To recap from last month’s Tip, a destination extends the ending of an event in a sentence further into a phrase, clause, or sentence.
Added to last month’s who, whom, what, when, where, why, and that, plus infinitives, are prepositional phrases, descriptive phrases, and the combination of as (modifier) as.
First let’s look at prepositional phrases. They further a destination by extended description. The underlines indicate emphasis.
Here’s an example without the prepositional phrase:
“There are several exceptions to the rules.”
With the prepositional phrase:
“There are several exceptions to the rules about acceptable behavior.”
Extended even further with another prepositional phrase:
“There are several exceptions to the rules about acceptable behavior in the classroom.”
Now let’s look at descriptive phrases, and how they can add destination after destination. Underlines indicate emphasis.
Here’s the basic sentence before adding one to several destinations:
“Apart from the pyramids, it was the largest, costliest single project ever.
Now we add the destinations:
“Apart from building the pyramids, it was the largest, costliest single project ever conceived.”
“Apart from building the pyramids, it was the largest, costliest single project ever conceived by civilized man.”
“Apart from building the pyramids, it was the largest, costliest single project ever conceived by civilized man in 2000 years of history.”
Finally, the combination of as (modifier) as extends the destination.
Two examples, before adding the combinations:
“The doctor will see you.”
“Do you love me?”
With the combinations added:
“The doctor will see you as soon as he is available.”
“Do you love me as much as I love you?”
These are basic examples to help you understand the concept of destinations.
As you read through scripts and other materials, you will discover that destinations appear in almost every other sentence you read. Watch for them and look for where they end.
