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Emily Bronk
Ms. Green
College Prep. Comp.
10/24/13
Stylistics
Reading through my own writing, I discover many grammatical differences throughout
my three papers. Learning about the different types of phrases and clauses in class lessons, I
reread through my papers and found I had used many. In class, we also discussed the different
types of sentences and the structure of each. My thoughts of the way I used these types of
sentences differs dramatically than with the actual sentences themselves. Throughout the process
of Stylistics, I learned the many different ways I write my papers and how each part of a
sentence matters.
Sentence Length LETTER NARR ACAD Average
Ave. Sent Length 13 15 28 19
% 10 or Less 42% 24% 4% 23%
% 25 or More 58% 76% 96% 77%

When I first began this process of Stylistics, I began by counting the average length of
my sentences. In my personal letter, my sentences were much shorter than in my
compare/contrast paper. The two papers' sentence length changed drastically from 42% of
sentences having ten or less words in my personal letter to 4% of sentences having ten or less
words in the compare/contrast paper. In my college application, my sentences averaged a length
of fifteen words, not typically being too long or too short. In the compare/contrast paper, I made
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my sentences longer; primarily thinking it would make my paper seem more professional. Later I
only found out that by making my sentences longer, I only made them harder to label and
understand their content. I am not saying I now believe shorter sentences are better, but if I
separated long sentences into shorter portions split apart by semicolon I would have stated the
same information, only in a more organized way. In the sentence Throughout the essay,
Malcolm X approached his audience with stern views of whites, later changing to become more
understanding of them, unlike Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke to the audience with a solid,
never changing attitude towards whites, only comprehending that without knowledge and
understanding of each other, blacks and whites will not integrate and become equal with one
another, I rambled on for way too long for one sentence. An easy way that I could have split it
is when I switch between the two sides of opinions. Instead of a semicolon, I may as well have
split them into two separate sentences, understanding of them. Unlike Malcolm X, Martin
Luther King, Jr., who spoke By doing this, I could have made it sound just as professional,
yet organized as well. To make my professional writing better, a good place to start is with my
sentence lengths. Changing this may also change the type of sentence depending on how I
rearrange the way it is written.
Sentence Types LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Declarative 13 42 51 106
Imperative 0 0 0 0
Interrogative 6 0 0 6
Exclamatory 5 0 0 5
Fragment 0 0 0 0

Sentence length was also greatly affected by the type of sentence I had written. In my
personal letter, I had used several interrogative and exclamatory sentences, which had few words
in them. Being simple questions, not many words were needed to be in the sentence. In my
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college application and compare/contrast papers, the only sentences I used were declarative.
These two papers are more formal than my personal letter, so mainly having statements instead
of questions or an exclamation makes complete sense to me. If I did want to include the reader
more, adding an interrogative sentence here or there would maybe help keep their attention.
Consisting of mostly declarative sentences, my papers show little variety. I can understand how a
reader would become bored reading a paper that only has statements throughout its entirety. Not
only does type affect the length of each, it can also change the structure of sentence and its
contents.
Sentence
Structure
LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Simple 9 11 9 29
Compound 3 7 1 11
Complex 10 17 26 53
CD-CX 1 4 4 9
Fragment 1 4 0 5
Run-On 0 0 1 1

While looking at my sentence types, I also looked at the structure of each. Discovering if
they are simple, compound, complex or compound-complex was a part I struggled with. Many
times I had thought the sentences were compound-complex, but they actually had only been
really long complex sentences. Most of the sentence types I used were in fact complex; in total, I
used fifty-three complex sentences in all three papers. For example, in the sentence "The people
of 'ill will' made racism a widely known belief in a very short amount of time, unlike people of
'good will', which MLK describes as taking more time to have the morally correct beliefs
become accepted throughout the world" I thought it was a compound-complex sentence because
of its length and amount of subject/verb pairs. I did not realize that in order for it to be a
compound-complex sentence I needed two or more independent clauses and then one or more
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dependent clauses. Many of my sentences, just like the previous example, had only one
independent clause and several dependent clauses. If I changed part of the sentence into another
independent clause, I could then make that sentence into the compound-complex sentence I first
believed it to be. Finding the dependent clauses, I was then able to look at those clauses to see
how each was used in correspondence with the sentence.
Adverb Clause LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Initial 0 8 4 12
Medial 2 5 9 16
Final 5 5 10 20

After I finished looking at each sentence as a whole, I started digging into their contents.
I began by looking at clauses, including adverb, adjective, and noun clauses. The most clauses I
found were adverb clauses. Most of these adverb clauses were found in the medial and final parts
of my sentences. The total amount of adverb clauses used in my three papers is forty-eight. In
my college application, I used initial adverb clauses, such as Though the colors may be few and
subtle, everything seems to look somehow different. Then, in my letter and compare/contrast
papers, I used adverb clauses in the later halves of each sentence. A place that I could have
changed a final adverb clause into an initial adverb clause is in the sentence Both Malcolm X
and MLK agree that understanding one another is important for being able to eliminate
segregation altogether although one man may not have the same views on whites as the other.
The last adverb clause in this sentence, although one man may not have the same views on
whites as the other, would work just as well in the beginning of the sentence, and also create a
sense of variety in my writing. Although my clauses consisted mainly of adverbs, I did find
others that did not fit into the adverb category.
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Adjective Clause LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Number 4 13 16 33

Another clause besides adverbs was adjectives. I did not use as many adjective clauses in
my papers as I did adverbs, but I still did use a few. Little did I use them in my personal letter,
but then in my college application and compare/contrast papers I used several more. If I had used
more in my personal letter, would have made it more descriptive. In the short sentence Life here
is going well, I could have added an adjective clause after life to make it more descriptive and
help the sentence to not be as choppy feeling when you read it. Although adjective and adverbs
were the majority of my clauses, I still had used a few that did not fit into either group.
Noun Clause LETTER NARR ACAD Total
S 0 0 0 0
DO 3 1 7 11
PN 0 0 0 0
OP 0 0 4 4

The fewest amount of clauses I used were noun clauses. In total of all three papers, I used
fifteen noun clauses. If I had used more noun clauses, I would have given greater detail in the
sentence, and also made them less choppy feeling. Noun clauses were difficult for me to find
because they are not the descriptive clauses like adverbs and adjectives. Once I had an idea of
what I was looking for, though, I started to find more noun clauses in mainly my
compare/contrast paper. I learned that if I cannot find the subject pair that goes with your verb,
you may have a noun clause; by using that technique, I was able to find noun clauses. Although I
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used few noun clauses, I did learn how to find them in readings and future papers, and also how I
can incorporate them into my own writings.
Thinking that clauses were hard enough, I then moved on to phrases. Phrases were the
most difficult for me to understand. Getting confused between which were gerunds and which
were participles, many of my phrases were labeled wrong. By receiving help and revising my
papers, I slowly came to the understanding of how each phrase works in a sentence and how to
locate the four different types.
Infinitive Phrase LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Initial 0 0 0 0
Medial 2 4 11 17
Final 5 11 19 35

The first type of phrase I searched for in my papers was infinitives. I believed these
would be the easiest kind to find because of their to plus a verb definition. Little did I
remember that there could be the forgotten to, which were then found later in the revision
process. Most of my infinitive phrases began in the middle of my sentence and then carried on
until the end, as it does in MLK was only against the fact that white people were the ones to
make black people feel lower in status just because of their skin color, not who they actually
are. Shortening the long infinitive phrases would make the sentence less drawn out feeling. To
change the previous sentence, I could take out just because of their skin color, not who they
actually are, and the sentence would still have the infinitive, only not as lengthy. Many
infinitives were endings to my sentences, never beginning them. Adding an infinitive to the
beginning of a sentence would have been a great way to diversify my writing. Infinitive phrases
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did become easier for me to find, even with the forgotten to. With more to find, I then set up
my brain for the next phrase challenge.

Participle Phase LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Initial 0 0 1 1
Medial 5 9 17 31
Final 1 2 2 5

Gerund Phrase LETTER NARR ACAD Total
S 0 1 3 4
DO 1 1 1 3
PN 0 0 0 0
OP 1 1 9 11

Thinking that I had found all the infinitive phrases, I then moved on to finding gerunds
and participles. I looked for these at the same time, mainly searching for words with the endings
-ed or -ing. Yes, I did find most of them, but then I had to label them. Figuring out what each
phrase or clause modifies was the most difficult part for me in the whole stylistics process.
Although it did become easier, I still had trouble the majority of the time. I did find a large
amount of participle phrases, realizing they act like adverbs and adjectives. Gerunds gave me
trouble when I had to label what kind of noun they acted as. Most of mine turned out to be
gerund-OP, which I had no idea what that was to start out with. Later I learned that OP stands for
object of the preposition, meaning it will be part of a prepositional phrase. After learning this I
found several gerund-OP and labeled them correctly. To be honest, when I was handed back my
paper, after being revised by Ms. Green, and seeing very few check marks along the side was a
great boost to keep my head up for the rest of Stylistics. Discovering that I had known more than
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I thought was a joyous moment. Reviewing my participle and gerund phrases, I saw that, though
I missed a few, I had knowledge of what I was doing. Going through each paper again, I search
through each for any more phrases for my last category, but I had no more to be found.
Appositive
Phrase
LETTER NARR ACAD Total
Phrasal 0 0 0 0
Word 0 0 0 0

The phrase I used absolutely none of was appositive phrases. Although there were many
place I would have been able to add appositive phrases to, I never did. A good example of where
I could have added an appositive phrase is in "Whenever I need time to recollect who I am, I go
to my path because I know that it will help me do so." If I changed it to give more description to
path, I could have added an appositive phrase after, such as Whenever I need time to recollect
who I am, I go to my path, my home away from home, because I know that it will help me do
so. By adding my home away from home, the sentence has more creativity and emotion. If I
did this more in my three papers, the nouns would be more descriptive and visual to the reader;
appositive phrases also help sentences become less choppy and short. I have now learned that by
using appositive phrases, the sentences in my paper will flow smoothly together, making them
sound more professional.
Rereading all three of my papers reveals how each paper has improved over the course of
this class. Getting the feedback on all my papers helped me grow to become a better writer. After
writing the compare/contrast paper, I went back to look at the college application and was blown
away; I found tons of mistakes and my organization was a mess. I have learned so much
throughout this course and it all made me become a better writer. I honestly believe that, even
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though this was the hardest assignment I have ever done, I will now be an even better writer than
I was before Stylistics. Picking through each sentence finding phrases and clauses helped me
realize how chaotic my writing is. Now I know the correct forms of writing, and how phrases
and clauses can be used to better organize sentences. Although this class has been severely
stressful for me, I am happy I have taken it. I know I will appreciate my knowledge of paper
writing in the upcoming years, especially for college. Stylistics has taught me the many different
ways I write my papers and how each part of a sentence matters. By now knowing this, I hope to
write successful papers in the future and use my knowledge of phrases and clauses to help me
write.

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