Make sentences easier to follow with the XYZ pattern
I hate the Z of Y of X pattern. This is a sentence style presents information in the wrong order for easy visualization. XYZ is the opposite, and presents information in the easiest way to track.
Here are some examples:
Z of Y of X: The increased length of the axon of the mouse
XYZ: The mouse’s axon length increase
Z of Y of X: The effect of boiling of extract of ginger is conversion to zingerol of gingerol
XYZ: Ginger extract, when boiled, converts gingerol to zingerol.
Z of Y of X: The rise of the price of stock in Adidas due to the reverse of the decline of influence of the sense of style of Kanye West
XYZ: Kanye West’s stylistic influence decline has reversed, so Adidas’s stock price is rising.
This depends a lot on the medium of communication. A lot of style guides recommend that they go in order of importance or relevance. I suspect different readers will have different levels of difficulty in keeping the details in mind at once, so it’s not obvious which is actually easier or “more chunkable” for them.
For instance, I find “Addida’s stock price is rising due to the decline of Kanye West’s stylistic influence”. Is that ZXY? The decline is the main point, and what is declining is one chunk “Kanye’s influence”.
You’re right. Sentences should start with the idea that is most important or foundational, and end with a transition to the next sentence’s topic. It’s best to do these two things with the XYZ structure whenever possible.
My examples ignored these other design principles to focus on the XYZ structure. Writers must make tradeoffs. Ideally, their writing occupies the sentence design Pareto frontier.
Is there a name for the discipline or practice of symbolically representing the claims and content in language (this may be part of Mathematical Logic, but I am not familiar enough with it to know)?
Practice: The people of this region (Z) typically prefer hiking in the mountains of the rainforest to walking in the busy streets (Y), given their love of the mountaintop scenery (X).
XYZ Output: Given their mountaintop scenery love (X), rainforest mountain hiking is preferred over walking in the busy streets (Y) by this region’s people (Z).
I notice the XYZ form makes some phrases sound like music album titles (“mountaintop scenery love”).
The XYZ form is mainly meant to structure sentences for easy tracking, not just to eliminate the word “of.” “Their love of mountaintop scenery” seems easier to track than “mountaintop scenery love.”
In your XYZ version, “this region’s people” ends the sentence. Since the whole sentence is about them, it seems like it’s easier to track if they’re introduced at the beginning. Maybe:
“This region’s people’s love of mountaintop scenery typically makes them prefer hiking in the mountainous rainforests to walking in the busy streets.”
I don’t love “this region’s people’s” but I’m not sure what to do about that.
Maybe:
“In this region, the people’s love of mountaintop scenery typically makes them prefer hiking in the mountain rainforests to walking in the busy streets.”
Make sentences easier to follow with the XYZ pattern
I hate the Z of Y of X pattern. This is a sentence style presents information in the wrong order for easy visualization. XYZ is the opposite, and presents information in the easiest way to track.
Here are some examples:
Z of Y of X: The increased length of the axon of the mouse
XYZ: The mouse’s axon length increase
Z of Y of X: The effect of boiling of extract of ginger is conversion to zingerol of gingerol
XYZ: Ginger extract, when boiled, converts gingerol to zingerol.
Z of Y of X: The rise of the price of stock in Adidas due to the reverse of the decline of influence of the sense of style of Kanye West
XYZ: Kanye West’s stylistic influence decline has reversed, so Adidas’s stock price is rising.
This depends a lot on the medium of communication. A lot of style guides recommend that they go in order of importance or relevance. I suspect different readers will have different levels of difficulty in keeping the details in mind at once, so it’s not obvious which is actually easier or “more chunkable” for them.
For instance, I find “Addida’s stock price is rising due to the decline of Kanye West’s stylistic influence”. Is that ZXY? The decline is the main point, and what is declining is one chunk “Kanye’s influence”.
You’re right. Sentences should start with the idea that is most important or foundational, and end with a transition to the next sentence’s topic. It’s best to do these two things with the XYZ structure whenever possible.
My examples ignored these other design principles to focus on the XYZ structure. Writers must make tradeoffs. Ideally, their writing occupies the sentence design Pareto frontier.
Is there a name for the discipline or practice of symbolically representing the claims and content in language (this may be part of Mathematical Logic, but I am not familiar enough with it to know)?
Practice: The people of this region (Z) typically prefer hiking in the mountains of the rainforest to walking in the busy streets (Y), given their love of the mountaintop scenery (X).
XYZ Output: Given their mountaintop scenery love (X), rainforest mountain hiking is preferred over walking in the busy streets (Y) by this region’s people (Z).
I don’t know if there’s a name for the practice.
I notice the XYZ form makes some phrases sound like music album titles (“mountaintop scenery love”).
The XYZ form is mainly meant to structure sentences for easy tracking, not just to eliminate the word “of.” “Their love of mountaintop scenery” seems easier to track than “mountaintop scenery love.”
In your XYZ version, “this region’s people” ends the sentence. Since the whole sentence is about them, it seems like it’s easier to track if they’re introduced at the beginning. Maybe:
“This region’s people’s love of mountaintop scenery typically makes them prefer hiking in the mountainous rainforests to walking in the busy streets.”
I don’t love “this region’s people’s” but I’m not sure what to do about that.
Maybe:
“In this region, the people’s love of mountaintop scenery typically makes them prefer hiking in the mountain rainforests to walking in the busy streets.”