlightenment critique of superstition and irrational authority, or, at least, this has been the ahistorical interpretation of his intentions commonly embraced in contemporary ‘critical theory’ circles,” someone claimed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/6 "2012-03-18T23:40:22Z")
[This is a _very_ long sentence.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-washington-murders-in-3-state-killing-spree/2012/03/16/gIQARsfiHS_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/7 "2012-03-18T23:43:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [This is a _very_ long sentence.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-washington-murders-in-3-state-killing-spree/2012/03/16/gIQARsfiHS_story.html) That’s nothing. [This is an even longer very long sentence](http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/hampton-murderer-sentenced-two-life-sentences). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/8 "2012-03-19T02:39:05Z")
Short story “The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Three pages long, and it’s all ONE sentence! [PDF](http://www.google.com/url?q=http://jessbarga.escuelacampoalegre.wikispaces.net/file/view/GGM,%2BThe%2BLast%2BVoyage%2Bof%2Bthe%2BGhost%2BShip.pdf&sa=U&ei=U5tmT6CSN6WziQKfgI2iDw&ved=0CBAQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEZyq_mNEjxBMbQP39nTgkCqw0_QQ) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/9 "2012-03-19T03:42:12Z")
25 to life is a really long sentence. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/10 "2012-03-19T09:09:53Z")
It’s also pretty bad writing. Only after reading the rest of the paragraph did I figure out what they were trying to say. The last clause is supposed to apply to the entire sentence, completely categorizing everything before it as false, which is not something I would expect. It also appears that the first part was written first, and someone who disagreed came along, but only added to it rather than rewriting it. Without any sources, I’m not sure which POV to believe. so I’m not sure how to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/11 "2012-03-19T10:42:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s also pretty bad writing. Only after reading the rest of the paragraph did I figure out what they were trying to say. The last clause is supposed to apply to the entire sentence, completely categorizing everything before it as false, which is not something I would expect. Maybe it was written by M Night Shaylaman. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/12 "2012-03-19T17:03:39Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s also pretty bad writing. Only after reading the rest of the paragraph did I figure out what they were trying to say. The last clause is supposed to apply to the entire sentence, completely categorizing everything before it as false, which is not something I would expect. > > It also appears that the first part was written first, and someone who disagreed came along, but only added to it rather than rewriting it. Without any sources, I’m not sure which POV to believe. so I’m not sure how to fix it. It’s from wikipedia, so pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/13 "2012-03-19T20:25:36Z")
A bit dry for Bulwer-Lytton, but I’ve seen worse. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/14 "2012-03-19T21:03:52Z")
This is not a pipe. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/15 "2012-03-19T21:07:28Z")
This sentence no verb. Remember, don’t use no double negatives and avoid cliches like the plague! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/16 "2012-03-19T21:09:09Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > “Early on, Kant’s notion associated critique with the disestablishment of false, unprovable, or dogmatic philosophical, social, and political beliefs, because Kant’s critique of reason involved the critique of dogmatic theological and metaphysical ideas and was intertwined with the enhancement of ethical autonomy and the Enlightenment critique of superstition and irrational authority, or, at least, this has been the ahistorical interpretation of his intentions commonly embraced in contemporary ‘critical theory’ circles,” someone claimed. When Guizot made his famous statement observing that, ’ “Early on, Kant’s notion associated critique with the disestablishment of false, unprovable, or dogmatic philosophical, social, and political beliefs, because Kant’s critique of reason involved the critique of dogmatic theological and metaphysical ideas and was intertwined with the enhancement of ethical autonomy and the Enlightenment critique of superstition and irrational authority, or, at least, this has been the ahistorical interpretation of his intentions commonly embraced in contemporary ‘critical theory’ circles,” someone claimed.', he ushered in a new age of philosophical criticism. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/17 "2012-03-19T22:11:31Z")
This is a long sentence: Smiles! There’s a mile between the S’s. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/18 "2012-03-23T14:51:25Z")
In case anyone suspected that long sentence composition was a dying art, having faded since its heyday in previous centuries, here’s a modern example by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein from her 2010 novel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: > [@](#): > > When Lucinda Mandelbaum entered the crowded auditorium of the Katzenbaum Brain and Cognitive Sciences Center at Frankfurter University for the inaugural Friday-afternoon Psychology Outside Speaker lecture of the new semester and rejected an aisle seat, instead clambering lithely over the legs, laps, and laptops of the assorted faculty members and graduate students, all of whom had been impatiently awaiting her maiden entrance, even though it was not she but, rather, Harold Lipkin of Rutgers University who was the invited speaker; and when she then slipped into the empty seat next to Cass Seltzer, bestowing on him a sweet little shrug of coy chagrin at coming in late and making a bit of a commotion in getting to him; and when she then proceeded, all through Lipkin’s lecture, entitled “The Myth of Moral Reason,” to address her running commentary on Lipkin’s efforts exclusively to Cass, so that Cass, who had in fact been looking forward to Lipkin’s lecture, seeing how the psychology of morality dovetailed with his own research on the psychology of religion, ended up missing a good part of it, instead chuckling appreciatively at Lucinda’s zingers and even managing to launch one himself that made Lucinda snigger so enthusiastically that his good friend and colleague Mona Ganz, sitting several rows in front of them, her well-groomed girth just able to settle itself into the seat she always claimed for herself, front and center, swiveled her head around and then, determining the identity of the sniggerer, reversed the motion just as sharply—“like that kid in The Exorcist”, Lucinda observed, making Cass give vent to a chortle so disloyal that it certainly ought to have been swiftly followed by a stab of guilt, considering Mona’s devoted mindfulness toward him, especially during the ravaged weeks and months that had followed the post-aphasic Pascale’s first words to him from her hospital bed, which, in their percussive rhythm and impeccable precision, “I must of necessity break your heart,” were as reflective of the poet that Pascale was (_La Sauvagerie et la certitude_, Prix Femina, 1987) as they were effective in dampening the desire of her husband to live out any and all possible forms of his future—it had been entirely by mistake. That’s the wife of Steven Pinker for you, in case anyone needed more proof that the English language permits an arbitrary degree of recursion in expressing a complex thought. Any typos in the transcription are my own fault; I’m posting from a public library with a keyboard layout that doesn’t feel natural. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/19 "2012-03-23T15:49:28Z")
The shortest sentence in English: “I am.” The longest: “I do”. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-really-long-sentence/616148/20 "2012-03-23T15:54:16Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Maybe it was written by M Night Shaylaman. “Shyamalan”. So close.