A poster from a 1912 production of William Shakespeare’s Richard III. It is of a man, King Richard standing on a battlefield in armor with a sword, gesturing towards the skies.
When we learn how to read, we get used to seeing words in a certain order, and we begin using the same order in our speech. This is the basis of syntax. All languages have basic patterns for how words are combined to form sentences. Writers use different types of sentences for different effects. A solid understanding of sentence patterns is, therefore, crucial to understanding written and spoken language.
Source: Richard III 1912 Poster, Vanjaggenije, Wikimedia
Below are some types of sentences you have probably seen prior to this lesson; read through the examples and review them.
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Declarative |
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” |
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Imperative |
“Off with their heads.” |
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Exclamatory |
“It’s alive! It’s alive!” |
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Interrogative |
“Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why, can’t I?” |
The following passages show effective examples of syntax in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lewis Carroll, Bob Dylan, and Ralph Ellison. Read through each passage, paying attention to the syntax. What are these authors telling you? What points are they trying to make? How does the passage make you feel? By answering these questions, you will begin to understand syntax and how the arrangement of words can affect a reader.
Read each passage in this section and then click the correct answer for the questions that follow.
Passage 1
In this passage from The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald is describing main character Jay Gatsby, a self-made man who seems to have everything—except the girl he has always loved.
He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.
1. The first sentence is an example of—
2. In the second sentence, what is it about the syntax that pulls you into Gatsby’s dream of returning to the past?
Passage 2
In this next passage from Through the Looking Glass, Alice and Unicorn are getting to know one another. Unicorn has never seen a child before and thinks Alice is a monster. By the same token, Alice thinks Unicorn is a monster. Pay attention to what they are saying to one another. What is being debated here? What do they agree to do? What does the last line reveal about Unicorn? How does the last line make you feel? Are you a little bit impressed by the Unicorn’s acceptance of Alice? Whatever your feelings are, the last line’s syntax seems to create a tone of friendliness and compromise.
[Alice:] “Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!”
“Well, now that we have seen each other,” said the unicorn, “if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.”
1. “If you believe in me, I’ll believe in you” is an example of—
2. The second sentence is an example of—
Passage 3
Donne uses metaphors to provide his readers with imagery, and the metaphors add meaning to his words and phrases. Island, continent, and clod are metaphors for how we are all connected to each other.
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
1. The seventh and eighth sentences of Donne’s poem beginning with “As well. . .” are examples of—
2. The word “tolls” in the last two lines is an example of—
Passage 4
This passage is from the prologue of The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. As a writer, Ellison used racial issues to express universal dilemmas of identity and self-discovery but avoided taking a straightforward political stand. In this passage, Ellison repeats over and over again “I am.” The details that follow suggest a man’s yearning to be recognized as a man. A reader can’t help but feel empathy and sympathy toward someone who does not consider himself very important and struggles to prove his identity. Ellison begins this passage with a very short, straightforward statement, elaborates with a very long sentence in the middle, and then ends with another concise and strong statement. You can see that Ellison’s syntax influences what a reader feels when reading this passage.
I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
1. The first two sentences of the passage draw the reader‘s attention because they—
2.“Nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms” is an example of—