文体学7-syntactic2.pptVIP

Stylistic markers of syntax（2） Objectives: To acquaint students with the stylistic knowledge on the syntax level 1. Periodic and Loose sentences A periodic sentence puts the main idea at the end of the sentence. That is to say, supportive or qualifying statements are positioned before the main clause or assertion. A periodic sentence is not grammatically complete until the end is reached. Because the reader has to bear in mind points of contributory information until he gets to the end of the sentence. Examples To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius. Out of his other property, out of the things he had collected, his silver, his pictures, his houses, his investments, he got a secret and intimate feeling: out of her he got none. J. Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga The stylistic effect of periodic sentence is to make the reader wait for completed information. The important effect of left-branching is climax. The periodic sentence, by delaying both grammatical closure and the key idea until the end, achieves climax by suspense. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife. Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice A loose sentence puts the main idea at the beginning of the sentence. That is to say, supportive or qualifying information is positioned after the essential matter. My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember which probably started even before memory began, when I was a country child in Northern Virginia and my mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people, with calluses on their hands, overalls on their backs, and fourth-grade educations in their heads. The stylistic effect of loose sentence is natural and relaxed. It creates a literary style of simplicity and directness. It i