This article reports on a comparative analysis of two sets of essays, student-discursive essays (SDEs) and ChatGPT-generated discursive essays (ChatGPT-GDEs) on the same essay topic using Coh-Metrix. It focused on three Coh-Metrix indices, lexical density, syntactic complexity, and referential cohesion as the basis for the comparative analysis.…

Although there have been many studies comparing native and non-native researchers, few of those studies have been on the use of reporting verbs by Turkish EFL researchers. The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) the most frequently used reporting verbs by native and non-native researchers in ELT and functional and positional differences in…

An exploratory study of quantitative measurement of syntactic and rhetorical fluency examined students' writing near the beginning and near the end of a two-quarter, freshman English program. The syntactic analysis focused on the clause, which was classified according to basic syntactic type and elaborating syntactic structures. The rhetorical…

Cites examples of surprise combinations of words that give sudden pleasure to a listener or reader.

FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE WERE STUDIED THROUGH SYSTEMATIC AND OBJECTIVE ANALYSES OF NOVELISTIC SYNTAX AND VOCABULARY. SAMPLE PASSAGES FROM THE MAJOR NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN, THE BRONTE SISTERS, AND GEORGE ELIOT AS WELL AS NOVELS BY 13 OTHER AUTHORS WERE ANALYZED. INFORMATION ON PASSAGE SENTENCES, CLAUSES, AND WORDS WAS…

The objectives of this study were (1) to analyze the linguistic structures and the linguistic deviations used by children in their written sentences, and (2) to compare the structures and deviations with the quality of the writing, as judged by three competent raters. Eighty fourth-grade and 80 sixth-grade children (8% black) from working-class…

In spite of a number of unanswered questions regarding its place in the teaching of composition and the lack of agreement on why it is effective, sentence combining (SC) has become accepted as a useful skill building technique in regular composition classes. Attempting a broader context on the college level, SC was used exclusively to teach every…

Second language students may develop writing skills gradually, or they may learn and practice these skills through the use of sentence combining techniques. A study is reported of the consistent use of sentence combining exercises with intermediate language classes at the university level. A total of 325 students enrolled in intermediate French,…

The identification and study of 20 syntactical patterns responsible for much of the structural ambiguity found in literary composition can develop in students an audience awareness. When they realize that such constructions as "a dull boy's knife" and "the club will be open to members from Monday to Thursday" can be misinterpreted, they take more…

An experiment on relative clause formation involving Cantonese students who were learning English was conducted. The study sought to determine whether sentence combining exercises would help Chinese students construct long relative clauses instead of the short relative clauses that exist in their first language. For the experimental group each…

This University of Nebraska study proposed to discover (1) the types of changes occurring in syntax as children mature, (2) the age at which children begin to use certain structures in their writing, (3) the differences in syntax between children's and adult's writing, (4) the relationship between syntactic patterns and intellectual ability, and…

A study compared the writing productivity, syntactic maturity, vocabulary, and mechanics of 48 learning-disabled and 48 normally achieving students in grades 4, 8, and 11. Learning-disabled students' written products were shorter, contained fewer sentences with more words per sentence, included fewer long words, and had more spelling and…

This monograph reports a longitudinal study of the language development of 211 pupils as they progressed from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Data include transcribed interviews, written compositions, reading and IQ scores, listening scores and ratings, teachers' ratings on specified language factors, and reports of books read. Results…

Two research projects focused on the nature of verb choice and its relationship to a composition's general effectiveness and reader impact. In the pilot project, 28 fifth grade students received an instructional unit of 27 lessons emphasizing the incorporation of precise verb vocabulary and the elimination of forms of "to be" and "to have" as main…

Samples of written language were collected from 140 congenitally deaf children at grade levels 3, 5, 7, and 9. The samples were then subjected to error, quantitative, and transformational analysis. Findings suggested a relationship between the order in which the deaf child acquires the rules of his language and the ordering of rules in a…