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Here is a veterans-focused set of materials to honor service members on Memorial Day. Special thanks to three of Michigan Law's own service members—Brittany Baker, Jonathan Blaha, and Rashad Abdallah—for helping us put together the selections.

—The Good Sentences Team
1.  Fiction: Redeployment by Phil Klay (2014)

Favorite Sentence: "Looking out, I sort of knew where I was, but I didn't feel home." 

—Picked by Rashad Abdallah, Former Sergeant, Human Intelligence Specialist in the U.S. Army (Class of 2022) 


2. Nonfiction: The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (1962)

Favorite Sentence: "He had pursued clearly seen goals unswervingly; they groped for larger horizons with no clear idea of what they wanted."

—Picked by Jonathan Blaha, Former Captain in the U.S. Army (Class of 2021) 


3. Poetry: At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border by William E. Stafford (1998)

Favorite Line: "hallowed by neglect and an air so tame"

—Picked by Brittany Baker, Former Senior Airman, Security Forces Specialist in the Air National Guard (Class of 2022)

 
Michigan Sentences: Here is a write-up of the work the Veterans Legal Clinic, led by Professor Matt Andres, does here at Michigan.  Syllabus Sentences: Here is a short chapter I give students to help them see how their writing might benefit from a feature in Google Maps.
Book Recommendations
Nuance: "Omit"

Note how you can drop a verb when completing the second part of a bit of parallel structure. 
 

"But the Army has yet to figure out which of its hundreds of programs across the country are most effective. Some are part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Others, like Haven Behavioral, are private and for-profit. Some last seven weeks; others four weeks. Some mix soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan with Vietnam veterans; others are made up entirely of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

—David Finkel, “The Return: The Traumatized Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan” (2013)


*The technical term for this move is "ellipses." For more examples, see Practice Section #2 in Chapter 7 ("Corresponding Ideas in Corresponding Forms") of Good with Words: Writing and Editing.
 
Additional Resources
                                                                       
Online Course

Good with Words: Writing and Editing
Books     

Good with Words: Writing and Editing  
Notes on Nuance                                                    
The Syntax of Sports: Class 1 
The Syntax of Sports: Class 2
Letters from the First World War
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Copyright © Patrick Barry, All rights reserved.


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