Teacher Model of Syntax TDEC Brainstorm
NOTE: (This would be prewriting before organizing analysis
into TDEC format—this is NOT a complete TDEC)
TSAR pg. 99
Prompt: How is meaning created through syntax?
Context: Jake, Bill and Robert are being driven to Pamplona; this
passage begins when they have finally passed into Spain.
Brainstorm: The passage is composed of mostly long sentences with
medium interspersed: long, medium, long, medium, long, long. The
passage relies heavily on polysyndeton (recurring conjunctions where
there normally wouldn’t be any) with the word “and” and also on
prepositions and prepositional phrases. The images connected by the
chain of conjunctions change from forests, to mountain sides, to animals
sleeping, cattle grazing, to plains and streams, to a village, and back to a
mountain. The multiple conjunctions and the use of prepositions like
“up” and “down” echo the motion of the vehicle as it travels the Col (the
ridge). The lengthiness of the sentences echoes the length of the trip and
emphasizes the slowness of time as the car makes its way through the
terrain, making this moment of observing the picturesque Spanish
countryside possible. We can see the characters are almost being forced
to slow down and observe the world around them, nature unfolding and
existing as it always has before their eyes, despite the chaos and frenzy
that exists elsewhere.