Advanced Composition: Review Guide
By working with the following worksheet thoughtfully, you will be both preparing for our
midterm exam and reinforcing your understanding of key concepts and their uses. Feel
free to ask questions about any items that are not clear to you.
I have begun the list for you, but you will need to keep adding items as discussed in class,
based on your own learning. You may also need to check some of the techniques or parts
of speech in Gorrell, a grammar text, or other sources.
1. SENTENCE STRUCTURE TECHNIQUES
DEVICE:
Coordination
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE:
Subordination
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Participle/Participial Phrase
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Infinitive/ Infinitive Phrase
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Gerund/Gerund Phrase
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Long sentences
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Short Sentences
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Cumulative Sentences
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Periodic Sentences
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Parallelism
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
Chiasmus
Antithesis
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE:
Appositive
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE:
Parenthesis
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
2. FIGURES OF SPEECH
DEVICE: Zeugma
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
Diazeugma
Prozeugma
Mesozeugma
Hypozeugma
Syllepsis
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Climax/climactic order
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: expletive
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: asyndeton/polysyndeton
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Irony
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Understatement
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
Litotes
Hyperbole
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: anastrophe
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: anaphora
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: repetition/redundancy/restatement devices
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE:
rhythm/emphasis/balance devices
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE:
Hyperbaton (in various forms)
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
3. PUNCTUATION
DEVICE: The Semicolon
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: The Comma
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: The Period
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Dashes and Colons
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES:
DEVICE: Hyphens
FORMAL ELEMENTS:
FUNCTIONS:
RELATED CONCEPTS:
EXAMPLES: