Taylor Rawson: AP English: Class Notes: September 27-October 1

Class Notes (September 27-October 1)

We focused on two main things this week: Style and Syntax.

The first thing we looked at was Style.

Clarity:

Avoid formal, clanky sentences
Be careful when attaching verbs to subjects
Do not overuse the passive voice (or the prepositional phrases that can accompany them)
Use the passive voice when trying to take blame off of someone or when you don’t know who to place the blame on
Keep in mind that the passive voice is usually more difficult to comprehend than the active voice
Be careful of nominalizations (actions expressed as nouns)
Nominalizations are not needed to sound objective or scientific

The Plain Style:

The ultimate goal as a writer is to be understood
Being plain is okay! Not everything has to be fancy and overdone
The ideas of a piece are what should be impressive, not the syntax and vocabulary
By utilizing the extensive English vocabulary we can choose words or short phrases that can get across our points concisely (example: “To satisfy her own need of hunger, she ate the bread” vs. “She devoured the bread”). Sometimes simply changing the word choice makes all the difference
To be a good writer you have to read a lot
Keep in mind that readers cannot pay attention to everything at once

Concision:

Rhetoric:

Prefer plain to fancy diction in most cases
Embrace parallelism; it creates a graceful, mature tone
Get rid of nested lists
Remember inversion and chiasmus
Learn to use and love repetition
Watch tense changes: do not change tenses without a reason. Most analyses and commentaries are written in the historical present
Alliteration in moderation
The rule of three (the third is more important than the first two)
Ration the use of humor
Direct questions are useful; exclamations are informal and do not work well
Link sentences to maximize fluidity

The second main thing we focused on this week was Syntax.

Some Basic Vocabulary:

The Main Syntax Techniques

Short sentences: more forceful conveyance (example: The door slammed. The stairs creaked. Julie crept upstairs.)
Sentence fragments: can create a lyrical or distressed sound (example: The gun fired. Agonizing screams. Blood everywhere.)
Imperatives vs. Declaratives: imperatives are more commanding (example: Please take a seat vs. Sit down.)
-ing form of verbs: create suspense (example: Rounding the corner, she darted into the shadows.)
Passive voice: places blame on someone other than the one at fault (Mistakes were made.)
Omission of conjunctions: hurried or sometimes lyrical conveyance (example: She was hopelessly, madly, undeniably in love.
Inverted syntax: changing up the word order (example: “Death be not proud.”)
Interrupters: create suspense by dragging the story on (example: Jake, the newlywed, the valedictorian, the young man who had everything he could ever want, was now doomed to a life behind bars.)
Interrogatives: alter the mood of the piece (example: Why did he think so?)
Punctuation: can change the tone in a variety of ways. Exclamation points, for instance, often create an immature, childish mood (example: She couldn’t believe it. “Stan beat me! And I studied more! I hate school!”) while periods enforce the severity of the text (example: She couldn’t stand calculus. Mrs. James was a horrible teacher. Math made no sense.)

Taylor Rawson: AP English