chapter2 syntactic device 1-2

课题Chapter2 Syntactic Devices 1-2目的要求Get the students to know the variation in the use of sentence structures for stylistic or rhetorical effect.教学重点Non grammatical properties of sentences like length, complexity, looseness:1.Long and short sentence2.Simple sentence and Compound sentence3.Branching SentencesThe right-branching or loose sentence松散句The left-Branching or periodic sentence 掉尾句●Mid-branching●Multi-branching4.Climax层进句5. Anticlimax突降句教学难点Loose sentence , periodic sentence教学课时4教学方法reading , explanation, and discussion教学内容与步骤Introductory●Syntactic divices●What does sentence variety aim at?A.different sentence patternsB. varied sentence lengthsThe purpose of seeking sentence variety is to avoid monotony.●variety in sentence patternsA)In grammar, sentence patterns are generally viewed from twoperspectives:1.Viewed from their function: the declarative sentence, theinterrogative sentence, the imperative sentence and the exclamatory sentences.2.Viewed from structure: the simple sentence, the compoundsentence, the complex sentence and the compound-complex sentence.B)There are many sentence patterns in English that havespecial affects in achieving rhetoric purposes. E.g. loose sentence, periodic sentence, cumulative sentence and anticlimax sentence.1.1 Long and Short sentencesWhat’s the rhetorical effect of long or short sentences?The rhetorical effect of long or short sentences depends on purpose and context. Without an appropriate purpose or context, shortsentences used abundantly in a passage only make for choppiness and monotony. Likewise, too many ling sentences can make a passage heavy and laborious. Skillful writers, however, can vary sentence length to great effect to express different moods or attitudes, to describe action or events or to emphasize a point. (See the first three examples on page6-8)Short sentences---quickness, stressLong sentences--- clear, explicitLegal documents, official documents and scientific papers contain more long sentences than other categories of writing. Because they should be made clear and explicit, with no room for misunderstanding and mistranslation.In prose writing, long sentences serve a different purpose. They are used to describe actions or feelings that come in quick succession, to describe simultaneous or continuous action, or to indicate a close cause-effect relationshiop.1.2-1.41.2 Characteristics of the simple sentenceThe simple sentence contains a single independent clause and all its constituent element are phrase.●At phrase level, the simple sentence can made quite complex.●What is the grammatical devices?The modification of nouns by attribution.The modification of verbs by adverbials.1.3 the noun phrase in simple sentencesThe head word can be modified by the following ways.A.Pre-modificationB.Post-modificationC.Apposition1.4 Adverbials in simple SentenceAdverbials may occur together. The problem of hierarchy arise.1.5-1.7 Compound, and complex sentence1.8 The right-branching or loose sentence松散句The loose sentence is one of the most common sentence patterns in English rhetoric. In a loose sentence, the main idea is put at the beginning of the sentence, and supportive or qualifying information comes after it. The information may be given in a wide variety of forms: from words to phrases to clauses.(See examples on page24) The stylistic effect of a loose sentence is natural, relaxed.●The cumulative sentence is loose sentence.●The coordinated sentence is also a loose sentence because each ofthe coordinated clauses can express a complete notion and even the order of coordinated clauses can sometimes be exchanged without affecting much of the meaning of the who sentence.E.g. John likes sports and Jane likes music.___Jane likes music and John likes sports.● A complex sentence can be a loose sentence when the main clauseprecedes the subordinated one(s).1.9 The left-Branching or periodic sentence 掉尾句In contrast to the loose sentence, the periodic sentence has its main idea at the end of the sentence. Supporting or qualifying statement are placed before the main clause or assertion.1.10 Mid-branchingMid-branching, as the name implies, is to have major parts of a main clause separated by the insertion of supportive or qualifying information.●The most common form is the separation of Subject fromPredicate.e.g. The essay, as a species of literature, was invented by Montaign.A verb may also be separated from its object.e.g. The narrowest street possesses, in every crook and twist of itsintention, the soul of the man who built it.作业Rewrite the following paragraph to give it more variety in sentence structure.Values play a major role in our society. People use these values to make certain decisions in their lives. Values can be stated as a person’s view of right and wrong.（Values, which can be understood as one’s views of right and wrong, play a major role in our society and people use them to make certain decisions in their lives.）教学后记：A.1.5-1.7 Compound, and complex sentences are for the students tolearn themselves.B.The students should study the examples carefully to appreciate therhetorical effect.。