1. Syntax Punctuation: Structure: Changes: Sentence length:
How does the author punctuate the sentence and to what extent does the punctuation affect the meaning?
Structure:
How are words and phrases arranged within the sentence? What is the author trying to accomplish through this arrangement?
Changes:
Are there places where the syntax clearly changes? If so, where, how, and why?
Sentence length:
How many words are in the different sentences? Do you notice any pattern (e.g., a cluster of short sentences of a particular type)?

2. Devices: How would you describe the author’s use of the following:
o Independent and dependent clauses
o Coordinating, subordinating, or correlative conjunctions
o Repetition
o Parallelism
o Fragments
Sentence beginnings:
How does the author begin his or her sentences?
Language:
What use does the author make of figurative language or colloquial expressions?

3. The Road By Cormac McCarthy
He was half asleep when he heard a crashing in the woods. Then another. He sat up. The fires were up to a scattered flame among the embers. He listened.

4. IMAGERY:
The verbal representation of all five senses Writer’s use IMAGERY to: - evoke vivid experience - convey specific emotions - suggest a particular idea - impart figurative or symbolic meaning – the parched earth can be a metaphor for a character’s despair, a bird’s flight a metaphor for hope Reader’s must: - examine the traditional meanings of images – a river is usually associated with life’s journey - examine the departure from tradition and the effect of both on meaning