Josie’s Guide to Syntax Pt. 1: Declarative Sentences
As Outlined by Virginia Tufte
In a series of brief articles I will review a few core syntax concepts and devices per Virginia Tufte’s framework in “Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style” (2006). Understanding these key syntax concepts provides a foundation for deliberate engagement with the language shaping our individual, communal, national, and global lives. I’ll refer to this piece in a following article, wherein I’ll conducting an in-depth syntactic analysis of political rhetoric deployed in a recent congressional hearing. My aim: to establish working definitions of a few grammar principles in order to have clear terminology on hand.
Here I will review declarative sentences and three types of declarative sentences (interrogative, imperative, exclamatory) per Tufte’s definition and analysis in Artful Sentences chapter 11. “All three make demands,” Tufte declares (205). But the shape of their syntax, like liquids to container, fits their respective purposes.
Through Tufte’s lens, let us explore how declarative sentences provide direct, attention-seizing means for a speaker — for you — to inform, command, direct, inspire, and impact your audience.
Declarative Sentences
