Syntax.
Definition: Syntax is the way words are arranged in sentences. In other words, syntax is the way a writer uses sentence structure to build ideas. Syntax includes these important elements.
Before we begin:
Subjects and verbs:
The subject is the part of the sentence that expresses what the sentence is about. It's the topic of the sentence.
The verb is the part of the sentence that expresses action or connects the subject with the other words in the sentence.
- Sentence parts
- Word order
- Sentence length
- Punctuation
Before we begin:
Subjects and verbs:
The subject is the part of the sentence that expresses what the sentence is about. It's the topic of the sentence.
The verb is the part of the sentence that expresses action or connects the subject with the other words in the sentence.
Clauses and phrases:
A clause is a group of related words that has a subject and a verb.
A phrase is a group of related words that has no subject or verb.
A clause is a group of related words that has a subject and a verb.
A phrase is a group of related words that has no subject or verb.
Sentence fragments:
A sentence fragment is a group of words that is punctuated like a sentence but is not really a sentence. There may be a verb, or the words may not express a complete thought. A fragment is often used for emphasis. The use of a fragment makes the reader stop and think about what is being said.
A sentence fragment is a group of words that is punctuated like a sentence but is not really a sentence. There may be a verb, or the words may not express a complete thought. A fragment is often used for emphasis. The use of a fragment makes the reader stop and think about what is being said.
Word order:
The normal word order in English is to have the subject first, then the verb and other details. Putting words in an unusual order catches the reader's attention and emphasizes the ideas.
Sentence Length:
Writer's vary sentence length to keep their readers interested and to control what their readers pay attention to. Most modern writers put the main ideas in short sentences and use longer sentences to expand and develop their main ideas.
Punctuation:
Punctuation and stylistic devices help us understand the written word.
The normal word order in English is to have the subject first, then the verb and other details. Putting words in an unusual order catches the reader's attention and emphasizes the ideas.
Sentence Length:
Writer's vary sentence length to keep their readers interested and to control what their readers pay attention to. Most modern writers put the main ideas in short sentences and use longer sentences to expand and develop their main ideas.
Punctuation:
Punctuation and stylistic devices help us understand the written word.
- The semicolon joins two or more clauses (complete sentences) when there is no connecting word ("and", "but", "or") or if one of the clauses contains one or more than one comma. When a semicolon is used, all clauses are equally important, and the reader should pay equal attention to them all.
- The colon tells the reader that something important will follow. It's very important not to confuse the colon and the semicolon. The semicolon shows equal importance, while the colon throws the emphasis on what comes after it.
- The dash marks a sudden change in thought or sets off a summary or explanation. Parentheses can do this too but the dash is more informal and conversational.
- Italics are used to emphasize words or phrases. When we handwrite something, we show italics by underlining.
Lesson 1:
Read and think:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but i do expect
it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing, or all the other.
Abraham Lincoln,"A House Divided" Speech, June 16, 1858
Talk about it:
1. Examine this excerpt from a very famous pre-Civil War speech by Abraham Lincoln. Rate each sentence as short, medium, or long. How does sentence length affect the impact of the passage?
2. Look at the dashes in sentence three. Why do you think Lincoln sets off the clause ("I do not expect the house to fall") with dashes? What purpose does this serve?
Now you try it:
Write three sentences (one short, one medium, and one long) expressing your opinion about cliques in schools. Use Lincoln's sentences as a model.
Read and think:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but i do expect
it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing, or all the other.
Abraham Lincoln,"A House Divided" Speech, June 16, 1858
Talk about it:
1. Examine this excerpt from a very famous pre-Civil War speech by Abraham Lincoln. Rate each sentence as short, medium, or long. How does sentence length affect the impact of the passage?
2. Look at the dashes in sentence three. Why do you think Lincoln sets off the clause ("I do not expect the house to fall") with dashes? What purpose does this serve?
Now you try it:
Write three sentences (one short, one medium, and one long) expressing your opinion about cliques in schools. Use Lincoln's sentences as a model.
- In your short, opening sentence, use a metaphor, like Lincoln's "house divided".
- In your medium sentence, use a strong opening clause, followed by a comma and a descriptive phrase.
- In your long sentence, refer back to your metaphor in a clause set off by dashes.
Lesson 2:
Read and think:
He is eloquent and persuasive, and once his words had even power over my heart; but trust him not. His soul is...full of treachery and fiend-like malice.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
Talk about it:
1. Look at the first sentence in this passage. Why do you think Shelley uses a semicolon after "heart" instead of starting a new sentence?
2. Look at the clause ("trust him not"). How would we say "trust him not" in modern, everyday English? How does Shelley's unusual word order affect the reader's understanding of the character?
Now you try it:
Complete the following sentence frame, using Shelley's sentence as a model.
He (or she) is __________________(adjective) and ______________________(adjective), and once his (her) words had even power _________________________________________(prepositional phrase); but ______________________(verb) him (her) not.
Read and think:
He is eloquent and persuasive, and once his words had even power over my heart; but trust him not. His soul is...full of treachery and fiend-like malice.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
Talk about it:
1. Look at the first sentence in this passage. Why do you think Shelley uses a semicolon after "heart" instead of starting a new sentence?
2. Look at the clause ("trust him not"). How would we say "trust him not" in modern, everyday English? How does Shelley's unusual word order affect the reader's understanding of the character?
Now you try it:
Complete the following sentence frame, using Shelley's sentence as a model.
He (or she) is __________________(adjective) and ______________________(adjective), and once his (her) words had even power _________________________________________(prepositional phrase); but ______________________(verb) him (her) not.
Lesson 3:
Consider:
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.
- Virginia Woolf, "How Should One Read a Book?"
Discuss:
1. Woolf uses a variety of sentence types in this selection. Among them is the exclamatory sentence. Identify the exclamatory sentence and explain its effect.
2. Classify each sentence as to length: short, medium, or long. How is the meaning of the passage reinforced and clarified by sentence length?
Apply:
Write a declarative sentence about college entrance examinations. Then write an exclamatory sentence which amplifies or clarifies the declarative sentence. Share your sentences with the class.
Consider:
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.
- Virginia Woolf, "How Should One Read a Book?"
Discuss:
1. Woolf uses a variety of sentence types in this selection. Among them is the exclamatory sentence. Identify the exclamatory sentence and explain its effect.
2. Classify each sentence as to length: short, medium, or long. How is the meaning of the passage reinforced and clarified by sentence length?
Apply:
Write a declarative sentence about college entrance examinations. Then write an exclamatory sentence which amplifies or clarifies the declarative sentence. Share your sentences with the class.
Lesson 4:
Read and think:
Little seals can no more swim than little children, but they are unhappy till they learn. The first time that kotick went down to the sea a wave carried him out beyond his depth, and his big head sank and his little hind flippers flew up exactly as his mother had told him in the song, and if the next wave had not thrown him back again he would have drowned.
-Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
Talk about it:
1. Look at the two sentences. The first sentence is much shorter than the second. Why do you think Kipling started with a short sentence?
2. How does the form of the second sentence reinforce its meaning?
Now you try:
Write two sentences describing a fire drill. Your first sentence should be short, introducing the main idea. Your second sentence should be longer, and it should imitate the meaning with its form.
Read and think:
Little seals can no more swim than little children, but they are unhappy till they learn. The first time that kotick went down to the sea a wave carried him out beyond his depth, and his big head sank and his little hind flippers flew up exactly as his mother had told him in the song, and if the next wave had not thrown him back again he would have drowned.
-Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
Talk about it:
1. Look at the two sentences. The first sentence is much shorter than the second. Why do you think Kipling started with a short sentence?
2. How does the form of the second sentence reinforce its meaning?
Now you try:
Write two sentences describing a fire drill. Your first sentence should be short, introducing the main idea. Your second sentence should be longer, and it should imitate the meaning with its form.
Lesson 5:
Read and think:
The graces of writing and conversation are of different kinds, and though he who excels in one might have been with opportunities and application equally successful in the other, yet as many please by extemporary talk, though utterly unacquainted with the more accurate method and more laboured beauties which composition requires; so it is very possible that men, wholly accustomed to works of study, may be without that readiness of conception and affluence of language, always necessary to colloquial entertainment.
- Samuel Johnson, "An Author's Writing and Conversation Contrasted"
Talk about it:
1. The main idea of this sentence is stated in the first ten words. What purpose does the rest of the sentence serve?
2. What is the purpose of the semicolon? How does the use of a semicolon reinforce the meaning of this sentence?
Now you try:
Rewrite this sentence in modern English, retaining its meaning and basic structure. Your sentence may be shorter than Johnson's! Share your sentence with your partner.
Read and think:
The graces of writing and conversation are of different kinds, and though he who excels in one might have been with opportunities and application equally successful in the other, yet as many please by extemporary talk, though utterly unacquainted with the more accurate method and more laboured beauties which composition requires; so it is very possible that men, wholly accustomed to works of study, may be without that readiness of conception and affluence of language, always necessary to colloquial entertainment.
- Samuel Johnson, "An Author's Writing and Conversation Contrasted"
Talk about it:
1. The main idea of this sentence is stated in the first ten words. What purpose does the rest of the sentence serve?
2. What is the purpose of the semicolon? How does the use of a semicolon reinforce the meaning of this sentence?
Now you try:
Rewrite this sentence in modern English, retaining its meaning and basic structure. Your sentence may be shorter than Johnson's! Share your sentence with your partner.
Lesson 6:
Read and think:
Brother, continue to listen.
You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind; and, if we do not take hold the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true?
-Chief Red Jacket, "Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion"
Talk about it:
1. The words you say are repeated several times in the sentence. what is the repetition's function?
2. The question at the end of the passage is a rhetorical question. What attitude toward the audience is expressed by the use of a rhetorical question?
Now you try:
Write a three paragraph modeled after Chief Red Jacket's passage. The first two sentences should contain repetition; the third sentence should be a rhetorical question. Your topic is school uniforms. Share your sentence with the class.
Read and think:
Brother, continue to listen.
You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind; and, if we do not take hold the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true?
-Chief Red Jacket, "Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion"
Talk about it:
1. The words you say are repeated several times in the sentence. what is the repetition's function?
2. The question at the end of the passage is a rhetorical question. What attitude toward the audience is expressed by the use of a rhetorical question?
Now you try:
Write a three paragraph modeled after Chief Red Jacket's passage. The first two sentences should contain repetition; the third sentence should be a rhetorical question. Your topic is school uniforms. Share your sentence with the class.
Lesson 7:
Read and think:
No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl! - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat"
Talk about it:
1. The dashes in this long sentence set off of a series of appositives. (An appositive is a noun or noun phrase placed beside another noun or noun phrase and used to identify or explain it.) What noun phrase is explained by the appositives?
2. This sentence makes syntactic sens if it ends with the first exclamation point. What do the appositives add to the meaning and effectiveness of the sentence?
Now you try:
Rewrite Poe's sentence, changing it into a series of short sentences. Read your sentences to the class and discuss how the use of short sentences changes the overall meaning of the original.
Read and think:
No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl! - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat"
Talk about it:
1. The dashes in this long sentence set off of a series of appositives. (An appositive is a noun or noun phrase placed beside another noun or noun phrase and used to identify or explain it.) What noun phrase is explained by the appositives?
2. This sentence makes syntactic sens if it ends with the first exclamation point. What do the appositives add to the meaning and effectiveness of the sentence?
Now you try:
Rewrite Poe's sentence, changing it into a series of short sentences. Read your sentences to the class and discuss how the use of short sentences changes the overall meaning of the original.
Lesson 8:
Read and think:
Now, the use of culture is that it helps us, by means of its spiritual standard of perfection, to regard wealth but as machinery, and not only to say as a matter of words that we regard wealth but as machinery, but really to perceive and feel that it is so. If it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture, the whole world the future as well as the present, would inevitably belong to the Philistines.
- Matthew Arnold, "Sweetness and Light," Culture and Anarchy
Talk about it:
1. Put the first sentence into your own words. How does the sentence's complexity add to its impact?
2. Where are the most important words in the second sentence of this passage - at the beginning or at the end? What effect does this have on the reader?
Now you try:
Listen to people's sentences as you talk to them today and keep a record of where speakers place important words: at the beginning or the end of a sentence. Write at least five sentences and notation indicating where the important words in those sentences are placed. Which is most common, beginning or end weight? Discuss the implication of these results for analyzing prose.
Read and think:
Now, the use of culture is that it helps us, by means of its spiritual standard of perfection, to regard wealth but as machinery, and not only to say as a matter of words that we regard wealth but as machinery, but really to perceive and feel that it is so. If it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture, the whole world the future as well as the present, would inevitably belong to the Philistines.
- Matthew Arnold, "Sweetness and Light," Culture and Anarchy
Talk about it:
1. Put the first sentence into your own words. How does the sentence's complexity add to its impact?
2. Where are the most important words in the second sentence of this passage - at the beginning or at the end? What effect does this have on the reader?
Now you try:
Listen to people's sentences as you talk to them today and keep a record of where speakers place important words: at the beginning or the end of a sentence. Write at least five sentences and notation indicating where the important words in those sentences are placed. Which is most common, beginning or end weight? Discuss the implication of these results for analyzing prose.
Lesson 9:
Read and think:
The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm:I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.
- James Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues"
Talk about it:
1. What function does the colon serve in this sentence?
2. How would the meaning and impact of the sentence change if the sentence read as follows:
The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm, and I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.
Now you try:
Write two independent clauses; join the two with a colon, giving emphasis to the independent clause which follows the colon. Use Baldwin's sentence as a model. Share your sentence with the class.
Read and think:
The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm:I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.
- James Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues"
Talk about it:
1. What function does the colon serve in this sentence?
2. How would the meaning and impact of the sentence change if the sentence read as follows:
The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm, and I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.
Now you try:
Write two independent clauses; join the two with a colon, giving emphasis to the independent clause which follows the colon. Use Baldwin's sentence as a model. Share your sentence with the class.
Lesson 10:
Read and think:
I slowed still more, my shadow pacing me, dragging its head through the weeds that hid the fence.
- William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Talk about it:
1. In this sentence, form imitates meaning. How does Faulkner slow the sentence down, reinforcing the sentence's meaning?
2. How would the impact of the sentence change if we rewrote the sentence to read:
I slowed still more. My shadow paced me and dragged its head through the wed-obscured fence.
Now you try:
Using Faulkner's sentence as a model, write a sentence that expresses reluctance. Use at least two phrases and one subordinate clause to reinforce the meaning of your sentence. Explain how your syntax reinforces your meaning.
Read and think:
I slowed still more, my shadow pacing me, dragging its head through the weeds that hid the fence.
- William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Talk about it:
1. In this sentence, form imitates meaning. How does Faulkner slow the sentence down, reinforcing the sentence's meaning?
2. How would the impact of the sentence change if we rewrote the sentence to read:
I slowed still more. My shadow paced me and dragged its head through the wed-obscured fence.
Now you try:
Using Faulkner's sentence as a model, write a sentence that expresses reluctance. Use at least two phrases and one subordinate clause to reinforce the meaning of your sentence. Explain how your syntax reinforces your meaning.
Lesson 11:
Read and think:
I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knes:
Arrogant, in black armor, behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the charioteers.
-James Joyce, "I Hear an Army Charging Upon the Land"
Talk about it:
1. The subject of the verb stand in line 3 is charioteers at the end of line 4. How does this inversion of the normal word order (subject-verb) affect the impact of those lines?
2. Examine the adjectives and adjective phrases in lines 3 and 4: arrogant, in black armor. What word do these adjectives modify? How does this unusual word order affect the impact of the lines?
Now you try:
Write a sentence. In your sentence invert the normal order of subject and verb. Try to make your sentence sound natural and powerful. Share your sentence with a partner.
Read and think:
I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knes:
Arrogant, in black armor, behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the charioteers.
-James Joyce, "I Hear an Army Charging Upon the Land"
Talk about it:
1. The subject of the verb stand in line 3 is charioteers at the end of line 4. How does this inversion of the normal word order (subject-verb) affect the impact of those lines?
2. Examine the adjectives and adjective phrases in lines 3 and 4: arrogant, in black armor. What word do these adjectives modify? How does this unusual word order affect the impact of the lines?
Now you try:
Write a sentence. In your sentence invert the normal order of subject and verb. Try to make your sentence sound natural and powerful. Share your sentence with a partner.
Lesson 12:
Read and think:
"He had been prepared to lie, to bluster, to remain sullenly unresponsive; but reassured by the good-humored intelligence of the Controller's face, he decided to tell the truth, straightforwardly.
-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Talk about it:
1. What effect does the repetition of infinitives (to lie, to bluster, to remain) in the first clause have on the meaning of the sentence? How do these infinitives prepare you for the infinitive phrase (to tell the truth) in the second clause?
2. What is the function of the semicolon in Huxley's sentence?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence with two independent clauses connected by a semicolon. In the first clause use a series of infinitives (as in Huxley's sentence). In the second clause, use an infinitive to contradict your first clause. Your topic is a movie you have recently seen. Share your sentence with the class.
Read and think:
"He had been prepared to lie, to bluster, to remain sullenly unresponsive; but reassured by the good-humored intelligence of the Controller's face, he decided to tell the truth, straightforwardly.
-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Talk about it:
1. What effect does the repetition of infinitives (to lie, to bluster, to remain) in the first clause have on the meaning of the sentence? How do these infinitives prepare you for the infinitive phrase (to tell the truth) in the second clause?
2. What is the function of the semicolon in Huxley's sentence?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence with two independent clauses connected by a semicolon. In the first clause use a series of infinitives (as in Huxley's sentence). In the second clause, use an infinitive to contradict your first clause. Your topic is a movie you have recently seen. Share your sentence with the class.
Lesson 13:
Read and think:
He slowly ventured into the pond. The bottom was deep, soft clay, he sank in, and the water clasped dead cold round his legs.
- D. H. Lawrence, "The Horse-Dealer's Daughter"
Talk about it:
1. what effect does sentence length have on this passage?
2. Examine the second sentence. How does the structure of the sentence reinforce the meaning?
Now you try:
Write a sentence in which you make an inanimate object active by using an active verb. Remember that your verb is not just an action verb (like talk or flow). The verb must make your inanimate object into an actor, or doer. Share your sentence with the class.
Read and think:
He slowly ventured into the pond. The bottom was deep, soft clay, he sank in, and the water clasped dead cold round his legs.
- D. H. Lawrence, "The Horse-Dealer's Daughter"
Talk about it:
1. what effect does sentence length have on this passage?
2. Examine the second sentence. How does the structure of the sentence reinforce the meaning?
Now you try:
Write a sentence in which you make an inanimate object active by using an active verb. Remember that your verb is not just an action verb (like talk or flow). The verb must make your inanimate object into an actor, or doer. Share your sentence with the class.
Lesson 14
Read and think:
But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his hand that had thrown the gun away.
-John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Talk about it:
1. The subordinate clause, that had thrown the gun away, is used as an adjective to modify the word hand. What effect does this have on the meaning of the sentence?
2. Compare Steinbeck's sentence with the following:
George, who had thrown the gun away, sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand.
Both sentences have subordinate clauses that modify nouns, but the clauses modify different nouns. Fill out the following chart indicating the subordinate clauses, the nouns they modify, and the effect of this focus on meaning.
Read and think:
But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his hand that had thrown the gun away.
-John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Talk about it:
1. The subordinate clause, that had thrown the gun away, is used as an adjective to modify the word hand. What effect does this have on the meaning of the sentence?
2. Compare Steinbeck's sentence with the following:
George, who had thrown the gun away, sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand.
Both sentences have subordinate clauses that modify nouns, but the clauses modify different nouns. Fill out the following chart indicating the subordinate clauses, the nouns they modify, and the effect of this focus on meaning.
Now you try:
Write a subordinate clause that completes the following sentence:
Sarah gazed at the road and thought about her plans ________________________________________________________________.
Your clause should modify the word plans and give meaning to the sentence. Share your sentence with a partner.
Write a subordinate clause that completes the following sentence:
Sarah gazed at the road and thought about her plans ________________________________________________________________.
Your clause should modify the word plans and give meaning to the sentence. Share your sentence with a partner.
Lesson 15:
Read and think:
When the moment is ripe, only the fanatic can hatch a genuine mass movement. WIthout him the disaffection engendered by militant men of words remains undirected and can vent itself only in pointless and easily suppressed disorders. Without him the initiated reforms, even when drastic, leave the old way of life unchanged, and any change in government usually amounts to no more than a transfer of power from one set of men of action to another. Without him there can perhaps be no new beginning.
- Eric Hoffer, "The Fanatics"
Talk about it:
1. This passage uses the phrase "without him" three times. What effect does this have on the overall impact of the passage?
2. How does the length of the last sentence affect the meaning of the passage?
Talk about it:
Start with following sentence.
Of all the instruments of modern technology, only the computer brings people closer together.
Now add two sentences which amplify the first sentence. Each of these sentences should begin with a prepositional phrase. Share your sentences with the class.
Read and think:
When the moment is ripe, only the fanatic can hatch a genuine mass movement. WIthout him the disaffection engendered by militant men of words remains undirected and can vent itself only in pointless and easily suppressed disorders. Without him the initiated reforms, even when drastic, leave the old way of life unchanged, and any change in government usually amounts to no more than a transfer of power from one set of men of action to another. Without him there can perhaps be no new beginning.
- Eric Hoffer, "The Fanatics"
Talk about it:
1. This passage uses the phrase "without him" three times. What effect does this have on the overall impact of the passage?
2. How does the length of the last sentence affect the meaning of the passage?
Talk about it:
Start with following sentence.
Of all the instruments of modern technology, only the computer brings people closer together.
Now add two sentences which amplify the first sentence. Each of these sentences should begin with a prepositional phrase. Share your sentences with the class.
Lesson 16:
Read and think:
HIGGINS: Yes: that's what drives me mad: the silly people don't know their own silly business.
-George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion
Talk about it:
1. What is the purpose of the two colons in this sentence?
2. What function does the yes at the beginning of the sentence serve?
Talk about it:
Write a sentence about a TV show you deplore. Using Shaw's sentence as a model, state what you don't like about the show in a succinct clause following a colon. Share your sentence with a partner.
Read and think:
HIGGINS: Yes: that's what drives me mad: the silly people don't know their own silly business.
-George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion
Talk about it:
1. What is the purpose of the two colons in this sentence?
2. What function does the yes at the beginning of the sentence serve?
Talk about it:
Write a sentence about a TV show you deplore. Using Shaw's sentence as a model, state what you don't like about the show in a succinct clause following a colon. Share your sentence with a partner.
Lesson 17:
Read and think:
It occurs to her that she should record this flash of insight in her journal - otherwise she is sure to forget, for she is someone who is always learning and forgetting and obliged to learn again - but the act of recording requires that she removed her gloves, rummage through her bag for her pen and for the notebook itself. This is more than she is capable of doing.
-Woodrow Wilson, "President Woodrow Wilson Presents an Ideal to the War Congress"
Talk about it:
1. This is a periodic sentence, one in which the subject and verb are delayed until the final part of the sentence. This creates syntactic tension and emphasizes the ideas at the end of the sentence. What ideas are stressed in this periodic sentence?
2. How would it change the effectiveness of the sentence if we rewrote it as:
Our motives and objects must be clear to all the world while we do these deeply momentous things.
Now you try:
Using Wilson's sentence as a model, write a periodic sentence about music censorship. Read your sentence to the class and explain how the syntax of your sentence affects the meaning.
Read and think:
It occurs to her that she should record this flash of insight in her journal - otherwise she is sure to forget, for she is someone who is always learning and forgetting and obliged to learn again - but the act of recording requires that she removed her gloves, rummage through her bag for her pen and for the notebook itself. This is more than she is capable of doing.
-Woodrow Wilson, "President Woodrow Wilson Presents an Ideal to the War Congress"
Talk about it:
1. This is a periodic sentence, one in which the subject and verb are delayed until the final part of the sentence. This creates syntactic tension and emphasizes the ideas at the end of the sentence. What ideas are stressed in this periodic sentence?
2. How would it change the effectiveness of the sentence if we rewrote it as:
Our motives and objects must be clear to all the world while we do these deeply momentous things.
Now you try:
Using Wilson's sentence as a model, write a periodic sentence about music censorship. Read your sentence to the class and explain how the syntax of your sentence affects the meaning.
Lesson 18:
Read and think:
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little - a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it - you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily - until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye.
-Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart," The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
Talk about it:
1. Look carefully at the first sentence. There are several groups of words called phrases ("very patiently" "without hearing him lie down," "a very, very little") that interrupt the flow of the sentence. Why do you think Poe wrote the sentence like this?
2. Look at the second sentence. What is the purpose of the dashes? How do these dashes, and the words they set off, involve the reader in the action of the passage?
Now you try:
Write a sentence about doing your chores. Try to imitate the way Poe uses phrases to slow down the way you read the sentence. Use at least one dash.
When I___________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Read and think:
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little - a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it - you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily - until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye.
-Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart," The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
Talk about it:
1. Look carefully at the first sentence. There are several groups of words called phrases ("very patiently" "without hearing him lie down," "a very, very little") that interrupt the flow of the sentence. Why do you think Poe wrote the sentence like this?
2. Look at the second sentence. What is the purpose of the dashes? How do these dashes, and the words they set off, involve the reader in the action of the passage?
Now you try:
Write a sentence about doing your chores. Try to imitate the way Poe uses phrases to slow down the way you read the sentence. Use at least one dash.
When I___________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Lesson 19:
Read and think:
She raised her veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her hover with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventures of the Speckled Band," The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Talk about it:
1. Examine the first sentence in this passage. Notice that the woman's state of agitation is described with a series of adjective phrases. This is called layering. How does layering help the reader clearly "see" the scene?
2. After the two long, descriptive sentences about the woman, what effect does the use of a short sentence about Sherlock Holmes have on the reader? How does the short sentence help us understand Holmes' character?
Now you try:
Rewrite the first sentence without the layering, breaking each idea into a separate sentence. How does this rewrite change the impact of the passage?
Read and think:
She raised her veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her hover with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventures of the Speckled Band," The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Talk about it:
1. Examine the first sentence in this passage. Notice that the woman's state of agitation is described with a series of adjective phrases. This is called layering. How does layering help the reader clearly "see" the scene?
2. After the two long, descriptive sentences about the woman, what effect does the use of a short sentence about Sherlock Holmes have on the reader? How does the short sentence help us understand Holmes' character?
Now you try:
Rewrite the first sentence without the layering, breaking each idea into a separate sentence. How does this rewrite change the impact of the passage?
Lesson 20:
Read and think:
Bears have an amazing sense of smell - perhaps the most sensitive of all animals. They use it to detect threats, mates, and meals. A polar bear can smell a seal that is more than half of a mile away and hidden beneath more than three feet of snow!
- Robert Snedden, Adaptation and Survival
Talk about it:
1. What is the purpose of the dash in sentence one? What is the purpose of the exclamation point in sentence three?
2. These sentences are very straightforward: very clear, with no unusual word order. Why do you think Snedden chose to write like that?
Now you try it:
Write two clear, straightforward sentences that describe something good about your school. Be very precise and use standard English word order. Use Snedden's sentences as your model.
Read and think:
Bears have an amazing sense of smell - perhaps the most sensitive of all animals. They use it to detect threats, mates, and meals. A polar bear can smell a seal that is more than half of a mile away and hidden beneath more than three feet of snow!
- Robert Snedden, Adaptation and Survival
Talk about it:
1. What is the purpose of the dash in sentence one? What is the purpose of the exclamation point in sentence three?
2. These sentences are very straightforward: very clear, with no unusual word order. Why do you think Snedden chose to write like that?
Now you try it:
Write two clear, straightforward sentences that describe something good about your school. Be very precise and use standard English word order. Use Snedden's sentences as your model.
Lesson 21:
Read and think:
Like sunshine after storm were the peaceful weeks which followed.
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Talk about it:
1. Rewrite the sentence. What is the subject of the sentence (underline it)? What is the main verb (circle it)? Is this the usual word order of subjects and verbs in English?
2. How does the unusual word order reinforce the meaning of the sentence?
Now you try:
Reorganize the sentence below. Start with the simile and reverse the standard order of the subject and verb.
Spring break came like a time of calm winds after a hurricane.
Read and think:
Like sunshine after storm were the peaceful weeks which followed.
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Talk about it:
1. Rewrite the sentence. What is the subject of the sentence (underline it)? What is the main verb (circle it)? Is this the usual word order of subjects and verbs in English?
2. How does the unusual word order reinforce the meaning of the sentence?
Now you try:
Reorganize the sentence below. Start with the simile and reverse the standard order of the subject and verb.
Spring break came like a time of calm winds after a hurricane.