Analyzing Syntax “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.” Ernest Hemingway

Describe sentence structure by considering: Sentence length: telegraphic, short, medium, long and involved. Sentence beginnings: Is there a variety or a pattern? Ask: Does the sentence length fit the subject matter? What makes the length effective? What is the effect of beginning with a particular word, phrase, or clause? What is the effect of a fragment?

Sentence Purposes Declarative Imperative Interrogative Exclamatory

Identify the exclamatory sentence and explain its effect The impact of poetry is so hard and direct that for the moment there is no other sensation except that of the poem itself. What profound depths we visit then – how sudden and complete is our immersion! There is nothing here to catch hold of; nothing to stay us in our flight . . . .The poet is always our contemporary. Our being for the moment is centered and constricted, as in any violent shock of personal emotion.

Traditional Sentence Structures Simple sentences – one independent clause Compound sentences – two independent clauses joined by a conjunction Complex sentences – an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses Compound-complex sentences – two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses

Sentence Patterns Natural order – subject before the predicate (Oranges grow in California.) Inverted order – predicate before the subject (In California grow oranges.) Split order – divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in between. (In California, oranges grow.)

Sentence Types Periodic sentences Periodic (interrupted sentences) Loose sentences (cumulative sentences) Combination loose and periodic

What kind of sentence is this? What ideas are stressed? While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our objects are. (Woodrow Wilson)

Schemes Schemes are rhetorical devices that often involve parallelism, repetition, and balance. They are artful sentence constructions. You should know: Antithesis-juxtaposition of contrasting ideas Antimetabole-a phrase or sentence is repeated, but in reverse order. (AN-teem-A-TAB-A-lee) Anaphora-the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences Epistrophe-the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Rhetorical Questions-a statement formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered.

Most importantly, you should be able to examine syntax for meaning and effect Next morning when the first light came into the sky and the sparrows stirred in the trees when the cows rattled their chains and the rooster crowed and the early automobiles went whispering along the road, Wilbur awoke and looked for Charlotte. What are the effects of this sentence construction?