Syntax & Semantics

Question 1

Declarative Sentence

Answer 1

Provides information, used to transfer intel between two participants in a discourse.

Question 2

Imperative Sentence

Answer 2

An instructive utterance, by omitting the subject

1) Affront negative face needs

2) Create a sense of urgency and intensity
this links to conative/emotive function

Question 3

Exclamative Sentence

Answer 3

An exclamatory remark

1) Links to emotive function
2) Enkindle outrage, excitement or urgency (conative function)

Question 4

Interrogative Sentence

Answer 4

Used to ask questions

1) Engages the audience by eliciting a response out of them

2) Can be used as a rhetoric to exploit irony and imply sarcasm (High yield)

Question 5

Simple Sentence

Answer 5

One independent clause

1) Enhances clarity, directness and coherence
2) Can be used for emphatic stress, as the consistent rhythm of complex/compound sentences can be broken with a stand-out simple sentence.

Question 6

Compound Sentence

Answer 6

At least 2 independent clauses joined via coordinating conjunctions

1) Increases lexical density, allowing it to be used for obfuscating purposes

2) Combine and contrast ideas (parallelism and antithesis)

3) Convey causality and a chain of logical events (cohesion/coherence & information flow)

Question 7

Complex Sentence

Answer 7

One independent clause with at least 1 dependent clause, joined via subordinating conjunction

1) Increase lexical density

2) Convey causality

3) Combine OR contrast ideas

Question 8

Compound-complex sentence

Answer 8

At least 2 independent clauses and 1 dependent clause

1) Elevates lexical density

2) Imbue text with formality

3) Logical ordering -> “fronting dependent clauses”

Question 9

Sentence fragment

Answer 9

Incomplete sentence

1) To convey information **concisely for effect **

(e.g. Buy 1 get 1 free!)

Question 10

Ellipsis

Answer 10

Omission of words from a sentence as long as it remains understandable to the same degree (ALSO SPOKEN DISCOURSE FEATURE)

1) Reduces unnecessary repetition

2) Large amounts can reduce formality

3) Inference and implicature (can build rapport/familiarity)

**4) Can add emphatic stress **

Question 11

Substitution

Answer 11

Replacing a repeated phrasal element with a shorter element.

(e.g. You take this car I’ll take that one)

1) Highlights shared understanding which builds rapport

2) Reduces unnecessary repetition, which increases coherence/cohesion

Question 12

Active Voice

Answer 12

Active construction involves the agent taking the subject position in a sentence.

1) Emphasises agency/ the agent

(e.g. Aarav kicked the ball)

Question 13

Agented Passive Voice

Answer 13

The patient occupies the subject position in the sentence.

1) Reduces emphasis on the agent

2) Diminishes agency/responsibility (it is not their choice to do this)

3) Found in formal texts

(e.g. The ball was kicked by Aarav)

Question 14

Agentless Passive Voice

Answer 14

The patient occupies the subject position and the agent is omitted

1) Ambiguous, evasive, elusive, convoluted aspect to the text.

2) Used in political rhetorics

(e.g. The ball was kicked)

Question 15

Tense vs Aspect

Answer 15

Tense: past/present or future
* The time of the action being undertaken

Aspect:
* Simple
* Continuous (progressive) -> -ing
* Perfect -> has/had/have
* Perfect continuous (progressive)

e.g response: The independent clause in the present tense “users are subject to T&Cs”, the use of the simple aspect expresses indefinite continuity of the T&Cs.

Question 16

Sentence Parts

Answer 16

Sentence = Subject + Predicate

Predicate = Predicator (copula verb) + Subject complement

OR

Predicate = Predicator (verb) + objects

Question 17

Adverbial

Answer 17

An adverbial is a phrase/clause that acts as an adverb.

Adverb vs Adverbial

1) Prepositional phrases can function as adverbials, but not adverbs
2) Adverb is a subset of Adverbial

Question 18

Parallelism

Answer 18

Syntactic patterning involving the repetiton of sturcturally similar phrases
(e.g. Like father, like son)

1) Constructions are more predictable and expected, making the text easier to process (coherence)

2) Creates a sense of rhythm and tempo, emphasising the rhetorical force of the utterance

3) Used to reinforce the point in memorable ways

Question 19

Antithesis

Answer 19

A type of parallelism, where the structurally similar repeated elements are semantic antonyms (opposites) of each other.

(e.g. That’s one small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind)

1) Emphasises the stark contrast between elements

2) Creates memorability

3) Lexical balance and rhythm

4) Invites the audience to bring forth their judgements

Question 20

Listing

Answer 20

Low yield, but involves creating a list of three or more elements.

1) Increases coherence/clarity of the text through conciseness -> accessibility through formatting (bullet points)

2) Reduce unnecessary information

3) Can create a rhythmic utterance, making the listed elements more memorable.

Question 21

Semantic Broadening vs Semantic Narrowing

Answer 21

Involves the widening of a lexemes meaning
(e.g. mouse means rodent and hardware for PCs)

Involves the limiting of a lexemes meaning
(e.g. to starve = to die [16th century], now it means to die of hunger)

Question 22

Semantic elevation vs Semantic deterioration

Answer 22

Involves the lexeme taking on a more positive meaning.
(e.g. mischievous: disastrous -> cheeky)

Involves the lexeme taking on a more negative meaning
(e.g. gaudy: joyfully festive -> showy without taste)

Question 23

Semantic shift

Answer 23

When the meaning of a lexeme changes to another, and the original meaning is lost

(e.g. awful: full of awe -> terribly bad/shocking)

Question 24

Semantic Patterning

Answer 24

F: Figurative language
L: Lexical ambiguity
A: Animation
I: Irony
M: Metaphor

H: Hyperbole
O: Oxymoron
P: Personification
P: Pun
S: Simile

Lexical ambiguity is when the precise meaning of the lexeme is not known even when applied in the context.

(e.g. The punch made him unsteady. Punch can mean a blow (fist) or an alcoholic drink)