Professional, descriptive writing of high quality is of three basic types at the sentence level.
The first type is geometric, for which the sense of the clauses is focused and inward facing, and the larger meanings are reticulated.
The second type is flowing and carries its sense by connection and the lapidary anticipation and recapitulation of meanings that will, and now has, and next had, their moments.
The third type is perpendicular, and is a rigid combination of the geometric and the flowing: each clause is focused on itself; each clause is regularized to fit; and each part flows in formation like a parading soldier.
All three types are, in successful experience, combinations.
For the geometric, the sustained interest of the intelligent reader suppliers the flow, and by so doing enlivens the material and enables the writer's restraint in connections and devotion of superstructure to greater ends than the mere supply of coherence.
For the flowing, the particular attention of the intelligent reader catches the lapidary meanings, and by so doing gives purpose to the movement and frees the writer from the need to stop for each item.
For the perpendicular, the writing is itself sustained and particular, and the reader is rapidly freed to consider the completeness of, or alternatives and additions to, the order and elements of the writing. Or the reader is simply freed to pass quickly through. Or the writer has stopped short of subtler analysis.
For the weak or hurried writer, the perpendicular is the most accessible of the excellent forms. And for the weak or hurried reader, it is the same: the perpendicular is the most accessible.
For the informed but not brilliant reader, the sensation of flowing writing is the most like stepping momentarily into having a superior mind (if the writer had one).
For the intelligent but underinformed reader, the reticulated nuggets of the geometric are the most easily apprehended and utilized, a ready borrowing of the writer's specialized experience.
