Sentence-level Imitation: The Rules
1. Pick a passage that is approximately half a page long.
2. Type the original passage as it appears in the original text. Give credit to the author.
3. Rewrite the paragraph to be about your social change topic.
4. You may decide the purpose of your paragraph--to inform, convince, explore, persuade, etc.
5. Imitate punctuation exactly.
6. Imitate clause length approximately. You may have a few more or less words than the original, but try to keep it close.
7. Your tone does not need to match the original.
8. Your paragraph should make sense. It should not be rambling or full of non-sequiturs.
from Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist
“Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America.”
Ms. Parham’s thoughts on funding big agriculture:
Is it fair, Mr. President, to pay $8.99 for a pound of strawberries? True, they are superb. Trust that I recognize their value: fresh strawberries are akin to heaven.
