Style and Syntax

1. Style and Syntax • Syntax consists of sentence structure, but analysis of style and meaning never relies on one concept alone. • This is grammar: punctuation, rules, etc. • There are four areas to be considered when analyzing style: diction, syntax, treatment of the subject matter, figurative language

2. Diction • Words can be monosyllabic, polysyllabic (the higher the ratio of polysyllabic words, the more difficult the content) • Words can be colloquial, informal, or old-fashioned • Words can be concrete or abstract • Words can be euphonious or cacophonous

3. Syntax • See Handout Things to ponder: • Examine the sentence length • Examine sentence beginnings • Examine the arrangement of ideas in a sentence • Examine the arrangement of ideas in a paragraph • Examine the sentence patterns

4. How does E.B. White use syntax effectively within this one sentence? “Next morning when the first light came into the sky and the sparrows stirred in the streets, when the cows rattled their chains and the rooster crowed and the early automobiles went whispering along the road, Wilbur awoke and looked for Charlotte.”

5. What can we observe? • The sentence follows the sun, the birds, the cows, then the cars. Finally when the world is awake, Wilbur gets up to look for Charlotte. The movement of the sentence of the sentence takes us from the sunlight, which not only begins the day but represents the farthest remove from humanity, down through birds, cows, and roosters- coming ever close to us- until it gets to the cars, driven by human beings. But no human beings appear, so we can continue to enjoy the pretense that Wilbur and Charlotte are human even though they are actually a pig and a spider, respectively.

6. What about the sentences? • The sentence is periodic, moving from the opening adverb phrase through the two successive adverb clauses, the second longer than the first to the final main clause- the main focal and grammatical point of the sentence. In addition, it may be helpful to note that in the first subordinate clause, the subjects are the sun and the sparrows- natural and free-ranging- while in the second, the subjects are cows in chains, a rooster, and the automobiles. So by the time Wilbur awakes and goes to look for Charlotte, the scene has been fully set.

7. From Huck Finn • “Col. Grangerford was very tall and very slim, and had a darkish-paly complexion, not a sign of red in it anywheres; he was clean-shaved every morning all over his thin face, and he had the thinnest kind of lips, and the thinnest kind of nostrils, and the high nose, and heavy eyebrows, and the blackest kind of eyes, sunk so deep back that they seemed like they was looking out of caverns at you, as you may say.”

8. What about the syntax? • The sentence is loose, piling detail after detail using repetition and near-repetitions (“very slim.” “thin face,” “thinnest kind of lips.” “Thinnest kind of nostrils.” to suggest the almost spectral quality of the colonel. Reinforcing the hawklike, threatening appearance of the man is the emphasis on superlatives- the “blackest kind of eyes.” and the use of the simile “sunk so deep back that they seemed like they was looking out of caverns at you.” Huck Finn’s naïve, colloquial speech reveals his ingenuous and ironic admiration of this frightening character, but the careful reader knows better.”

9. Take Special note of Parallellism • Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. • Anaphora and epistrophe are forms of parallelism. • Parallel construction requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. Familiar instances from the Bible are the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

10. Faulty Parallellism • Students think they should always be varying everything. Sometimes this is true, but don’t be afraid of parallel construction. • Faulty Parallelism: Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method, while now the laboratory method is employed. • Corrected Parallelism: • Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method; now it is taught by the laboratory method.

11. Fix these: • The French, the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese • In spring, summer, or in winter • It was both a long ceremony and very tedious • A time not for words, but action • My objections are, first, the injustice of the measure; second, that it is unconstitutional.

12. Corrections: • The French, the Italians, the Spanish, and the Portuguese • In spring, summer, or winter (In spring, in summer, or in winter) • The ceremony was both long and tedious. • A time not for words, but for action • My objections are, first, that the measure is unjust; second, that it is unconstitutional.

13. The prose of earlier centuries tends to be syntactically more complex than contemporary writing. • Hawthorne’s writing in The Scarlet Letter typifies this style—ornate description, elevated language, frequent use of periodic sentence, and sentences in which several parts combine to describe the subject or clarify the major action of the verb

14. When looking at someone’s style think DIDLS • Diction- connotations, tropes • Images-vivid appeals, figurative language • Details- what is included, omitted • Language- overall use of language, formal, clinical, jargon, etc. • Sentence Structure- syntax- sometimes this alone can give clues to the author’s personality, attitude toward subject and reader, etc.

15. ” The door of the jail being flung open from within there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into the sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town-beadle, with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand.”

16. Note first the inverted sentence structure. The subject is “the grim and grisly presence of the town-beadle,” and the verb “appeared” precedes it. The word “there,” which seems like the grammatical subject, is actually only a place holder, since it doesn’t tell us what appeared. Consider the effect of this order. • The inverted syntax presents the visual details in the exact sequence Hawthorne wants the reader to imagine.

17. Within the sentence, in other words, the simile foreshadows the town-beadle’s impression on the crowd. Likewise, the tone established by the town- beadle’s “grim and grisly presence” anticipates and sets the mood for the character who follows him (both in the order of the passage and literally through the jail-house door)— the shame-faced Hester Prynne.

18. Activity Analyze this quote by Pope John Paul II “Here, as at Aushwitz and many other places in Europe, we are overcome by the echo of the heart-rending laments of so many. Men, women, and children cry out to us from the depths of the horror that they knew. How can we fail to heed their cry? No one can forget or ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale.”

19. What rhetorical devices are used in this quote? • Metaphor- the echo • Parallelism- “no one can forget”- “No one can diminish” • Imagery- men, women and children cry • Rhetorical questions • Syntax- long complex sentences, then shorter rhetorical questions • What is the purpose of each rhetorical device?