We've looked at crafty words, high powered sentences, the use of cause and effect, now let's focus on opening lines. Post the opening line to your selection and comment on its success or failure.
Is it weird that I LOVE reading these posts. I hope you are enjoying what you're reading as much as I am enjoying what you write.
Keep up the good work!
15 comments:
"Step into your shower stall fully clothed. Turn on the cold water full blast. Stand there for hours."
This opening sentence does a great job introducing the topic of the article; the Ryder Cup. This line sets the scene and emphasizes how difficult it was to play in the Ryder Cup this past weekend. I feel as if this opening line is a success. I believe this because I can imagine how miserable it would be if I did what he said in the opening line of this article.
The global refrain about genocide is “Never Again,” but we may be watching how that slips into “One More Time.”
This opening line is a really good because it perfectly introduces the topic of the article. He writes about an imminent genocide in Sudan. In my opinion this opening line gets right to the point.
"Last week, in an effort to improve dismal voter turnout, Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar proposed a ballot measure that, if passed, would allow city elections to be conducted almost entirely by mail."
I like that the author gets straight to the point about what the article is going to be about. Even though it is really simple it gets straight to the point and makes life a lot easier for people that can't worry about sending their vote by mail.
"Of course I knew it all along. President Obama is a Kenyan anti-colonialist and that's why he doesn't get us. He's a ticked-off African."
--Kathleen Parker
I really liked this sarcastic opening to Parker's column about a Republican theory about Obama (and the government in general). It doesn't really make sense at first, (just as Parker tries to argue that the theory doesn't make sense either) and its sarcasm captures the reader's attention well. The entire column is rather humorous, and the first line sets the tone for the rest of the article.
"One in five American kids was living in poverty in 2009." - Bob Herbert, "The Campaign Disconnect"
This opening line is short and to the point, and ultimately is successful because it draws the reader in with a punchy statistic. For me, once I read this, I wanted to know more statistics and more of what Herbert had to say because it was such an astonishing stat, and I could relate because I live in America, it is recent, and I am a kid. That last part, being a kid, I think was a big selling point in the success of this opening line, because it is more shocking to see "kid" and "poverty" paired in a sentence.
"ALL it took was some 30,000 Republican primary voters in a tiny state to turn Christine O’Donnell into the brightest all-American media meteor since Balloon Boy." -- Frank Rich, "The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O’Donnell"
This opening sentence, coupled with the provocative title, does a very good job of using sarcasm and humor to hook the reader in while clearly outlining the topic and the stance that the author will take in the following piece. From this opening, the reader instantly gets the idea that this author is going to assertive and lively in this piece. The opening line also does a good job of showing not telling.
"When they wake up this morning, many of them joyously bleary-eyed, the Giants will realize just how many favors they did for themselves Sunday."--Bruce Jenkins, "Home cooking and a few days off beat a long-haul trip to the playoffs"
This opening line really illustrates the significance and magnitude of the Giants winning the NL West Title. I like how the author uses "bleary-eyed", because many Giants fans can relate to this after they had stayed up and been partying the whole night. The opening line also does a good job of setting a joyous tone, and foreshadowing reflective aspects of this article.
"While most of our athletes are getting caught up in doping, high-profile philandering, and dog-fighting, it’s nice, finally, to see a couple of class acts. "
This introduction does a great job because it makes the reader want to find out more about the article and it hooks the reader because what she is saying is slightly controversial. She makes us want to find out more about these "class act" athletes. This introduction sets the tone for the rest of the article because it is controversial and it lets you know her opinion right away. An introduction is meant to be something that is captivating to the reader and I think the author does exactly that.
"When it comes to the hazards of global warming, it may turn out that lizards in burrows are the canaries in the coal mine."
This is David Brown's opening line to an article on how the extinction of a certain type of lizard is connected to global warming. This opening line is very clever in that it uses a metaphor between two different animals to get across a very important message. It is catchy and makes the reader want to continue reading. In fact, if the reader had no idea what the article was about, this would be incentive to keep reading because it is an interesting connection between lizards/global warming and canaries/coal mines. Also, the saying "canary in a coal mine" is incredibly useful to this article because (not only does it use animals) but it represents the kind of warning and urgency of global warming.
"If the summer of 2009 was the season of “death panels,” as the debate over health-care reform exploded, this is the season of “17.5k dead women a year.”
This opening sentence does a good job of pulling the reader in, making them want to know more. Its to the point, not sugar coating anything, but people read on to figure out why it is the season of "17.5k dead women a year."It draws people in because of the casual nonchalant way that the author says that 17.5 people are going to die. The only problem with this sentence is that it does not inform the reader about what the article is going to be about.
"I don't care if it's good for you, because to me kale has always been a four-letter vegetable."
To some people this opening line might seem clever but I think it was pretty bad. For one thing, I don't understand the reference to it being on a "four letter vegetable" and if it's good for you or not. What do the 2 have to do with each other? I think Bob Morris is trying to make a point to how pointless he finds Kale, but even so I think he could have used a better phrase to emphasize his point. I also think this opening line is bad because it really doesn't introduce the topic he is about to discuss. His essay is about the farms he goes to, to pick up his vegetables. He doesn't even mention Kale again until the very last paragraph. It's a bad connection that doesn't help argue his point anymore. However, I think I also don't like this opening line because I just didn't like any of the actual essay in general...
"Is President Obama good for the Jews?"
--Charles M. Blow, "Oy Vey, Obama,"
This opener? Not exactly what I was expecting. The title, upon a second glance, precipitates the topic, but when I first saw it, I simply presumed "oy vey" related a complaint about something Obama was doing. However, instead of doing a simple article about Obama's shortcomings, Blow decides to discuss them in terms of a rather sensitive viewpoint--American religion. More than that, though, he attacks said touchy topic, just goes right at it, instead of segueing into the topic. As someone who's not really religious, Jewish or otherwise, I'd never really thought about Obama in terms of religious demographics, or how he came across to them. This is a great opening line, one which definitely grabbed my attention and made me think--something not every sentence by itself can do.
"I'm not your classic 'early adopter' when it comes to new electronic gizardry (a word I just made up that means a combination of gizmo and wizardry, with a secondary definition of bird digestion)." - Steve Mirsky, from "Scientific American" in his essay "Cache and Carry"
In this essay, Mirsky discusses the advantages and drawbacks of the Amazon Kindle. I think that this line was a great way to start off the essay as it explains how he usually does not buy the newest tech-toys, but allows him to dive into his story about why he is glad that he took a chance with the Kindle. There is another reason why I think that this line is so great, and that is that it sounds like it simply spilled out of his stream of consciousness. The way that he presents his new made up word and explains its multiple meanings is so honest, not to mention very entertaining as well. This was a wonderful opening line, a line that made me smile and laugh a bit, a line that definitely grabbed my attention like an opening line should and made me look forward to reading the rest of the essay.
It didn’t take long, sitting with an enthralled audience and watching the saga of the cloistered jerk who betrayed those around him and ended up unfathomably rich and influential, to understand why it has been hailed as a masterpiece.
Though this is a enticing sentence, I had to read it twice to understand what it meant. In addition, Maureen Dowd did not make clear what she was talking about until later. When it became apparent that she was discussing similarities between Lord of the Rings, the movie "the Social Network" and the opera “Das Rheingold”, her initial sentence began to make more sense. Though her opening sentence sounds really good and embodies what she is going to write about, it also assumes that the reader is familiar with all three things she is discussing, something that will definitely limit the number of readers that can easily comprehend her piece of writing.
"Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person. He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction. So here’s what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April.""
-"There Will be Blood," Paul Krugman
This opening works extremely well because it is provocative and prompts instant interest from the reader. Any writer on politics and economics, considered two of the most boring subjects of all time, must be a master wordsmith to engage regular people. Krugman really shows his strength with this opening in this regard. For instance, one does not expect an essay on economics to be titled "There will be Blood." Nor does one expect to see the words "Very Serious Person" capitalized the way VIP is. The essay, and the opening in particular, is funny, but also thought provoking, in the way it points out the ridiculous nature of the situation.
PS. Sorry for the late response. I thought I had posted to this section some time ago. I was going through old posts and only just realized that I hadn't answered this one or it had gotten lost in cyber space. I hope this is okay. -Daniel
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