Term Paper on "Approaches to English Grammar"

Term Paper 15 pages (4733 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

English Grammar: "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a very educated man who's passions shine through his prose. Analyzing his words through a grammatical standpoint not only allows us to gain insight on his genius, but also how the intricate complications of the English grammar works in eloquent every day speech. This analysis from a chunk of Dr. King Jr. will explore both the grammatical syntax used in the text, as well as the themes and tones of nonviolent resistance within the context of each sentence. In the progression of the passage, King Jr. moves from an active to passive voice based on his propelling his vision and descriptions of non-violent aggression, which is in itself passive yet still active. His relations with the established norm represent a passive voice, while his plans of action in response to that established norm takes on a past tense active voice. He then solidifies his position of presenting a strong argument through his use of an opposing view to continue to solidify his ethos. Along with conventional grammatical structures, King Jr. constantly uses both definite active and passive language to prove that action is necessary, but that it must not be threatening and essentially non-violent.

Letter from Birmingham Jail," is Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to his Southern community for the practice of non-violent resistance against the racial injustice faced by African-Americans in the South at the time. He was arrested for his participation in a protest, and his in time in a cell wrote this letter to his fellow clergymen. Published in 1963, this letter was a direct rebuttal to a previous statement made my white Alabama clergymen which focused their desire to keep racial battles in the courts and out of the streets. This passage describes the reasoning for his voluntary actions which lead to his imprisonment. He justifies his actions as necessary in order to pull the South out of its long standing tradition of racial injustice. In his eloquent words, King Jr. presents his case that he could not sit by and let racial intolerance ruin the lives of thousands of Americans around him. He calls out to his fellow peers to join him in his action to gain recognition for their struggle in order to promote change. This struggle, however, would embody the ideals of such great men as Mahatma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau, who preached a method of non-violent resistance. The text to be analyzed in this paper is a direct call to his peers to commence in their own non-violent struggle to end racism.

For purposes of style and background context, this analysis will begin at the very end of one paragraph. The first sentence of this section begins with an adverb dependent clause which modifies the later verb, "As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise," (King, 1963). The verb is in the active past tense, providing a charge to the sentence to emphasize the strength of the statement. He connects with his audience using the subjective personal pronoun "we." This shows the desperation and need for change within the African-American South based on years of pain through racial tensions.

The proceeding sentence reminds the writer more of poetry than prose. Within the most concise example in this analysis, Martin Luther King Jr. relays the pain of years of attempting change only to see such progress fail miserably using traditional methodologies, "A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained, " (King, 1963). Three dependent clauses make up the first half of the sentence which is later divided by a semicolon. The subject is introduced in the first group, which is followed by an adverb phrase which modifies the later verb of "returned." The semicolon separates the final and very brief independent clause. This places the most strength on the clause "the others remained."

The first full paragraph of the passage chosen begins with a nostalgic lamentations using strong personal pathos to establish a connection with his audience. He includes himself within his audience in order to gain credibility. King Jr. begins his sentence with the subordinate conjunction "as" to begin the first dependent clause in the sentence, "As in so many past experiences," (King, 1963). He is using a form of passive voice with the method of putting a dependent clause before the subject and the verb, (Lewis, 1986). This dependent clause is followed by the independent clause which contains both the subject and the verb, "our hopes had been blasted," (King, 1963). The subject of the sentence is within this independent clause -- our. It is followed by the noun "hopes," which is the object of the sentence, and a past perfect form of to be in front of the past verb "blasted." This takes the strength off of the word "blasted" in an attempt to avoid the image of violence within the sentence, which is a common use of the passive voice structure, (Lewis, 1986). These two clauses are then followed by another dependent clause beginning with the coordinative conjunction and followed by a preposition phrase, "and the shadow of the deep disappointment settled upon us," (King, 1963). The verb "settled" is still in the past tense to agree with the past perfect tense introduced earlier in the sentence.

The following sentence continues this development of a strong personal pathos, which is essentially repeated throughout the text. This sentence begins his justification of his own actions which later led him into the trouble he was in. It is a sentence made up of two combined independent clauses connected with the use of a comma. The first independent clause, " We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action," (King 1963), continues with a subjective personal pronoun followed by another passive past tense verb -- had. This clause offers a transition from no alternative to using direct action, connected by the transition word "except" followed by the infinitive form of prepare, then finally a prepositional phrase. The next independent clause after the comma begins with a subordinate conjunction, "where by." It then continues with a modal verb, "whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community," (King, 1963). This turns the real object of "our bodies" into a more abstract symbol of their cause to end racial prejudice and segregation. It also personifies the concept of "the conscience of the local and the national community."

King further develops his personal perspective on the pureness of non-violent resistance. He also develops the idea that he and his follower are completely knowledgeable of the consequences which they will be forced to endure based on their choice of action rather than passiveness, "Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification," (King, 1963). Once again he uses passive voice with the sentence starting as a dependent clause. This dependent clause is a form of adverb clause, which begins with the adverb mindful, (Lewis, 1986). The object of the adverb is the prepositional phrase "of the difficulties involved" using the preposition of, (Christ, 1961). The following independent clause is more active, "we decided to undertake a process of self-purification," (King, 1963). It is more active based on the verb being a stronger verb that what was previously used, (Strunk & White, 1999).

The next sentence is where the action begins to progress within his description of the events. He begins with a description of the past and some rhetorical questions he had initially asked himself and his followers, "We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: 'Are you able to accept blows without retaliation?' 'are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?'" (King, 1963). The verb of the subject is in an active voice, showing his direct moves towards actions despite its consequences. Then a colon begin the rhetorical questions "to introduce a list of particulars," (Strunk & White, 1999) which are the rhetorical questions quoted directly within the text. Both quoted rhetorical questions are introduced by a dummy verb followed by the subjective personal pronoun you, "are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" These two rhetorical questions are both independent clause; however, they are not separated by commas in their place after the colon.

After initially opening dialogue regarding his intended action, the next sentence nails down the idea of his plan. This sentence represents his blueprints and justification of delaying his initial plan of action until a later date, "We decided to schedule our direct-action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year," (King, 1963). This sentence is broken down into two independent clauses separated by a dependent clause in the middle. The noun Easter is the object of the later independent clause's subject and… READ MORE

How to Reference "Approaches to English Grammar" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

English Grammar Essay

English Grammar as Reveled by an English Textbook Used by the Pupils in Hong Kong

Globalization is the buzz word of the twenty first century and this can be simply… read more

Essay 7 pages (2133 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA Topic: Language / Linguistics

---

English Language Usage and the Respective Merits Essay

English language usage and the respective merits of the positions of linguistic "Prescriptivists" and "Descriptivists" in connection with what should be considered proper English grammar and usage. On one hand,… read more

Essay 2 pages (687 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Language / Linguistics

---

English Creative Writing in Singapore Dissertation

Creative Writing in English: Singapore



Singapore



Singapore is a country in which the learning of the English language has become vitally important. For many… read more

Dissertation 127 pages (34880 words) Sources: 50 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Grammar Instruction Research Proposal

Grammar Instruction

Hybrid Grammar Instruction

"It is generally posited in the literature that tasks should be structured in reference to desirable goals"

Maria J. de la Fuente, Vanderbilt University, USA… read more

Research Proposal 12 pages (4321 words) Sources: 10 Topic: Language / Linguistics

---

English Language Learners Philosophy of Education Thesis

English Language Learners

Philosophy of education is a study that has been around since the classical teachers. Socrates has a particular philosophy of education, which developed into a theory, the… read more

Thesis 3 pages (870 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>