Syntax Notes
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Syntax Notes
Syntax is the arrangement (the ordering, grouping, and placement) of words within a sentence. Syntax is the study of the way that sequences or words are ordered into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Classification of sentences by their purpose:
Ex.: "What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
Henry David Thoreau
- A declarative sentence makes a statement.
Ex.: "A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants
it back the minute it begins to rain." Mark Twain
- An imperative sentence makes a command.
Ex: "All hope abandon, ye who enter here!" Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
- An interrogative sentence asks a question.
- An exclamatory sentence provides emphasis or expresses strong emotion.
Ex.: "I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!" The Simpsons
Classification of sentences by their structure:
- A simple sentence contains no subordinate clauses.
Ex.: “The fair boy allowed his feet to come down and sat on the steamy ground.”
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
- A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or by a semicolon.
Ex.: "I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart.” Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
- A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
Ex.: "About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury.” Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
- A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.
Ex.: "For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so
that those of tomorrow might be engaged." Alice Walker
- A loose or cumulative sentence has its main clause at the beginning of the sentence. (main clause + subordinate constructions= loose sentence) A loose sentence makes its major point at the beginning and is particularly effective for setting a scene or for panning, as with a camera, a place or critical moment, a journey or a remembered life, in a way not dissimilar to the run-on. The loose sentence is also ideal for writing that aims at being colloquial, informal, relaxed. It puts first things first, as most of us do when we talk. Even so, the loose sentence lacks emphasis, and it can easily become formless. It makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending. A loose sentence is the opposite of a periodic sentence.
Ex.: I found a large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit, and packed with cots.
- The periodic sentence is organized into at least two parts and expresses a complex thought not brought to completion until the close. (subordinate constructions + main clause= periodic sentence) A periodic sentence makes sense fully only when the end of the sentence is reached. The periodic sentence is emphatic. By delaying and preparing the way for the main thought, readers are alerted to the importance. The style is also formal and literary, not the flow of familiar talk, but the writer at his desk.
Ex.: As we started to arrange the pieces on the board, I was startled by the sight of his
crippled hand.
- The convoluted sentence is a special kind of periodic sentence where the subordinate elements, instead of preceding the main clause, split it apart from the inside. The convoluted sentence establishes strong emphasis by throwing weight upon the words preceding the commas or dashes that set off the intruding constructions. When used sparingly, the long, intricate convoluted sentence has the advantage of the unusual; it draws attention to itself and, more importantly, to what it says, and it can be a pleasant and stimulating challenge to the reader.
Ex.: White men, at the bottom of their hearts, know this. Now demons, whatever else
they may be, are full of interest.
- In a balanced sentence, two or more words or constructions have essentially the same form and length and have similar functions. Balance requires that the sentence be divided into roughly equal halves on either side of a central pause.
Ex.: Cattiness is a cold war staged by women; macho is a hotter war fought by men.
- Balanced elements may be played against one another, sometimes repeating the same idea, sometimes expressing contrasting ideas. When the contrast is sharply pointed, it is called antithesis: antithetical constructions are simply balanced phrases or clauses expressing opposed ideas.
Ex.: The Department of Justice began a vigorous campaign to break up the corporate
empires, to restore the free and open market, and to plant the feet of industry firmly
on the road to competition.
- Parallelism means that two or more words, phrases, or clauses have the same grammatical form and an identical grammatical relationship to the same thing. The parallel style suits the needs of speakers well. It is impressive and pleasing to hear- elaborate yet rhythmic and ordered, following a master plan with a place for everything and everything ordered. It is also economical. In its fullest development, the parallel sentence has the grandeur of a great building, and this architectural impressiveness gives weight and dignity to what the sentence says. Making each item parallel- making each item look alike grammatically- provides emphasis and establishes rhythm and balance.
Ex.: In its energy, its lyrics, its advocacy of frustrated joys, rock is one long symphony of
protest.
- Inverted word order means rearranging the main elements of a sentence in some order other than subject-verb-object, which is often called natural word order. Inversion almost always draws attention and is used for emphasis.
Ex.: Him Nature solicits with all her placid, all her monitory picture: him the past instructs;
him the future invites.
- Juxtaposition is a poetic and a rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, often creating an effect of surprise or wit.
Ex.: Mildred and Clarisse; Love sick Romeo and Fiery Tybalt; Banquo and Macbeth; Fair and Foul (Macbeth)
- The rhetorical question is a question that requires no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement.
Ex.: Yet this need not be. The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can
be abolished. How long shall we ignore this under-developed nation in our midst?
How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How
long?
- Repetition is a device where words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and to create emphasis.
- Anaphora is the repetition of the same term beginning successive clauses.
Ex. "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 S. Churchill
- Epistrophe is the repetition of the same term at the ending of successive
clauses.
Ex.: "I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong..." William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
- Anadiplosis is the rhetorical repetition of using the same term at the end of one
clause and at the beginning of the next one.
Ex.: To philosophize is to understand; to understand is to explain
oneself; to explain is to relate.
- Epanalepsis is when the same word appears at the beginning and at the end.
Ex.: "Mankind must put an end to war--or war will put an end to
mankind." John F. Kennedy, Speech at the United Nations, 1961
"Be all that you can be." Advertising slogan of the U.S. Army
- Polysyndeton and Asyndeton are two different ways of handling lists of items in a series. Traditionally, a comma follows each item in the list with a conjunction (and) between the last two. Polysyndeton places a conjunction after every term except the last. Asyndeton uses no conjunctions and separates terms of the series with commas.
Where the conventional series emphasizes no particular item, though the last usually seems a bit more significant, in polysyndeton the emphasis falls more evenly upon each member of the list.
Ex.: It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, whenever the wind blows.
(polysyndeton)
In asyndeton, the series takes on more significance as a whole than it does in the conventional pattern. But the stress on each individual item is lighter than in polysyndeton, and the passage moves more quickly. The absence of conjunctions creates tension.
Ex.: His care, his food, his education- all of these were by-products of the parents’
position. (asyndeton)
- Sentence Length- Sentences shorter than five words are called telegraphic, approximately eighteen words in length medium, and thirty or more long. The short sentence is inherently forceful. If well constructed, it is clear, concise, and convincing. It will seem especially strong in the context of longer, more complicated statements. Often the contrast in length reinforces the contrast in thought.
Ex.: The first premise of the college elective system is that the subjects and course of curriculum are of approximately equal value. Well, they are not.
- Sometimes the positions of key terms are reversed, a rhetorical device called chiasmus or antimetabole. These contain a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis*) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. *The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses.
Ex.: "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." Cormac McCarthy, The Road
- The appositive is another noun, set off by double commas or dashes that rename the subject. They add additional information to the person, place, or thing just mentioned.
Ex.: "I came upon her late one evening on a deserted street in Hyde Park, a
relatively affluent neighborhood in an otherwise mean, impoverished section
of Chicago." Brent Staples
- Absolute Phrases includes a noun immediately followed by a participle--a verb form ending in "ing" or in the past tense, which describes the noun--and a prepositional phrase or two or other types of adjective phrases.
Ex.: "You can get a fair sense of the perils of an elevator shaft by watching an
elevator rush up and down one, its counterweight flying by, like the blade
on a guillotine." Nick Paumgarten, "Up and Then Down”
- Infinitive Phrases is a type of verbal (to + verb) that can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The repetition of the infinitive phrases creates parallelism.
Ex.: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool
than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain
- Gerund Phrases are another type of verbal. Gerund phrases are noun-like, so think of them as names. But rather than naming persons, places, things, events, etc., as nouns generally do, gerunds, because they are verbs in form, name activities or behaviors or states of mind or states of being.
Ex.: “There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream--whatever that dream might be.” Pearl Buck
- Participial Phrases are a type of verbal and function as an adjective. They begin with a word ending in "ing”- present tense or “ed” or “en” for past tense. Participial phrases add more information to the noun of the sentence. To emphasize quick, successive actions, writers often combine participial phrases by turning verbs into present participles. They may be arranged to show a sequence of actions and may also be used to show that two or more actions are occurring at the same time.
Ex.: “The eagles swooped and hovered, leaning on the air, and swung close
together, feinting and screaming with delight.”
N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn
“Guiding the ball through the upper chutes, down a runover lane, off the
slingshot bumpers to the flippers, I cradled it there, bouncing it back and
forth until I had a perfect shot through the spinner.”
J. Anthony Lucas, "The Inner Game of Pinball"
- Prepositional Phrases are used to interrupt or end the sentence with lively description. They add meaning to nouns and verbs in the sentence.
Ex.: “Over the high coast mountains and over the valleys the gray clouds
marched in from the ocean.” John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
- Punctuation is used to reinforce meaning, construct effect, and express the writer’s voice. Of particular interest in shaping voice are the semicolon, colon, and dash.
- The semicolon gives equal weight to two or more independent clauses in a sentence. The resulting syntactical balance reinforces parallel ideas and imparts equal importance to both (or all) of the clauses.
Ex.: "I have in my own life a precious friend, a woman of sixty five who has lived very hard, who is wise; who listens well; who has been where I am and can help me understand it; and who represents not only an ultimate ideal mother to me but also the person I'd like to be when I grow up." Judith Viorst
- The colon directs the reader’s attention to the words that follow. It is also used between independent clauses if the second summarizes or explains the first. A colon sets the expectation that important, closely related information will follow (almost announcing), and words after the colon are emphasized.
Ex.: "I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary. It went like this: Fault:
Deficiency, lack, want of something . . ." Meena Alexander
"I was right about the tar: it led to within half a mile of the shore."
E. B. White
- The dash is a sentence interrupter used to announce a series, or to elaborate on a previously stated general idea. When this second strategy is used, the meaning of the sentence changes drastically. In fact, many times good writers will use a dash to create an anomaly, a departure from the expected, an abnormality, and create an unexpected meaning or satire. The dash often conveys a casual tone.
Ex.: "There is a sumptuous variety about the New England weather that compels
the stranger’s admiration-- and regret.” Mark Twain
"It is now fast becoming a tradition-- if one can use that word-- to describe a
habit about which I feel a certain amount of shamefacedness for our
household to watch the Miss America contest on television every year."
Gerald Early
- The parenthesis is used to whisper a witty aside to the reader and makes the remark seem more confidential.
Ex.: "Twice has she condescended to give me her opinion (unasked too!) on this
subject." Jane Austen
Some examples taken from: http://grammar.about.com
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