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Summary: An action sentence is one sentence summarizing a play. Learn how to write an action sentence in a play analysis in this free literature and theater video from a college professor.
Tracy Goodwin has a master’s in corporate communication and 10 years experience in professional speaking. Recipient of numerous public speaking awards and is a college professor of...read more
"Alright, the next thing we're going to do is capital letter B and this is the action sentence of the play. Now this can be difficult, this can be challenging but, with practice, you can get better and better at it. And this is one of the most important components of the play analysis. You have, obviously, read the play at this point. What you are doing, what you have to do, is sum up the entire play in one sentence. And it must be an action sentence. If I were to say to you, "what is this play about?" And you would say to me, "well, it's about, you know, it's about this kid who, he likes horses." No. One sentence, this play is about a man's refusal to accept his own destiny. It is someone doing something. One sentence. And you may have to start by writing five sentences. Get it narrowed down to five sentences and then down to four, and then down to three, and then two and then one. But what is the one sentence with action that sums up the whole play?"
eHow Article: Play Analysis: Action Sentence