在一些作品以及演講中，圓周句(periodic sentence)經常會出現，與其相對的是鬆散句(loose sentence)。圓周句的特點是將所有背景，次要的概念都放在前面，而最重要的想說的話放在句尾，而形成欲揚先抑或欲抑先揚的效果。
如： if you have not yet appreciated the truth that money is everything, you soon will.--h.belloc 或者：
it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.--"pride and prejudice", jane austen
以上兩句話都是前半句讓人本來以為要說多正經的事情呢，嗷嗷唱高調，後面的半句啪擦就摔下來了。
如果在口語中能適度使用圓周句式，能夠使語言顯得更加的幽默或者是有氣勢。比如:
"so i’ll say this – there are many words to describe john mccain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of george bush’s policies as bipartisan and new. but change is not one of them."--remarks of senator barack obama: final primary night, st. paul, mn/june 03, 2008. 最後那句話多么的堅定有氣勢阿，歐巴馬太帥了。
再比如："……illegal diamonds gives rise to death and bleeding of thousands of innocent people in africa, let’s ignore it, no more."--rephrased from "blood diamonds."最後一句的警醒，振聾發聵。
其實這種句式在中文中仍然可以使用，只不過用不好的話會讓人既沒有心理準備又令人不知所云。