大学英语修辞学Chapter5

1、l 1. What is a general / specific / abstract / concrete word?l 2. What is the advantage of using general / specific words? l 3. Exercises ii,vii-x. Chapter 5 Choice of Sentence5.1 Types of sentencesl Classification: grammatical, functional, rhetorical. l Grammatical: how many and what types of claus

2、es it containsSimple sentence Compound sentence Complex sentence Compound-complex sentence l Functional: whether it makes a statement, ask a question, issue a command, or express an exclamationDeclarative sentences Interrogative sentence Imperative sentences Exclamatory sentence l Rhetorical: where

3、in the sentence the main idea is located. Loose sentence Periodic sentence Balanced sentence 5.1.1 Loose sentencel Loose sentence or cumulative sentencethe most common sentence pattern in English: l The main idea is at the beginning of the sentence, followed by supportive or qualifying information.

4、l The woman came into the room, followed by a small, timid boy.l Cumulative: almost no limit to the amount of information. l The woman stopped in front of our house, looking tired and hungry, a dirty cloth-bag on the shoulder, a poor small boy by her side, eyeing us timidly, . . .l The only restrict

5、ion: consideration of the meaning, the clarity, and the effectiveness.l Function of loose sentence l Loose sentence denotes a loose or relaxed ordering of thought. l Once the main idea is stated, the rest of the sentence can go for as long as necessary. l The reader could skip or ignore the supporti

6、ng details if he thinks they are not significant.5.1.2 Periodic sentencel Periodic sentence postpones the main idea until the very end of the sentence. l Not grammatically complete until the end is reached. l Function:l Periodic sentences can be used to create suspense and tension, to build up a cli

7、max, or to make a surprise ending. Example: l In the last few years, as the preeminent military and economic power in the world, the United States faced a fundamental choice. (Walter F. Mondale)l If Hitler imagines that his attack on Soviet Russia will cause the slightest divergence of aims or slack

8、ening of effort in the great democracies who are resolved upon his doom, he is woefully mistaken. (Winston S. Churchill)l The overusing of periodic sentence may make reading heavy and laborious.l Loose sentences are more common in most modern prose than periodic sentences; the ability to construct b

9、oth of them will give us stylistic options.5.1.3 Balanced sentences l Points are paired off and presented in parallel structures. The balanced parts are equally prominent and mutually supportive in meaning. l The balanced parts are similar both in forms and length. l History became popular, and hist

10、orians became alarmed.l Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. (John F. Kennedy)5.2 Short and long sentencesl The average length of English sentencel The stylistic effect of short sentencesl The stylistic effect of long sentencesl In the fall the war was always there, but

11、 we did not go to it any more. It was cold in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early. Then the electric lights came on, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew

12、 their tails. The deer hang stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers. It was a cold fall and the wind came down from the mountains. (Ernest Hemingway, In Another Country)l Advantage: l A long sentence can gather up and convey the full measure of

13、a complex thought, with all its distinctions, refinements and qualifications. l Disadvantage: l Long sentences can be rambling and make the reader or even the writer lose track of the main idea. l Monday is no different from any other weekday in Jefferson now. The streets are paved now, and the tele

14、phone and electric companies are cutting down more of the shades of trees the water oaks, the maples and locusts and elms to make room for iron poles bearing clusters of bloated and ghostly and bloodless grapes, and we have a city laundry which makes the rounds on Monday morning, gathering the bundl

15、es of clothes into bright-coloured, specially made motorcars, the coiled wearing of a whole week now flees apparitionlike behind alert and irritable electric horns, with long diminishing noise of rubber and alphalt like tearing silk, and even the Negro women who will take in white peoples washing af

16、ter the old custom fetch and deliver it in automobiles.(William Faulkner, That Evening Sun) 5.3 Alternating short and long sentencesl Although series of short and long sentences can both be effective in individual situations, frequent alternation in sentence length characterizes much memorable writi

17、ng. After one or more long sentences that express complex ideas or images, the pith of a short sentence can be refreshing and arresting. For example:l We are not so easily misled by vision. Most of the things before our eyes are plainly there, not mistakable for other things except for the illusions

18、 created by professional magicians and, sometimes, the look of the lights of downtown New York against a sky so black as to make it seem a near view of eternity. Our eyes are not easy to fool. (Lewis Thomas, On Smell)l A long sentence that follows a series of short ones can serve as a climax or summation that relaxes the tension or fulfills the expectation created by the series, giving readers a sense of completion. Questions for discussionl 1. Talk about the rhetorical function of simple sentences, compound se