Syntax

A Manner of Analysis

Syntax-Word Order• There are three basic types of syntax at which

to attack literature:– Sentence Length– Sentence Type– Sentence Structure

Sentence Lengths• Telegraphic: Shorter than five words– Your feet stink.

• Short: Around five to ten words– Your big ugly feet smell like two dead squirrels.

• Medium: Approximately 18 words– Those gargantuan gnarled appendages you call feet stink

like the maggot-encrusted liver of a rotting squirrel in summer.

• Long: About 30 words or more– Those gargantuan gnarled appendages that are currently

flopping like a lame fish on the back of my desk stink like the leftover carcass of a cat in July once it’s exploded on the pavement and been lapped up by a stray dog with breath so bad it no longer has teeth.

Types of Sentences

• Declarative: Makes a statement– You suck.

• Imperative: Commands– Go lick a toilet.

• Interrogative: Questions– Will you pull my finger?

• Exclamatory: Exclaims– Wow!

• (When these are written, they imply that the person is yelling. Don’t write one unless you intend to yell. It’s like KANYE-KING-OF-CAPS)

Sentence Structures

• Simple (one subject/one verb)• Compound (two independent clauses joined

by coordinating conjunction or semi-colon)• Complex (one independent clause with one or

more dependent clauses)• Compound-Complex (a combo of the above)

• **Please see grammar sheet for further examples

Sentence Structures• Loose Sentence (Cumulative): The independent

clause comes first, followed by dependent units such as phrases or clauses. We understand the point from the beginning.– The students groaned at the assignment, furrowing their

brows in annoyance, rolling their eyes at Ms. Keeler.– Carl read, giving himself carpal-tunnel from his e-reader.

• Periodic Sentence: It only makes sense when you reach the end. It is emphatic and formal. – Rolling their eyes at Ms. Keeler and furrowing their brows

in annoyance at the assignment, the students groaned.– Giving himself carpal-tunnel from his e-reader, Carl read.

Sentence Structures• Convoluted Sentence: A periodic sentence in which

the subordinate elements are split. – The students, furrowing their brows in annoyance and

rolling their eyes at Ms. Keeler, groaned at the assignment.

– Carl giving himself carpal-tunnel from his e-reader read.

• Parallel Structure: The words and parts are in the same order and tense.– I like reading, painting, and cooking.– The nuns painted the wall a stark white, while the

taggers plotted how soon they could desecrate it

Sentence Structure• Balanced Sentence: The phrases and clauses

balance each other in likeness of meaning, structure, and length.– It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.– Some like it hot, and some like it cold. – Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.

• Antithesis: A balanced sentence in which the two elements sharply contrast one another. – Cattiness is a cold war staged by women; macho is

a hotter war fought by men.

Sentence Order (Structure)• Natural Order: Subject before predicate– I eat ice cream in the winter.

• Inverted Order: Predicate before subject– In the winter, I eat ice cream.

• Split Order: divides the predicate with the subject in the middle.– In the winter, ice cream I eat.

• Inversion: purposely inverts standard word order. It is often used for emphasis.

• Her the boys ogle as she walks down the halls; her the girls shun when she enters the classroom.

Repetition

– Used to emphasize a point.

• Anaphora: The repetition of the same phrase at the beginning of two successive clauses.

• I didn’t like calculus, I didn’t like chemistry, but I loved literature.

• Antistrophe: The repetition of the same phrase or word at the end of successive clauses.– I don’t like calculus, I can’t understand calculus,

and I will fail calculus.

Repetition• Anadiplosis: Using the same term at the end

of one clause and the beginning of the next. – To read Ulysses is to comprehend stream-of-

consciousness; to comprehend stream-of-consciousness is to dedicate hours of my life.

• Epanalepsis: When the sentence begins and ends with the same word. – War begets war.

Repetition• Chiasmus or Antimetabole: Reversal of Key Terms– If there had never been a rebellion to our dress code there

never would have been a dress code to rebel against. • Elliptical Structure: parallel structure when a key term or

subject is missing, but understood.– Books are among the best of things, well used; abused, the

worst. • Antanclasis: the repetition of a word in which its meaning

changes the second time.– If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with

enthusiasm. • Polyptoton: repeating the same cognate (different forms of

one word)– Life is worth living

Catalog• A list or series• Polysyndeton: Placing a conjunction after

every term but the last– It is the season of football and cross-country and

cheerleading, when the leaves begin to fall.

• Asyndeton: the list is only separated by commas.– His beats, his shoes, his rep—that is all he

regarded.

Other Terms• Rhetorical Question: – Who doesn’t know what this is?

• Juxtaposition: purposeful placement of opposing ideas, words, or phrases.– The whole premise was beautifully ugly: to bribe the mayor

was dangerous. – Rough in the ghetto, but in jail he’s like Jello.

• Zuegma: a pun involving a verb when the verb has two meanings with objects that complement both meanings– She left his apartment with tarnished virtue and a new

mink.

Other Terms• Periphrasis: When the writer uses extra words to convey

an idea that could be easily conveyed with fewer words– The manner in which you have conducted yourself in my

presence as of late has been offensive and rude.

• Juxtaposition: purposeful placement of opposing ideas, words, or phrases.– The whole premise was beautifully ugly: to bribe the mayor

was dangerous. – Rough in the ghetto, but in jail he’s like Jello.

• Zuegma: a pun involving a verb when the verb has two meanings with objects that complement both meanings– She left his apartment with tarnished virtue and a new mink.