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Worst Sentence in the Series?


John Suburbs

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Oh Bantam Books editorial staff, how could you let this one get by?:

aFfC, Cersei X, right after Pycelle announces in court that he has been making moon tea for Margaery:

The uproar that followed that was all that Cersei Lannister could ever have hoped for.

First of all, it has three "that"s, only two of which are necessary. Secondly, hyperbole is the enemy of good writing and the use of the word "ever" in this instance is pure hyperbole. And thirdly, it ends in a preposition, which is not against the rules anymore, but it's still a red flag that the sentence should be recast.

It literally drops like a huge steaming turd on the page.

Much better: "The uproar that followed was more than Cersei Lannister could have hoped."

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12 minutes ago, Lord Ravenstark said:

 

I always thought it was how the characters thought, and as such, these are the peculiarities of Common Tongue, like mimicking it.

In some ways, it is extremely similar on how some learners of English speak or write during the process of language absorption.

The problem with that is it would be like this all throughout the book. But by and large the prose is pretty clean, and even some highly critical moments are just stated matter-of-factly. On the first and second reads, I stopped a few times and thought, "wait, what just happened?"

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4 minutes ago, HairGrowsBack said:

Well, it's ridiculously redundant, even if you get past the less than tasteful meaning.

Less than tasteful is granted, but the word choice is redundant, not the meaning of the sentence. "The sight of their sexual excitement was arousing" doesn't exactly flow off the tongue either though.

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Just now, Ser Hyle said:

Less than tasteful is granted, but the word choice is redundant, not the meaning of the sentence. "The sight of their sexual excitement was arousing" doesn't exactly flow off the tongue either though.

Oh I agree. I get what he was going for, but he should have replaced one of those arousals with something else.;)  I mean, he's writer, there are many ways in which you can convey the same meaning.

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The Cersei one is probably intentional.  You're supposed to feel a disconnect.  The questionable grammar is a reflection of the questionable thought process.  

For me, "fat pink mast" is always going to win it.  

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20 minutes ago, FuzzyJAM said:

The Cersei one is probably intentional.  You're supposed to feel a disconnect.  The questionable grammar is a reflection of the questionable thought process.  

For me, "fat pink mast" is always going to win it.  

I came here to post the same. Horrible metaphor.

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19 minutes ago, Tonberry said:

I came here to post the same. Horrible metaphor.

I liked it…they're on a ship, so the nautical reference is apropos.  It lets you know that Sam isn't a little guy down there without going into detail, and it's (deliberately, I believe) funny, which is really the only way to write a guy like Sam losing his virginity.

The one in the OP is pretty terrible…I can't think of any worse off the top of my head, though…oh yeah, that one which described the dire wolf sensing it's siblings that is phrased in a way that makes it unclear how many are left, which has led to theories that Grey Wind is alive.  It wasn't very well written, but maybe the ambiguity was deliberate.

 

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12 minutes ago, A Song of Ass and Fire said:

I liked it…they're on a ship, so the nautical reference is apropos.  It lets you know that Sam isn't a little guy down there without going into detail, and it's (deliberately, I believe) funny, which is really the only way to write a guy like Sam losing his virginity.

I refuse to believe anyone in the history of ever has thought of their dick as a fat pink mast.  

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