FIVE CANONS OF RHETORIC: INVENTION, MEMORY,ARRANGEMENT, STYLE, and DELIVERY

The study of Style Sentences – grammatical type, placement of details, variety Words- level of elaborateness and formality, difficulty, technicality Figures – schemes and tropes, figurative language

The study of Style SENTENCES . . . Can be classified in many ways. It is helpful to consider the potential effect a particular type of sentence might have on a reader in a certain situation. Most basic way to classify them is according to the type and number of clauses.

Sentences Simple – single independent clause Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union.

Sentences - Simple Within its single clause, a simple sentence can have a compound subject, a compound verb, or both EX: Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to save the Union. EX: Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union and persevered. EX: Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to save the Union and persevered.

Sentences - compound Compound Sentences – has two clauses, each could exist as a simple sentence if you removed the conjunctions connecting them. EX: Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union, and Andrew Johnson assisted him. EX: Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to save the Union and persevered, but the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the states were more important than the maintenance of the Union.

Sentences - Complex A complex sentence has two clauses One independent and at least one subordinate to the main clause

Sentences - Complex EX: When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the states were more important than the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to save the Union and persevered.

Sentences – Compound-Complex The Compound-complex sentence has the defining features of both a compound and a complex sentence. EX: When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the states were more important than the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union and persevered, and Andrew Johnson assisted him.

Sentences - Analysis Why should you be concerned with whether a sentence is simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex? The function grows out of the form – For instance, when you want to make a succinct point, a short, simple sentence will do so effectively.

Sentences - Analysis A short, simple sentence can suggest to a reader that you are in control, that you want to make a strong point.

Sentences - Analysis If you are trying to show how ideas are balanced and related in terms of equal importance, a compound sentence can convey that to the reader. A single compound sentence or a series of them in a composition can suggest to your reader that you are the kind of person who takes a balanced view of challenging issues, that you want to give equal weight to more than one side of an issue.

Sentences - Analysis If you want to show more complicated relationships between ideas, then complex and compound-complex sentences can communicate the intricacies of your thinking. A single complex or compound-complex sentence or a series of them can cue a reader that yours is a mind that willingly takes up complicated issues and tries to make sense of them, both for yourself and for your readers.

Sentences – loose and periodic Just as writers can vary the number and type of clauses in a sentence according to the subject they are treating and the effect they are trying to have on readers, so can writers vary sentences along the loose-periodic continuum to achieve similar goals. Sentences vary along the loose-periodic continuum according to how they incorporate extra details in relation to basic sentence elements.

Sentences – loose and periodic The basic elements of every sentence in English are subjects, verbs, and complements. Here is a sentence with just two basic elements: Abraham Lincoln wept.

Sentences – loose Abraham Lincoln wept. A loose sentence is a basic sentence with details added immediately at the end of the basic sentence elements. Abraham Lincoln wept, fearing that the Union would not survive if the southern states seceded.

Sentences – periodic A periodic sentence is a sentence in which additional details are placed in one of two positions, either before the basic sentence elements, or in the middle of them. Alone in his study lost in somber thoughts about his beloved country, dejected but not broken in spirit, Abraham Lincoln wept.

Sentences – periodic Here is a periodic sentence that places the detail in the middle of the basic sentence elements: Abraham Lincoln, alone in his study, lost in somber thoughts about his beloved country, dejected but not broken in spirit, wept.

Sentences – loose and periodic Understanding the concepts of loose and periodic, you can achieve sentence variety by writing sentences that move along a loose- periodic continuum. This sentence moves more toward loose than periodic: Abraham Lincoln considered the Union an inviolable, almost eternally inspired, concept.

Sentences – loose and periodic This sentence tends more toward periodic than loose: Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught philosopher, a political scientist even before there was such a field, considered the Union an inviolable, almost eternally inspired, concept.

Sentences – loose and periodic You can hear the differences in these sentences – in what is emphasized and in how quickly a reader reads them. Writers use these types of sentences to effect changes in meaning. Readers use them to understand meaning more clearly.

Sentences – loose and periodic The most emphatic position in a sentence is often at or near the end, and Since the second most emphatic location is the beginning, Recognizing and creating loose and periodic sentences enable the rhetor to make wise decisions about varying sentence structure for emphasis.

Sentences – loose and periodic More importantly, the structure of a sentence affects the pacing of a text. A loose sentence moves quickly A succession of loose sentences can make a piece of prose fairly gallop along. A Periodic sentence works with delay It postpones completing the sentence until after it has provided the details.

Sentences – loose and periodic In passages where a writer wants to sound crisp, businesslike, and efficient, the loose sentence will serve the writer well. In passages where a writer wants to sound balanced, deliberate, and thoughtful, a periodic sentence will be a useful tool.

Sentences – loose and periodic Good writer make informed decisions about sentence structure. They know their sentences not only carry meaning but also affect readers, causing them to evaluate the ethos of the writer and Empathize with the writer’s position. Sentence structure says much about the writer and his or her purpose, credibility, and goals.

Sentences – loose and periodic Do you think the following sentence from Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery is loose or periodic? “In order to defend and protect the women and children who were left on the plantation when the white males went to war, the slaves would lay down their lives.” Rewrite the sentence in the other format. Discuss how changes affect tone, purpose, and the ethos of the speaker.

Works Cited Jolliffe, David, and Hephzibah Roskelly Works Cited Jolliffe, David, and Hephzibah Roskelly. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing, 2nd ed. Pearson, 2009.