sytax practice

Hoffer's use of passive verb construction rearranges the sentence by first mentioning the effect, which is then followed by the cause. This places emphasis on they philosophy that he is trying to convey; that out nature is shaped by our actions. By constructing the sentence passively, his message seems more philosophical and analytical, rather than instructional. By repeating the word 'kind' and relating that word to both the cause and effect, he established a clear relationship between the two. He suggests that one cant exist without the other; that there must be equilibrium.

• They sailed and trailed and flew and raced and crawled and walked and were carried, finally, home. John Knowles, Indian Summer, 4

Knowles uses a passive verb construction by having the subject receive an action. In this case the subjects were 'carried' home through a series of actions. Though the subjects did perform an action, those actions are what 'carried' them; their own actions is something that was done to them, not by them. Through the repetition the conjunction 'and', their actions become incessant; it seems to be never-ending. The reader is able to empathise with the subjects, as the experience of an exhausting journey is simulated. However, in order to keep the reader somewhat comfortable, there is a moment of relief when it is mentioned that they 'were carried'.

Analyse the speaker’s use of parallelism and sentence length in the following example:

• All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

This parallelism is established by establishing a similar syntactic pattern throughout the extract. Each clause, except for the last sentence, starts with negative language such as 'not' and 'nor'. By repeating this pattern, Kennedy creates a feeling of complete transparency and honesty. He makes himself look like an honourable leader, as he has the strength to tell his people the cold hard truth. This is further exemplified in the length of the sentence. The second sentence contains 3 clauses, all of which are negative. It seems like he will just keep going, but he has the strength to do so; he seems like an open book that is worthy of the public's trust during troubling times. Once this effect has been established through his use or parallelism and sentence length, he recovers the publics moral by creating a feeling of hope and unity when he says: "But let us begin." Kennedy shows the people that despite the despair, he will lead them to something different; something better.

Find an online advertisement containing visuals and 2-5 sentences. Copy the copy (see definition #3 here) to your blog and add a hyperlink to the full advertisement. Answer the following guiding question in 300 - 500 words: - How is syntax used to persuade the reader?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2T-Rh838GA

" (1) Dove presents
reverse selfie

(2) The pressure of social media is hurting our girls' self -esteem

(3) more screen time during the pandemic has made things worse

(4) Have the selfie talk today.
Go to dove.com to find out how.

(5) Let's change beauty"

The arrangement of these sentences clearly aims to brand Dove as a symbol of hope in a time of despair. The first sentence introduces the campaign in an ambiguous and simplistic way that gives a sense of mystery, seeing that the term 'reverse selfie' is not commonly known of. The second sentence introduces the issue; the threat. The third sentence further emphasises this. In the fourth piece of text, Dove brands itself as the saviour. They start by referring to something they call "the selfie talk", which again, is very ambiguous. Once this insecurity of uncertainty has been planted in the audience, they follow this up by saying: "Go to dove.com to find out how." Dove is letting the audience know that they are an honourable company that is worthy of respect because they are willing to swoop in and help. Finally, they end the advertisement with a catchy slogan: "Let's change beauty", suggesting that the customer and Dove must unite to make a change. Of course, that supposed unity comes from purchasing Dove products.