Syntax
What is syntax?
 Word order
 The manner in which a speaker or author constructs a
sentence affects what the audience understands.
 inverted order of an interrogative cues reader/listener to a
question and creates tension
 short sentences often emphatic, passionate, flippant
 longer sentences suggest writer’s deliberate, thoughtful
response
 very long, discursive sentences give a rambling,
meditative tone
Sentence Structure
 The way a sentence is arranged,
grammatically
 Ask yourself questions to help determine
sentence structure
Sentence Structure
 Are the sentences telegraphic
(shorter than 5 words), short (about
5 words), medium (about 18 words),
or long and involved (30 or more
words)?
 What is the effect of the sentence
length?
Sentence Structure
 Examine sentence beginnings. Is
there a good variety or does a
pattern emerge?
Sentence Structure
 Examine the arrangement of ideas in
a sentence. Are they set out in a
special way for a purpose?
Sentence Structure
 Do the same for a paragraph. Does
the arrangement of ideas suggest a
particular strategy on the part of the
author?
Sentence Patterns
 Declarative
 makes a statement
“The king is sick.”
 Imperative
 gives a command
“Cure the king!”
 Interrogative
 asks a question
“Is the king sick?”
 Exclamatory
 provides emphasis or expresses strong emotion
“The king is dead! Long live the king!”
Sentence Patterns
 Simple
 contains one independent clause (subject, verb, and complete
thought)
“The singer bowed to her adoring audience.”
 Compound
 contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating
conjunction (FANBOYS) or by a semicolon
“The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no more encores.”
 Complex
 contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses
(subject and verb, no complete thought)
“Because the singer was tired, she went straight to bed after the concert.”
Sentence Patterns
 Compound-Complex
 contains two or more independent clauses and one or
more subordinate clauses (aka dependent clauses)
“The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she
sang no encores.”
 Loose/Cumulative
 makes complete sense even if brought to a close before
the actual ending
“We reached Edmonton that morning after a turbulent flight
and some exciting experiences, tired but exhilarated, full of
stories to tell our friends and neighbors.”
Sentence Patterns
 Periodic
 makes sense fully only when the end is reached
“That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting
experiences, we reached Edmonton.”
 Balanced
 the phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of
their likeness of structure, meaning, or length
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me
beside the still waters.”
Sentence Patterns
 Natural order
 constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the
predicate
“Oranges grow in California.”
 Inverted order
 constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the
subject
 reversal used to create an emphatic or rhythmic effect
“In California grow the oranges.”
Sentence Patterns
 Juxtaposition
 a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally
unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to
one another, often creating an effect of surprise and wit
“The apparition of these faces in the crowd:/Petals on a wet,
black bough” (“In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound)
Sentence Patterns
 Parallel Structure (Parallelism)
 a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences
or parts of a sentence
 involves arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and
paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are
equally developed and similarly phrased
“He loved swimming, running, and playing tennis.”
 Repetition
 a device in which words, sounds, or ideas are used more
than once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis
“...government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.” (“Address at Gettysburg” by
Abraham Lincoln)
Sentence Patterns
 Rhetorical question
 requires no answer
 used to draw attention to a point and generally stronger
than a direct statement
“If Mr. Ferchoff is always fair, as you have said, why did he
refuse to listen to Mrs. Baldwin’s arguments?”
 Rhetorical fragment
 used deliberately for a persuasive purpose or to create a
desired effect
“Something to consider.”
Sentence Patterns
 Anaphora
 the repetition of the same words or a group of words at
the beginning of successive clauses
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we
shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”
(Winston Churchill)
 Asyndeton
 deliberate omission of conjunctions
“I came, I saw, I conquered.” (Julius Caesar)
 Chiasmus
 arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a reversal of
the first
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country.” (John F. Kennedy)
Sentence Patterns
 Polysyndeton
 deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis
to highlight quantity or mass of detail or to create a
flowing, continuous sentence pattern
“The meal was huge—my mother fixed okra and green
beans and ham and apple pie and green pickled tomatoes
and ambrosia salad and all manner of fine country food—but
no matter how I tried, I could not consume it to her
satisfaction.”
Sentence Patterns
 Stichomythia
 dialogue, exchanged in rapid fire single lines, in which the
endings and beginnings of each line can echo each other,
taking on a new meaning with each line
Hamlet: Now mother, what’s the matter?
Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.
Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Sentence Patterns
 Zeugma
 the use of a verb that has two different meanings with
objects that complement both meanings
“He stole both her car and her heart that fateful night.”