Syntax

Syntax Definition
Syntax is a hard and fast of regulations in a language. It dictates how phrases from distinct elements of speech are put together to be able to bring a entire thought.

Syntax and Diction
Syntax and diction are carefully related. Diction refers to the choice of phrases in a particular situation, even as syntax determines how the selected phrases are used to form a sentence. More regularly than now not, adopting a complex diction approach a complicated syntactic structure of sentences, and vice versa. In combination, syntax and diction help writers expand tone, mood, and ecosystem in a text, at the side of evoking readers’ interest.

Examples of Syntax in Literature
Syntax in Poetry
The general word order of an English sentence is Subject+Verb+Object. In poetry, however, the phrase order can be shifted to achieve sure creative effects, including generating rhythm or melody within the traces, reaching emphasis, and heightening connection between words. The precise syntax used in poetry makes it exclusive from prose. Let us recall the following examples of syntax:

Example #1: Beyond Decoration (By P. J. Kavanagh)
In casual conversations, we can without a doubt say, “I can't exit” to deliver our incapability to exit. P. J. Kavanagh’s poem Beyond Decoration does now not rely upon merely mentioning a prosaic “I cannot go out.” Rather, he shifts the syntax and says “Go out I can not,” which lays a miles stronger emphasis on the incapability to go out conveyed with the aid of the word “cannot.”

Example #2: Lycidas (By John Milton)
Similarly, John Milton shifts phrases in his poems frequently. Let us examine traces from his poem Lycidas:

“Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and wilderness caves,
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o’ergrown,
And all their echoes mourn”

The modified word order within the above lines is Object+Subject+Subject Complement+Verb.

Syntax in Prose
Syntax affects the character of a prose text as properly. It complements its meanings, and contributes towards its tone. Quickness, decisiveness, and speed are introduced to a text with the aid of the usage of short phrases, clauses, and sentences. Whereas, in a text in which the issue remember is serious, requiring contemplation, lengthy, convoluted sentences are used to slow down the tempo of a prose text. The syntax examples below show a wonderful use of syntax:

Example #3: The Joy Luck Club (By Amy Tan)
“That night I sat on Tyan-yu’s mattress and waited for him to the touch me. But he didn’t. I turned into relieved.”

Here, Amy Tan makes use of quick sentences to communicate in a powerful and concise manner.

Example #4: A Farewell to Arms (By Ernest Hemingway)
“They left me by myself and I lay in bed and study the papers awhile, the information from the front, and the listing of lifeless officers with their decorations after which reached down and brought up the bottle of Cinzano and held it straight up on my belly, the cool glass against my belly, and took little liquids making earrings on my belly from preserving the bottle there between liquids, and watched it get dark outdoor over the roofs of the town.”

Ernest Hemingway uses long and complex structures to emphasise the laziness of his character.

Syntax in Shakespeare
Writing all of his performs and sonnets in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare habitually reversed the general order of English sentences through setting verbs on the ends of the sentences.

Example #5: Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)
“What mild from yonder window breaks?”

Instead of using the common expression, “What light breaks from yonder window,” Shakespeare emphasized his that means through the use of distinctive syntax.

Example #6: Richard III (By William Shakespeare)
In Richard III, Shakespeare deliberately reverses the phrase order of a sentence, turning a not unusual description: “And all the clouds that lowered upon our residence buried in the deep bosom of the sea,” into:

“And all the clouds that lower’d upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”

Function of Syntax
To deliver which means is one of the main functions of syntax. In literature, writers utilize syntax and diction to attain sure artistic effects, like mood, and tone. Like diction, syntax targets to have an effect on the readers as properly as specific the writer’s attitude.

Synesthesia Tautology