Analyzing Diction, Syntax, Sound1. Read the selected scene aloud

2. Paraphrase

3. Summarize

4. Look at word meanings

5. Look at sentence structure

6. Look at sound devices

7. If I give you a photocopy of the selected scene, MARK IT UP!

Look at the order of the parts of the sentence. Is the sentence the usual (subject-verb-

object) order? Hint: Paraphrase the sentence to help you identify “usual”.

If yes, skip to Rhetorical Devices: Figurative Language If no, ask yourself:

How does this sentence connect its words, phrases and clauses? Analyze and answer by looking at Rhetorical Devices:

Syntax

Rhetorical Devices: Figurative Language Metonymy Synecdoche Metaphor Personification Simile Apostrophe Others?

Rhetorical Devices: Syntax

Chiasmus Polysyndeton Anaphora Antithesis Parenthesis Asyndeton Others? Continue by asking yourself….

Syntactic Analysis Does this unusual word order create rhythm?

Does the rhythm: Emphasize a particular word?

If yes, is the word concrete, abstract, specific or general? If yes, what part of speech is the particular word? What does this indicate? Go to Rhetorical Devices: Figurative Language for further

analysis

Does the rhythm: Give a character his/her own speech pattern?

If yes, what does this say about the character?

Syntactic Analysis

Does the rhythm: Emphasize an important part of the sentence? (subject,

object, etc.) If yes, what does this indicate?

Does the rhythm: Create sound?

Alliteration Assonance

Sentence StructureWhat is the order of the parts of the sentence? Is it the usual (subject-verb-object), or is it inverted?

Which part of speech is more prominent—nouns or verbs?

What are the sentences like? Are they periodic (moving toward

something important at the end) or cumulative (adding details that

support an important ideas in the beginning of the sentence)?

How do the sentences connect their words, phrases, and

clauses?

Word MeaningsWhich verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs stand out in this scene?

Which of the important words in the passage (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are: Examples:concrete? (Words readers can imaginatively use their senses to experience what the words represent. Ex. Dog, classroom, radio,)

and abstract? (words that create no "mental picture" or any other imagined sensations for readers. Ex. Love, hate, emotions, peace, ambition, etc.)

Which are specific? (The Saint Bernard jumped on top of the red corvette.)

and general? (The dog jumped on top of the car. )

Are some words non-literal or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, irony, pun or paradox?

Terminology, Terminology, TerminologyCan you find examples of these?

Alliteration: Repetition of the same initial consonant sound throughout a

line of verse"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought...." (Sonnet

XXX)

Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words."Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,Shrunk to this little measure?" (Julius Caesar, III, i)

Polysyndeton: The repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate

words, phrases, or clauses."If there be cords, or knives, Poison, or fire, or

suffocating streams, I'll not endure it." (Othello, III, iii)

Parenthesis: Insertion of some word or clause in a position that

interrupts the normal syntactic flow of the sentence (asides are rather

emphatic examples of this)."...Then shall our names,Familiar in his mouth as household words—Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered." (Henry V,

IV, iii)

Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase as the beginning of successive

clauses."Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!" (King John, II,

i)

Synecdoche: The use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part.

"Take thy face hence." (Macbeth, V, iii)

Assonance: Repetition or similarity of the same internal vowel sound in words of close proximity"Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks." (Romeo and Juliet, V, iii)

Antithesis: Juxtaposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction."Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." (Julius Caesar, III, ii)

Chiasmus: Two corresponding pairs arranged in a parallel inverse order.

Metonymy: Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is meant (e.g., "crown" for royalty)."Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" (Julius Caesar, III, ii)