Grace

Sentence Styles

Pattern 2: “His collar was unfastened and his necktie undone.” (p 255) (‘was’ is left out of the 2^ndclause.) This is this pattern only a second comma is omitted.

Pattern 14: “Two nights after, his friends came to see him.” (p 260) Even though the preposition does not begin the introductory phrase, I believe this is still an example of pattern 14, since it could have read “His friends came to see him two nights after/after two nights,” but Joyce stresses the time which has passes after the event.

Pattern 16: “The scheme might do good and, at least, it could do no harm.” (p 261)

Pattern 9: “Mr. M’Coy had tried unsuccessfully to find a place in the bench with the others, and, when the party had settled down in the form of a quincunx he had tried unsuccessfully to make comic remarks.”(p 272)

“More than he resented the fact that he had been victimized, he resented such low playing of the game.” (263)

“Father Purdon knelt down, turned towards the red speck of light and, covering his face with his hands, prayed. After an interval, he uncovered his face and rose. The congregation rose also and settled again on its benches. Mr. Kernan restored his hat to its original position on his knee and presented an attentive face to the preacher. The preacher turned back each wide sleeve of his surplice with an elaborate gesture and slowly surveyed the array of faces.” (273)

Not only is this passage heavy on the verb style, but it showcases some other common traits throughout this story. The subject is usually in the immediate beginning in a simple subject-verb formation, “Father Purdon knelt,” “The congregation rose,” “Mr. Kernan restored”. The exceptions are the prepositional introductions, such as “After an interval”. Joyce mixes simple monosyllable words with colloquialisms and ornate vocabulary words of those striving for a higher class. The use of the verb style sets up a distant narration, a clear record of events, but lacking in emotion or explanation- that is left up to the reader as a viewer. One of the very few times the narration reaches inside a character’s mind is when Mr. Powers is playing with the children and is “surprised at their manner and at their accents, and his brow grew thoughtful” (258). Even here, as soon as we are let in to know the he actually feels surprised, we are shut out again and only shown that he is thoughtful. “At their manner and at their accents” is another example of Pattern #9. This repetition breaks up the forward-driven rhythm of the verb style.