Week 3 Class Notes (9.27-10.01)

Style
Clarity - readers have to be able to understand your writing.
- use short, active verbs
- match subjects with actors
- maintain a sustained flow of sentences from a single POV
The plain style - cut down on unnecessary eloquence
- sometimes elevated language is necessary, but in many cases it isn’t
- using simple language does not necessarily make your work sound unsophisticated
- plain language helps make a piece easier to follow
Concision - don’t use too many words
- using too many words obscures your meaning and often makes a piece difficult to read
- cut down on useless empty words and unnecessary adjectives
Rhetoric - all the different things that make a piece pleasing to read
- incorporate good rhetoric into your work
- see previous week’s notes for the different aspects of rhetoric

Syntax
Most sentences are in SVO/C form - subject verb object/complement
- object - receives action from the subject. ex. She threw the teapot.
- complement - describes/modifies the subject. ex. She is a teapot.

Coordinating conjunction - FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
Subordinating conjunction - begins dependent clauses; joins with independent clauses; ex. When, while, because, since
Compound sentence - two independent clauses joined with a coordinating conjunction
Complex sentence - an independent clause and a dependent clause joined with a subordinating conjunction
Simple sentence - an independent clause with no conjunctions

Sentence Variety
Effects:
- pace - speed the passage moves at
- tone - emotional feeling/attitude
- emphasis/attention - where is the attention being directed?
Techniques:
- construction - how sentences are put together: how they are joined, word order,  verb tenses, etc.
- Length - pretty self explanatory

Further explaination on Syntax: http://www.ehow.com/about_4777970_what-is-syntax.html
Examples of Syntax: http://www.richgibson.com/writingmanual/chap3.htm