FINDING THE “NUTRITIONAL VALUE” THE ART AND CRAFT OF ANALYSIS CHAPTER 2 CLOSE READING

THE DETAILS ANALYZING

ANALYZING STYLE Diction: word choice  Trope: artful diction  metaphor  Simile  personification  hyperbole

ANALYZING STYLE Syntax: word order  Scheme: artful syntax  parallelisms  juxtapositions  antithesis  sentence structure

ANALYZING DICTION Which of the important words in the passage (verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs) …  General?  Abstract? Which are…  Specific?  Concrete?

ANALYZING DICTION Which words are…  formal?  informal?  colloquial?  slang?  figurative?  figures of speech?  metaphors?

ANALYZING SYNTAX Is it the usual subject-verb-object order, or is it inverted?  Inverted syntax  “Usual order, the words are not in,” says Yoda. Which is more prominent — nouns or verbs?

ANALYZING SYNTAX Sentences….  Periodic —the main independent clause is at the end.  Cumulative (also called a Loose sentence) — the main independent clause is at the beginning.

ANALYZING SYNTAX: periodic sentence “To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support.” — JOHN F. KENNEDY

ANALYZING SYNTAX: cumulative sentence “But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course — both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.” — JOHN F. KENNEDY

ANALYZING SYNTAX How does the sentence connect its words, phrases and clauses? What is the effect?

“TALKING WITH THE TEXT” Annotation. Read with a pen or pencil in hand. Circle words you don’t know.  Or use post-it notes if you have an emotional aversion to writing in books…. Identify topic sentences and thesis statements.

“TALKING WITH THE TEXT” Look for tropes, imagery and detail. Ask questions or make comments on the reading. Use the Thinking Options. Listen to the voice in your head as you read and write down what that voice is saying.

ANALYZING A VISUAL TEXT Rhetorical triangle still applies… And we look at the words  Individually  And the way they are placed on the page Look at the images in the same way.

BON APPETIT!