Sentence Structure

• Before we begin it is important to note that identification of a feature is not enough. You need to say what effect the feature you have noted has.

• One of the key successes in questions on structure is to remember the five main possibilities. Check each of them against the sentences you have been asked to examine:

• Punctuation and lists• Length of sentence• Use of climax or anti-climax• Repetition• Word order

Punctuation as pointers in a Sentence to Aid Understanding

• Full stops tell you when one point is finished.• An exclamation mark will give you a clue to the tone of the

sentence.• A colon may signal an explanation or introduce a list. • A semi-colon may provide you with a balancing point in the

ideas of a sentence or may divide up items in a list.• Brackets, commas or dashes may indicate a parenthesis by

adding additional information, the writer’s viewpoint or an explanation.

• Inverted commas may cast doubt on the truthfulness of the words they highlight.

Example 1

• Governments may stop finger pointing and instead join hands; industries may slash short-term profit to permit long term survival.

• Show how the punctuation clarifies the argument. 2A

Lists

• A number of items separated by punctuation marks form what are known as lists.

• However, simply mentioning there is a list is not going to get you very far. You must comment on a feature’s function and effect.

• Example 1• The Scottish race has been variously and plentifully accused of being dour,

mean, venal, sly, narrow, slothful, sluttish, nasty, dirty, immoderately drunken, embarrassingly sentimental, masterfully hypocritical, and a blueprint for disaster when eleven of them are together on a football field.

• Comment on the structure and effect of this sentence. 2A• Summary• Identify the list• Say what effect the list has on the reader• The effect will often be created by a cumulative nature, or the

monotony, or the shape of the list.

Sentence Length

• Be clear that an extract may include long and short sentences. You will usually have to comment on a short sentence. However, it is not enough to simply recognise sentence length, you must comment on the effect.

• Example 1 • But then, like the cavalry regrouping, they set off once

more, ground their way back up to speed, beat a path through the final verse and ended again, Simon’s final flourish sounding a little more sheepish this time. After that, they were gone, and no encores.

• Show how the sentence structure emphasises the failings of the band.

2A

Climax and anti-climax

• Sometimes a list will build up to a climax to heighten the drama of the writer’s argument. At other points the writer may build up a list only to end with something less important, often trivial. This anti-climax helps contribute to the writer’s overall tone.

Repetition

• We may see:• Repetition in sentence structure• Repetition in expressions or words• Repetition of sounds• Example 1• The day that Ali refused the draft, I cried in my

room. I cried for him and for myself, for my future and for his, for all our black possibilities.

• Show how the writer’s use of sentence structure in these lines helps to convey the passion he felt about Ali’s decision. 2A

Answer

• In these sentences there is repetition if ‘I cried’ which builds up the emotional intensity. The repetition of for phrases- ‘for him’, ‘for myself’ etc deepens the intensity of the emotion still further as it represents gradually the wider importance of his thoughts and Ali’s actions.

Example 3

• At our end of the time corridor there is a musical cacophony, at theirs a profound and deafening silence. At our end of the corridor there are a thousand different voices demanding to be heard, demanding our attention…At their cold and gloomy end of the corridor, however, only a trickle of learning or culture survives from classical times, mainly through hearsay and education.

• Show how the writer’s use of sentence structure makes clear the contrasting environments of the people in the past and the people today.

2A

Answer

There is repetition of, a balanced structure “At our end” contrasting to “At theirs” to emphasize the amount of vibrant musical sounds that are going on in our lifetime in contrast to the silence during the past. The ellipsis in the final complex sentence between the two ideas helps to create a sense of distance between the two eras musically.