Introduction to Syntax

Honors English 2012

TASK 1:

NEATLY AND CLEARLY LABEL YOUR NOTES WITH:– TITLE– NAME– DATE– PERIOD

Definition

Syntax is the way words are arranged in sentences. In other words, syntax is sentence structure. Syntax includes:– Sentence Parts– Word Order– Sentence Length– Punctuation

TASK 2:

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF SYNTAX? WHAT FOUR MAIN ELEMENTS MAKE UP

SYNTAX? WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM LEARNING

ABOUT SYNTAX?

Seriously, Ms. Schumacher, haven’t we been tortured enough?

NO! Syntax is important because expert writers

understand how our language is put together.

They learn about language and experiment how we express ideas

Experimenting with syntax is playing with the foundation of communication

TASK 3:

WHY IS SYNTAX IMPORTANT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “EXPERIMENT”

WITH SYNTAX? THINK OF AT LEAST ONE EXPERT

WRITER (AUTHOR) WHO HAS EXPERIMENTED WITH SYNTAX?

Let’s get started…

First: you need to understand basic sentence vocabulary (subject, verb, clause, phrase, and fragment).

Second: you need to understand how writers use these sentence parts to get the effects they want.

Third: you need to have basic understanding of special punctuation (semicolon, colon, dash, and italics)

TASK 4:

WHAT THREE THINGS MUST YOU KNOW TO UNDERSTAND SYNTAX?

LIST ONE THING YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT EACH TOPIC.

SUBJECTS AND VERBS

The subject is the part of the sentence that expresses what the sentence is about. It’s the topic. It’s the do-er. It’s the be-er

The verb is the part of a sentence that expresses action or connects the subject with the other words in the sentence. It’s the right side of those crazy diagrams.

TASK 5:

WRITE A QUICK DEFINITION OF SUBJECT AND VERB

WRITE A 5 WORD SENTENCE THAT CONTAINS ONLY A SUBJECT AND A VERB (A VERY SIMPLE DIAGRAM)

CLAUSES AND PHRASES

In addition to subjects and verbs, you should be familiar with the larger parts of a sentence:– CLAUSES: a group of related words that has a

subject and a verb. – PHRASES: a group of related words that has no

subject or verb.

TASK 6:

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CLAUSE AND A PHRASE?

WRITE AN EXAMPLE OF A CLAUSE WRITE AN EXAMPLE OF A PHRASE

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

A sentence fragment is a group of words that is punctuated like a sentence but is not really a sentence. It’s missing one or more components of a complete sentence.

EX: The lion is a wild animal. Really wild.

*NOTE: You’ve likely been told not to use fragments. This is true in formal writing. However, expert authors use them all the time. In other words, don’t break this rule until you really know what you’re doing, and only in the right context.

TASK 7:

WHAT IS A SENTENCE FRAGMENT? WHY IS THE UNDERLINED EXAMPLE

CONSIDERED A FRAGMENT? WHO GETS TO USE FRAGMENTS? WHAT EFFECT DOES A SENTENCE

FRAGMENT HAVE?

WORD ORDER

Normal word order = subject-verb-object This can change, and indeed, change

meaning:– Jim said that he drives only a truck.– Jim said that only he drives a truck.– Jim only said that he drives a truck.– Only Jim said that he drives a truck.

WORD ORDER, CONT.

Word order is inherent. We don’t really have to think about it as native speakers of English.

Word order basics are fairly inflexible; however, some expert writers change order for special effect:– Am I ever happy about my report card!– Pizza I want—not soup!

TASK 8:

WHY DOES WORD ORDER MATTER? COME UP WITH YOUR OWN SENTENCE

AND REARRANGE IT THREE WAYS. TRY TO CHANGE THE MEANING IN ONE OF THE ARRANGEMENTS.

CAN YOU THINK OF AN EXAMPLE WHERE WORD ORDER HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY CHANGED?

SENTENCE LENGTH

Basically:– Sentences come in all shapes and sizes– Varied sentence structure keeps readers

interested– Varied sentence structure can control what

readers really pay attention to– Sentence length is a tool. You should really use it!

Chop some sentences; glue them back together in a new way.

TASK 9:

WHY IS VARIED SENTENCE STRUCTURE IMPORTANT?

Partner 1: Write a sentence containing at least 10 words.

Partner 2: Change the sentence so that it become longer, or break it up into two shorter sentences.

PUNCTUATION

Punctuation is power in writing. The following are the most basic pieces of

punctuation that help develop voice:– SEMICOLON: joins two or more clauses– COLON: something important will follow– DASH: sudden change of thought or sets off a

summary (two—count them, two—hyphens)– ITALICS: used to talk about a word as a word or

for emphasis

TASK 10:

EXPLAIN THE FOUR BASIC PIECES OF PUNCTUATION

LIST AT LEAST THREE OTHER PIECE OF PUNCTUATION. HOW DO YOU USE THEM? WHAT EFFECT DO THEY HAVE?

SYNTACTICAL SENTENCE PATTERNS

Please be familiar with the following:

TELEGRAPHIC: Shorter than five words in length – David couldn’t wait.

DECLARATIVE: Sentence makes a statement– Megan is a cheerleader.

IMPERATIVE: Sentence gives a command– Brianna must sing.

EXCLAMATORY: Sentence provides emphasis or expresses strong emotion.

– Kanye West is so cool!

INTERROGATIVE: Sentence asks a question– Does Tasha love Lady Gaga?

TASK 11:

BORING, I KNOW:– SIMPLY COPY DOWN THE INFORMATION ON

THIS SLIDE

TASK 11.5:

Run in place for a moment Shake out your hand Talk to your buddy about bowling.

SYNTACTICAL SENTENCE PATTERNS

Please be familiar with the following:

SIMPLE: Contains one independent clause– Jackson waved at the crowd from the dugout.

COMPOUND: Contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or by a semicolon

– Isaac waved at the crowd from the field; Kyle scored the last goal of the season.

COMPLEX: Contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses

– Because it greatly upset her, Ms. Schumacher sincerely apologized to Ms. Kitchens about her “very punny” sentence.

COMPOUND-COMPLEX: Contains two or more independents clauses and one or more subordinate clauses

– Although she dearly love llamas, Megan has stopped hassling the class about them, but the pony-loving-Brandi continues to taunt poor Derek without letting up.

TASK 12:

BORING, I KNOW:– SIMPLY COPY DOWN THE INFORMATION ON

THIS SLIDE

SYNTACTICAL SENTENCE PATTERNS

Please be familiar with the following:

LOOSE: Sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending

– Ms. Schumacher arrived at school after dodging angry road raccoons, hiding from mischievous truck drivers with silly string, and avoiding a five car pile up that included the Oscar Meyer wiener-mobile.

PERIODIC: Sentence makes complete sense only when the end of the sentence is reached

– After dodging angry road raccoons, hiding from mischievous truck drivers with silly string, and avoiding a five car pile up that included the Oscar Meyer wiener-mobile, Ms. Schumacher arrived at school.

PARALLEL STRUCTURE: Similarity between sentences or parts of sentences. It involves arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased.

– Ethel the Bulldog loves to wake up, loves to run outside, loves to relieve herself, and loves to tap-dance when I get home from work.

TASK 13:

BORING, I KNOW:– SIMPLY COPY DOWN THE INFORMATION ON

THIS SLIDE

SYNTAX PRACTICE 1

“He was a year older than I, skinny, brown as a chocolate bar, his hair orange, his hazel eyes full of mischief and laughter.”

– Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican

1. TALK ABOUT IT: Consider the way the sentence is written. What do you notice about word order? What effect does this word order have on the meaning of the sentence?

2. Placing all of the adjectives and adjective phrases one after the other is called layering. What effect does layering have on the impact of the sentence?

NOW YOU TRY IT:

Fill in the blanks to create a sentence similar to Santiago’s:

He (she) was than I,

, , his/her hair

, his/her eyes .

adjectivecomparative of an adjective

Simile that describes the subject

adjective phraseadjective

SYNTAX PRACTICE 2

“But once I spread my fingers in the dirt and crouch over the Get on Your Mark, the dream goes and I am solid again and am telling myself, Squeaky you must win, you must win, you are the fastest thing in the world, you can even beat your father up Amsterdam if you really try. And then I feel my weight coming back just behind my knees then down to my feet then into the earth and the pistol shot explodes in my blood and I am off and weightless again, flying past the other runners, my arms pumping up and down and the whole world is quiet except for the crunch as I zoom over the gravel in the track.”

-Toni Cade Bambara, Raymond’s Run (Creative Short Stories)

SYNTAX PRACTICE 2, CONT.

How is this excerpt written (syntactically)? How does the sentence structure emphasize the meaning of the sentence?

What do you notice about the sentence beginnings? What is the purpose of this? Why would the author choose to do this?

NOW YOU TRY IT:– Write a sentence describing

getting a phone call you are really excited about. Try to capture your excitement through your sentence structure, as Bambara does, using short clauses connected by commas. Begin your sentence with a conjunction.

SYNTAX PRACTICE 3

“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

SYNTAX PRACTICE 3, CONT.

TALK ABOUT IT: Look carefully at the first sentence. There are several phrases that interrupt the flow of the sentence. Why would Poe write the sentence like this?

Look at the second sentence. What is the purpose of the dashes? How do they involve the reader in the action of the passage?

NOW YOU TRY IT:Write a sentence about doing

your homework. Try to imitate the way Poe uses phrases to slow down the way you read the sentence. Use at least one dash.

When I

.

SYNTAX PRATICE 4

“When I woke up it was light. It was awfully quiet. Too quiet. I mean, our house just isn’t naturally quiet. The radio’s usually going to full blast and the TV is turned up loud and people are wrestling and knocking over lamps and tripping over the coffee table and yelling at each other. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. Something had happened…I couldn’t remember what.”

-S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

SYNTAX PRACTICE 4, CONT.

Hinton starts the passage with two short sentences, a sentence fragment and another short sentence. Then he writes two longer sentences. Contrast the purposes of the short sentences and the long sentences. Use the chart to jot down your ideas.

Purpose of the short sentences and fragments

Purpose of the longer sentences.

HOW DOES THE SENTENCE LENGTH REINFORCE THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE?

HINTON USES ELLIPSES IN THE LAST SENTENCE TO SHOW THAT SOMETHING HAS BEEN LEFT OUT. WHAT HAS BEEN LEFT OUT? HOW DO YOU KNOW?

SYNTAX PRACTICE 4, CONT.

NOW YOU TRY IT: Think about a time when you got a present you knew you wouldn’t like—you knew it even before you opened it. Now write a sentence about this experience. Create tension by using ellipses to show that some important words have been left out.