~ A Reflection on Unit 1 of English Syntax and Analysis
Just like a flower blossoms at the wake of a new spring, we have also begun growing into syntax-learning buds in 6 weeks. Written in our leaves are parts of speech, grammar rules, and sentence formation further supplementing our skills as writers and readers. Our roots are intertwined with thematic analysis that takes all we have learned and will learn to help us develop in our own unique way.
- Who knew that grammar could be so structurally cute? Maybe it is only misunderstood when depraved of writers fully understanding it. It needs it’s snicker bar.
Photo source : Originally Created by Steve Sabbai, Edited by me
Silly metaphor and jokes aside, these past 6 weeks have also helped and reinforced my own experience with parts of speech, writing mechanisms, and analyses. Terms such as subjects, predicates, nouns, verbs, and pronouns were things I vaguely remembered from my K-12 schooling years, but this course helped me remember the importance behind each individual parts of speech and how it impacts the sentence.
I learned to look closer at a sentence. More importantly I learned the beauty of chopping sentences apart for meaning. Using Syntax to analyze literature opened a new window that I had been neglecting when doing literature analysis. Analyzing the different syntax formation of Octavia E. Butler’s Bloodchild, Edgar Allan Poe A tell-tale heart, and Emily Dickinson’s poems were the most effective way into seeing how different syntax approaches can be used to make the literature “pop” out.
So easily was I admiring the finished sculpture that I was not considering that to make that sculpture certain skills and tools were first needed.
Grammar is not easy nor is it something I have mastered yet. It’s a continuous challenge. All the classes I had before that touched on syntax focused a lot on the mechanics such as drawing the grammar diagrams and labeling the parts of speech. This class however applied something that those previous classes I took didn’t--It applied more meaning behind the mechanisms and its efficacy in written language. Because of this, I was also able to overcome my fear of grammar analyzes by writing the analysis of Emily’s Dickinson poem.
Let me be honest here reader, I have never written a paper where I had to consider parts of speech with so much detail before, and to connect those parts of speech towards literary themes. Writing that paper had me constantly switching between this-
As I wrote I went from “This is all making sense” to -“What convoluted mess am I writing?”
Surprisingly, at the end of writing that paper I felt I understood Dickinson poem in a sophisticated personal level. My analysis became the key to the poem’s Pandora box, and with it I have unleashed all the secret meaning behind that poem- I finally understood.
The problems I encountered writing the papers in the course came from the challenge of taking the grammar and applying it to the meaning of what was read. What help me take on this challenge was breaking the sentence apart first by clauses, then by parts of speech. This help me locate the main themes and once I was able to, I could relate all the syntactical components to connect to the overall meanings.
Certainly, grammar and construction of sentences has impacted how I formulate my own writing. Now when I review my writing in more detail, I try to remember all the tips I’ve learned throughout the course.
Spring will come and go by the time this semester ends, however as we approach Unit 2 this syntax-learning bud is ready to take on more syntax.
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