Kept 'Troy' or 'formed'? The city is where, and 'formed' is how the chain came to be; 'rescued' is what it did, and the eight-year-old is who it was for. 'Seawall', 'neighbor' and 'Hudson River' are how and who else, and they go in the first line of the story.
This one really happened. On the evening of Saturday 5 September, Amarys Lopez, who is eight and has autism, wandered away from a family gathering in Troy, New York. Her family went out knocking on doors. Michael Schnoop, a friend of the family, guessed she might have gone through a hole in a fence towards the water, and found her in the Hudson holding onto a ladder on the seawall. He jumped in. 'I didn't even think about it,' he said. 'I just seen her and just jumped in.' Then he was stuck too: rungs were missing from the ladder and the wall was too high to climb with a child, so he held her and waited. Sergeant Marty Furciniti, Detective Evan Cioffi and Officer Paul Cellucci arrived, heard her crying, and made a chain of themselves over the wall to pull them both out. She was not hurt. The city held a ceremony at City Hall on Monday for all four men. Mayor Carmella Mantello, who has kayaked the Hudson: 'You cannot underestimate how strong the current is.'
Every word, accounted for
TroyWhere. The city goes to the story; the five have the who, the how and who was saved.
policeWho did it. Three of them, holding onto each other.
formedHow the chain came to be. 'Rescued' is what it did, and that is the verb that stays.
aA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
humanWhat the chain was made of. Take it out and it is equipment.
chainThe thing itself, and the picture everyone will remember.
downWhich way it went. A direction, not the act.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
seawallWhat made it necessary: too high and too steep to climb with a child, with rungs missing from the ladder.
andA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
rescuedWhat happened. Without it the five are a photo caption.
bothThat there were two of them in the water, which is the part people miss.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
eight-year-oldWho was saved. She is why anyone was at the river at all.
inA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
HudsonThe river. A name, and the story is what the officers did in it.
RiverSays Hudson is water, not a surname. Necessary in the sentence, not in the five.
andA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
neighborThe man who went in after her and could not get out. He is in the story, not the five.
whoA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
wentWhat he did. A second verb, and the five hold one.
inA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
afterA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
her.A little word. It only holds the sentence together.