The Awakening Syntax Terms

Loose or Cumulative sentence

A complex sentence (or a simple sentence with a complex structure) that has its main clause at the beginning of the sentence (main clause and subordinate constructions = loose sentence)

Loose or Cumulative sentence

We are going to study Kate Chopin’s syntax (after learning some terminology and looking at some examples of different types of sentences.)

When is using a loose or cumulative sentence ideal?

This is ideal for writing that aims at being colloquial, informal, or relaxed. It puts things first, as most of us do when we talk.

Periodic sentence

Like the loose sentence, has a complex structure but is organized in the reverse order. This kind of sentence is organized into at least two parts and expresses a complex through not brought to completion until the close. This makes sense fully only when the end of the sentence is reached.

Periodic sentence

After this time spent learning form the master you will know the secrets of identifying periodic sentences and their literary purposes.

When is using a periodic sentence ideal?

This periodic sentence is emphatic. The style s also formal and literary, suggesting not the flow of familiar talk, but the writer at his desk.

Convoluted sentence

A special kind of periodic sentence where the subordinate elements, instead of preceding the main clause, split it apart from the inside.

Convoluted sentence

Mr. Post, that silver-haired man, that english teacher, just showed us the finest syntax terminology PowerPoint I’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing.

When is it ideal to use a convoluted sentence?

This establishes a strong emphasis by throwing weight upon the words preceding the commas or dashes that set off the intruding constructions. It draws attention to itself and, more important, to what it says.

Zeugma

a special kind of pun involving a verb or preposition. It occurs when the verb or preposition has two different meanings with objects that complement both meanings.

Zeugma example

to throw a ball;to throw a party

Pun

a literary device that is known as a “play on words”. They involve words with similar or identical sounds but with different meanings. Their play relies on a word or phrase having more than one meaning. They are generally intended to be humorous but they often have a serious purpose as well in literary works.

pun example

You kept me like a secret, I kept you like an oath.

Asyndeton

using no conjugations and separating terms of the series with commas. In these, the series takes on more significance, more than it does in conventional pattern. But the stress on individual item is lighter than in polysyndeton and moves more quickly.

Asyndeton example

An empty stream, a great silence, an imposing forest. The air was thick, warm, heavy.

Polysyndeton

Placing a conjunction after every term except the last. The emphasis falls more evenly upon each member of the list

polysyndeton example

and, and, and, and, etc.

Listing terms in a series

Traditionally, a comma follows each item in the list with a conjunction (and) between the last two. This device emphasizes no particular item, though the last usually seems a bit more significant.

listing terms in a series example

Better hobbies include writing, cooking, and cycling.

Chiasmus

Similar to antimetabole but with broader significance, it is a pattern in which the second part is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed - a mirror image.

semantic Chiasmus example

flowerlike vs. flower

phonemic chiasmus example

moonstruck mushrooms

syntactic Chiasmus example

out went the taper as she hurried in

Antimetabole

The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.

Epanalepis

when the same word appears at the beginning and the end

Epanalepis example

A minimum wage that is not a liveable wage can never be a minimum wage.

Anadiplosis

Using the same term at the end of one clause and at the beginning of the next one.

Epistrophe

The repetition of the same term is at the ending of successive clauses.

Anaphora

The repetition of the same terms beginning successive clauses.

Repetition

A device where words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and to create emphasis.

Rhetorical question

a question that requires no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stranger than a direct statement.

juxtaposition

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.

inverted word order

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.

Inverted word order example

A damsel with a dulcimer in a vision I once saw.

Parallelism

two or more words, phrases, or clauses have the same grammatical form and an identical grammatical relationship to the same thing

Parallelism example

In its energy, its lyrics, its adrocacy of frustrated joys, rock is on long symphony of protest.

Balanced Sentence

Two or more words or constructions have essentially the same form and length and have similar functions. It requires that the sentence divide into roughly equal halves on either side of a central pause and not necessarily always two independent clauses as in the example.

Balanced Sentence example

i have been to the mountaintop, and I have seen the promised land.