Syntax Self-Analysis Paper Example

Paragraph 1

Self-control is the pleasure of both the mind and soul. For example, you came to America to have a better quality education, and in doing so, you are practicing some of your virtues. You want to become better at the English language and help others learn it back at home, which is a virtuous thing to do because not many people pursue their careers with the aim of improving others. Most of them do it for their selfish purposes, for example, gaining wealth and becoming famous. You are in excess when pursuing your career by putting it before all other things because you want to achieve a degree so that you can go back home to teach others.

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Analysis

In this paragraph, there are only two substantive monosyllabic words. My vocabulary in the paragraph is a simple one as I have used Anglo-Saxon words which are simple to understand. Besides, in this paragraph, I have used academic vocabulary with the aim of having my message passed, since this is an idea I was explaining. The number of linking verbs in this paragraph are six. None of the verbs in this paragraph is in the passive voice. There are a total of five (5) sentences in this paragraph.

Paragraph 2

I lived in Ifo from birth to the age of eleven years old. I was eleven when I emigrated to America. The houses in Ifo consist of a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and a bathroom, all in ample space. Each of them is separate, and their walls were made of twigs. The house and the living room are square shaped with a rooftop. The walls are covered with mixed soil to prevent rain from coming in. The kitchen is built in the shape of a bowl but turned upside down. The bathroom is a huge hole dug into the ground with a surrounding wall but no rooftop. We got our water from a community centered place. Meanwhile, in America, the houses are well built. The bedroom, living room, kitchen, and a bathroom are all together either in an apartment or a house. The bedroom has an actual bed with a mattress, a closet, and any other features you wish to have there. The kitchen has a stove, sink, refrigerator, etc. The bathroom has a sink, a bathtub, and an actual toilet. The living room is a place where you can put whatever you like but usually consists of a sofa, tv, and carpet. Portland and Ifo are very different places, but I would say Kenya and Portland are a bit similar because Ifo is just a refugee camp. However, Ifo is becoming more like a city because people have lived there for a decade now, the population being seventy-six thousand.

Analysis

The number of substantive words in this paragraph that are monosyllable is five. Moreover, in this paragraph, I tended Anglo-Saxon words fostering simplicity to enhance easy understanding of the work by the readers. The vocabulary here is an academic one since this is formal classwork that cannot get expressed using a common vocabulary. However, there is some little element of bureaucracy since it was a personal story that I was telling. The number of linking verbs in the paragraph sums up to thirteen, and the number of verbs in the passive voice is only one. The number of sentences in the paragraph sums up to sixteen (16).

Paragraph 3

Education in Kenya is very different from learning in the U.S.A. especially from where I lived, Ifo. American learning is age-based, meaning you are placed in a grade based on your age if you haven't started from kindergarten. Conversely, in Ifo, it's based on a pass/fail test if you pass you move on but if you fail you stay. You do start from kindergarten, but it's when moving to the next grade that you take the test. In comparison, American education is more accessible because well-educated people with degrees teach it. In Ifo, however, teachers are educated but don't have degrees. The ones that do have degrees in most cases train in the city because of the pay. The hours are longer in Kenyan schools. It's from 8 am to 5 pm if you are in sixth grade and above. If you are in fifth and below, you either go in the morning or afternoon. Students stay in the same class while the teachers move around between levels, but in America, it's the opposite. The food in Ifo schools is not that good, but it is survivable. There are no many activities like sports done in Ifo because it's all about learning as much as you can.

Analysis

There are no monosyllable substantive words in this paragraph. My words in this paragraph are mostly Anglo-Saxon, and besides, the vocabulary that I have used throughout the paragraph is an academic vocabulary. There are a total of eleven linking verbs in the paragraph. Out of this, there is no single verb in the passive voice. The paragraph is made up of thirteen (13) sentences.

Paragraph 4

The day-to-day activities I do in Portland are much different than the ones I did in Ifo. In Ifo, I would wake up and pray. I'd then brush my teeth. Since I was just a kid, my grandmother would make breakfast. In my culture, usually, the girls cook and clean. After eating my meal, I'd then go to dugsi (a school to study Koran). I would often come back at noon and eat lunch then head to school. I'd go back around 5 pm and help my grandma with dinner. Then I get to hang out with my friends. Then it's bedtime around 8 or 9 pm. The next day is the same as the previous, but little changes might occur. Here in America, I wake up and pray. Then I cook breakfast and get ready for school. After I have completed school, I cook lunch/dinner for the family. It is the big meal of the day. Then I babysit for my sister and do homework. What I do here every day here is a bit different depending on the time I get out of school because I get to hang out with my friends sometimes.

Analysis

There are only two monosyllabic substantive words here. My vocabulary in the paragraph gets inclined towards the use of Anglo-Saxons words. However, the paragraph is a composition that is a story and not that much academic and therefore the vocabulary used in it is poetic with some elements of rhythm. There are only two linking verbs, and none of the verbs is in the passive voice. In the paragraph, the number of sentences is sixteen (16).

Paragraph 5

Your happiness lies in helping others through teaching and practicing the Islamic faith. Your Islamic religion requires you to do many things like praying five times a day, giving out charity to those in need, and fasting during the month of Ramadan. You also want to finish the Holy Quran and know its meaning by heart. To accomplish these things you require self-control and some composure which you do not have.

Analysis

There is no monosyllabic substantive word in this paragraph. I also tend to use Anglo-Saxon words here, alongside academic vocabulary making the paragraph to have a formal pitch. For the verbs, there are no linking verbs, and neither are their verbs in the passive voice. The paragraph has a total of four sentences.

General analysis of the sentences in all the paragraphs

In all the examples combined, the total number of sentences in the five paragraphs is fifty-five. In all the cases, the longest sentence with the highest number of words is a sentence with a total of forty-one words. The shortest sentence has a total of five words in all of the examples. Out of the fifty-five sentences in the whole work, the following is how they get grouped in line with the number of words. We have twelve sentences having less than ten words, twenty-four sentences are between ten to twenty words long, and the remaining nineteen sentences have more than twenty words comprising them.

Since one of the five paragraphs is exceptionally long and another one extremely short, I have chosen to work with three of the paragraphs. In the three paragraphs, there are a total of thirty-four sentences. Out of this, there are sixteen simple sentences (those that have one independent clause), ten compound sentences (those with independent requirements), and six complex sentences (those with one dependent and one independent). Out of all the thirty-four sentences in the three paragraphs, only two of them are compound-complex sentences with two or more independent clauses and one or more independent). Besides, most of my sentences also have in their beginning modifying phrases, but the modifying phrases are different including prepositional, participial, and simple modifying phrases. Seventeen of my sentences out of the thirty-four begin with the prepositional modifying phrase. Eleven of them start with a simple modifying phrase, and the remaining six start with the participial modifying phrase.

According to the above analysis and discovery from my writing style, my typical patterns of writing are useful, and in comparison to what I wrote on the first day about my writing style, it is evident that I have gone through a lot of positive changes in the way in which I write.