Sentence Types
• We know the grammatical sentence types:
▫
▫
▫
▫
Simple
Complex
Compound
Compound-Complex
• These titles tell you something about structure
but not necessarily much about function.
Sentence Types
• For the purposes of analysis (and the AP Exam’s
Multiple-Choice section), understanding
sentences by rhetorical function is more
important and helpful.
• The types are:
▫
▫
▫
▫
Declarative
Imperative
Cumulative
Periodic
Sentence Types
• Declarative sentences are (typically) short and
sweet and make clear, direct statements.
• Declarative sentences are effective at presenting
facts and avoiding cluttered wording.
• A writer relying heavily upon declarative
sentences might be seen as direct or even
forceful.
Sentence Types
• Imperative Sentences issue commands.
• Clearly, a writer using imperative sentences is
issuing a direct call to action.
• The use of imperative sentences should offer
insight into the purpose and tone of the piece, as
well as the writer’s larger strategy.
Wendell Berry: “The Pleasure of Eating”
• Read and annotate “The Pleasure of Eating”
• Pay special attention to the modes of
development Berry uses, as well as his use of
declarative and imperative sentences. (This
includes observing WHY he uses them, and not
simply WHERE.)
Wendell Berry: “The Pleasure of Eating”
• Using the “Multiple-Choice” Stems handout,
create THREE questions from “The Pleasure of
Eating”
▫ You MUST select question options that require
you to fill in the blank OR specify a passage
(paragraph, sentence, lines, etc.)
▫ No “passage as a whole questions”
▫ No repeat concepts
▫ The best questions will receive extra credit
▫ Please include “bullet-point” answers to your
questions.
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 1
▫ The primary rhetorical purpose of lines 4-5 in
paragraph 5 is what?
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 2
▫ The primary mode of development used by the
author in paragraph 7 is what?
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 3
▫ The primary contrast employed by the author in
the passage is between ________ & _______?
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 4
▫ What contrast does the author develop in the 6th
paragraph?
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 5
▫ What is the primary effect of the imperative
subtitles in the passage?
“The Pleasure of Eating”
• Question 6
▫ The author’s reference to marital fidelity and long
life in paragraph 7 serves primarily to reveal what?
Cumulative Sentences
• The cumulative sentence begins with a
standard sentence pattern (shown as underlined
in the example), and adds multiple details after
it.
• The details can be subordinate clauses or
different kinds of phrases.
• Example:
▫ It is a wilderness that is beautiful, dangerous,
abundant, oblivious of us, mysterious, never to be
conquered or controlled or second-guessed, or
known more than a little.
Periodic Sentences
• The periodic sentence begins with multiple
details and holds off a standard sentence pattern
– or at least its predicate (underlined in the
example) – until the end.
• Example
▫ Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at
twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in
my thoughts any occurrence of special good
fortune, I have enjoyed perfect exhilaration.
Inverted Sentences
• In every standard English sentence pattern, the
subject comes before the verb. Inverted
sentences flip that structure.
• Writers may use inverted sentences to alter
emphasis by slowing the reader down and
placing a different detail first.
• Examples
▫ Everywhere was a shadow of death. – R. Carson
▫ Under them are evergreen thickets of
rhododendron. – W. Berry
Rhetorical Effects
• Cumulative, Periodic, and Inverted sentences all
shift traditional structures and allow writers to
manipulate emphasis.
• Consider the difference between Berry’s
sentence and Emerson’s:
Rhetorical Effects
• It is a wilderness that is beautiful, dangerous,
abundant, oblivious of us, mysterious, never to be
conquered or controlled or second-guessed, or
known more than a little.
• Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at
twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my
thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I
have enjoyed perfect exhilaration.