【導(dǎo)讀】Whatistheaveragesentencelength?Doesplexityvarystrikinglyfromonesentencetoanother?Isplexitymainlydueto(i)coordination,(ii)subordination,(iii)juxtapositionofclausesorofotherequivalentstructures?Inwhatpartsofthetextdoesplexitytendtooccur? clausetypes:Whattypesofclausesarefavored—relativeclauses,adverbialclauses,ordifferenttypesofnominalclauses?Arenon-finiteformsmonlyused,andifso,ofwhattypesarethey(infinitive,-ingform,-edform,verblessstructure)?Whatistheirfunction? Clausestructure:Isthereanythingsignificantaboutclauseelements(egfrequencyofobjects,adverbials,plements;oftransitiveorintransitiveverbconstructions)?Arethereanyunusualorderings(initialadverbials,frontingofobjectorplement,etc)?Dospecialkindsofclauseconstructionoccur(suchasthosewithpreparatoryitorthere)? Nounphrases:Aretheyrelativelysimpleorplex?Wheredoestheplexitylie(inpremodificationbyadjectives,nouns,etc,orinpostmodificationbyprepositionbyprepositionalphrases,relativeclauses,etc)? Verbphrases:Arethereanysignificantdeparturesfromtheuseofthesimplepasttense?Forexample,noticeoccurrencesandfunctionsofthepresenttense,oftheprogressiveaspect,oftheperfectaspect,ofmodalauxiliaries. otherphrasetypes:Isthereanythingtobesaidaboutotherphrasestypes,suchasprepositionalphrases,adverbphrases,adjectivephrases? Wordclasses:Havingalreadyconsideredmajorwordclasses,wemayconsiderminorwordclasses(egfunctionalwords),suchasprepositions,conjunctions,pronouns,determiners,auxiliaries,interjections.Areparticularwordsofthesetypesusedforparticulareffect(egdemonstrativessuchasthisandthat,negativessuchasnot,nothing)? General:Notewhetheranygeneraltypesofgrammaticalconstructionareusedtospecialeffect(egparativeorsuperlativeconstructions,coordinativeorlistingconstructions,parentheticalconstructions,interjectionsandafterthoughtsasoccurincausalspeech).Andseetothenumberoflistsandcoordinations. FiguresofSpeech Hereweconsiderthefeatureswhichareforegroundedbyvirtueofdepartinginsomewayfromgeneralnormsofmunicationbymeansofthelanguagecode,forexample,exploitationofdeviationsfromthelinguisticcode. Grammaticalandlexicalschemes(foregroundedrepetitionsofexpression):Arethereanycasesofformalandstructuralrepetition(anaphora,parallelism,etc)orofmirror-imagepatterns(chiasmus)?Istherhetoricaleffectoftheseoneofantithesis,reinforcement,climax,anticlimax,etc? Phonologicalschemes:Arethereanyphonologicalpatternsofrhyme,alliteration,assonance,etc?Arethereanysalientrhythmicalpatterns?Dovowelsandconsonantsoundspatternorclusterinparticularways?Howdothesephonologicalfeaturesinteractwithmeaning? Tropes(foregroundedirregularitiesofcontent):Arethereanyobviousviolationsoforneologismsfromthelinguisticcode?Forexample,arethereanyneologisms(suchas“portentousinfants”)?