Syntax

Question 1

Sentence Structures

Answer 1

• simple - younger/less educated identity, spontaneous, informal texts
• compound - younger/less educated identity, spontaneous, informal texts
• complex - older/more educated identity, planned, formal texts
• compound-complex - older/more educated identity, planned, formal texts

Question 2

Sentence Fragments

Answer 2

• grammatically incomplete sentences but still make sense
• often used in advertising to be more puncy and concise, getting the message across quicker
  e.g. Shirts 2 for 1

Question 3

Declarative

Answer 3

• provide info, support function of the text
• amount of declaratives used can indicate role or identity in the discourse
  e.g. interviewee will use more declaratives than host

Question 4

Interrogative

Answer 4

• questions that elicit information
  e.g. Can you help me?

Question 5

Imperative

Answer 5

• tell you to do something; suggestions
• used to encourage action in marketing
• strength of imperatives can reflect tenor/social distance
  e.g. Call now

Question 6

Exclamative

Answer 6

• make exclamations and express emotion
• can help build rapport when responding to a friend
  e.g. Oh my God! I’m sorry!

Question 7

Interrogative Tags

Answer 7

• tag declarative sentences to turn them into interrogatives
• help gain agreeement
  e.g. That was hard, right?

Question 8

Ellipsis

Answer 8

• dropping a part of a sentence
• improve efficiency of communication
• can be used to be distant or shun someone; increase social distance
  e.g. How was your day? Good.

Question 9

Active vs Passive Voice

Answer 9

• active - SVO, places focus on subject
• passive - OV(S), places focus on object (especially with agentless passive)

Question 10

Nominalisation

Answer 10

• turning a verb into a noun
• makes sentence more impersonal and abstract, leading to more authoritative and ominous tone
• increase formality and depersonalise sentence by removing pronouns
  e.g. If you breach the terms, we will refuse you service|breach of terms will result in refusal of service

Question 11

Listing

Answer 11

• use of commas to list out items concisely
• used to concisely present info in a clear manner to aid coherence
• used to have an accumulative effect to highlight quantity of item
  **e.g. I like bananas, apples, oranges and mangoes **

Question 12

Parallelism

Answer 12

• two or more clauses/sentences that are similar in structure, often used with lexical repetition
• aids coherence, provides structure, emphasises important info
  e.g. MLK - I have a dream… I have a dream… I have a dream…

Question 13

Antithesis

Answer 13

• similar clauses/sentences but with element of contrast
• focus on one aspect and disregard the other
  e.g Julia Gillard - We can’t replace… We can’t replace… But we can…