The reader's expectation stems from a pressing need for syntactic resolution,fulfilled only by the arrival of the verb.Without the verb,we do not know what the subject is doing,or what the sentence is all about.As a result,the reader focuses attention on the arrival of the verb and resists recognizing anything in the interrupting material as being of primary importance.The longer the interruption lasts,the more likely it becomes that the "interruptive"material actually contains important information;but its structural location will continue to brand it as merely interruptive.Unfortunately,the reader will not discover its true value until too late-until the sentence has ended without having produced anything of much value outside of that subject-verb interruption. In this first sentence of the paragraph,the relative importance of the intervening material is difficult to evaluate.The material might conceivably be quite significant,in which case the writer should have positioned it to reveal that importance.Here is one way to incorporate it into the sentence structure: The smallest of the URF's is URFA6L,a 207-nucleotide(nt)reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase(ATPase)subunit 6 gene;it has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H-ATPase subunit 8 gene. On the other hand,the intervening material might be a mere aside that diverts attention from more important ideas;in that case the writer should have deleted it,allowing the prose to drive more directly toward its significant point: The smallest of the URF's(URFA6L)has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H-ATPase subunit 8 gene. Only the author could tell us which of these revisions more accurately reflects his intentions. These revisions lead us to a second set of reader expectations.Each unit of discourse,no matter what the size,is expected to serve a single function,to make a single point.In the case of a sentence,the point is expected to appear in a specific place reserved for emphasis. The Stress Position It is a linguistic commonplace that readers naturally emphasize the material that arrives at the end of a sentence.We refer to that location as a "stress position."If a writer is consciously aware of this tendency,she can arrange for the emphatic information to appear at the moment the reader is naturally exerting the greatest reading emphasis.As a result,the chances greatly increase that reader and writer will perceive the same material as being worthy of primary emphasis.The very structure of the sentence thus helps persuade the reader of the relative values of the sentence's contents. The inclination to direct more energy to that which arrives last in a sentence seems to correspond to the way we work at tasks through time.We tend to take something like a "mental breath"as we begin to read each new sentence,thereby summoning the tension with which we pay attention to the unfolding of the syntax.As we recognize that the sentence is drawing toward its conclusion,we begin to exhale that mental breath.The exhalation produces a sense of emphasis.Moreover,we delight in being rewarded at the end of a labor with something that makes the ongoing effort worthwhile.Beginning with the excitingThe reader’s expectation stems from a pressing need for syntactic resolution, fulfilled only by the arrival of the verb. Without the verb, we do not know what the subject is doing, or what the sentence is all about. As a result, the reader focuses attention on the arrival of the verb and resists recognizing anything in the interrupting material as being of primary importance. The longer the interruption lasts, the more likely it becomes that the "interruptive" material actually contains important information; but its structural location will continue to brand it as merely interruptive. Unfortunately, the reader will not discover its true value until too late-until the sentence has ended without having produced anything of much value outside of that subject-verb interruption. In this first sentence of the paragraph, the relative importance of the intervening material is difficult to evaluate. The material might conceivably be quite significant, in which case the writer should have positioned it to reveal that importance. Here is one way to incorporate it into the sentence structure: The smallest of the URF’s is URFA6L, a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2 -terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene; it has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+ -ATPase subunit 8 gene. On the other hand, the intervening material might be a mere aside that diverts attention from more important ideas; in that case the writer should have deleted it, allowing the prose to drive more directly toward its significant point: The smallest of the URF’s (URFA6L) has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+ -ATPase subunit 8 gene. Only the author could tell us which of these revisions more accurately reflects his intentions. These revisions lead us to a second set of reader expectations. Each unit of discourse, no matter what the size, is expected to serve a single function, to make a single point. In the case of a sentence, the point is expected to appear in a specific place reserved for emphasis. The Stress Position It is a linguistic commonplace that readers naturally emphasize the material that arrives at the end of a sentence. We refer to that location as a "stress position." If a writer is consciously aware of this tendency, she can arrange for the emphatic information to appear at the moment the reader is naturally exerting the greatest reading emphasis. As a result, the chances greatly increase that reader and writer will perceive the same material as being worthy of primary emphasis. The very structure of the sentence thus helps persuade the reader of the relative values of the sentence’s contents. The inclination to direct more energy to that which arrives last in a sentence seems to correspond to the way we work at tasks through time. We tend to take something like a "mental breath" as we begin to read each new sentence, thereby summoning the tension with which we pay attention to the unfolding of the syntax. As we recognize that the sentence is drawing toward its conclusion, we begin to exhale that mental breath. The exhalation produces a sense of emphasis. Moreover, we delight in being rewarded at the end of a labor with something that makes the ongoing effort worthwhile. Beginning with the exciting