Syntax Sentence Structure and Patterns

Sentence structure considers the following: 1.Sentence Length a. telegraphic (less than 5 words) b. short (about 5 words) c. medium (about 18 words) d. long (30 words +) 2.Beginnings a. Variety? b. Pattern?

Continued 3.Arrangement of ideas in sentence 4.Arrangement of ideas in a paragraph 5. Sentence Patterns

Types of Sentences Declarative: makes a statement ex. The king is sick. Imperative: gives a command ex. Bow to the king. Interrogative: asks a question ex. What’s the matter with the king? Exclamatory: makes an exclamation ex. The king is dead!

Sentence Variety 1.Simple Sentence – contains one independent clause. ex. The singer bowed to her adoring audience. 2.Compound Sentence – contains two or more independent clauses connected with one or more coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, for, yet). ex. The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores.

Sentence Variety Continued 3.Complex Sentence – Contains an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. ex. After she bowed to the audience, the singer sang an encore. 4.Compound-complex sentence – Contains two or more independent clauses connected with one or more coordinating conjunctions and one or more dependent clauses. ex. After she bowed to the audience, the singer sang an encore, and she acknowledged her adoring fans.

Sentence Variety Continued 5.Loose Sentence – makes sense if brought to a close before the actual ending. ex. We reached Edmonton/that morning/after a turbulent flight/and some exciting experiences. 6.Periodic Sentence - Makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached. ex. That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton.

Sentence Variety Continued 7.Balanced Sentence (Parallel)– phrases or clauses balance each other in structure, meaning, or length. ex. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters. 8.Natural Order – Constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the predicate. ex. They are good musicians.

Sentence Variety Continued 9. Inverted Order (anastrophe)– Constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the subject. ex. Good musicians they are. Inverted order reverses normal sentence patterns to create an emphatic or rhythmic effect. 10.Split Order – Constructing a sentence that divides the predicate into two parts with the subject in the middle. ex. At Cooper good debaters aren’t hard to find.

And remember – syntactically, you create emphasis by: Position – where you put something in the sentence (climax, anastrophe) Proportion/ Balance – the size of the idea and how much of the sentence the idea takes up (parallelism, antithesis) Isolation –setting it off by itself (commas, parentheses, hyphens) Repetition – the number of times something is repeated (alliteration, anaphora, antimetabole, polyptoton)

Practice For each of the following sentences below, write a compound sentence, a complex sentence, and a compound-complex sentence. 1.The moon rose. 2.The man was dead. 3.He longed to be free. 4.She liked the song. 5.They had a good time.

More Practice! Add to the following sentences by creating a loose sentence, a periodic sentence, a balanced sentence, and one with inverted word order. 1.Mary left the room (loose) 2.The world’s greatest invention is the safety pin (periodic) 3.Hate is based on fear (balanced) 4.Oh, I was happy! (inverted word order)