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Task F - Grammatical parallelism
Our analysis of Steinbeck Passage
The first clause of each of sentences 1-4 begin with 'his X', where X
is some part of the man. This 'his X' noun phrase is the subject of the
predicator 'were', and the complement of the predicator in each case is
an adjective-head phrase, sometimes consisting of just one word (e.g.
'hard') and sometimes a slightly more complex phrase (e.g. 'very dark
brown'). So all 4 clauses have the structure SPC, referring to a part
of the man and specifying some quality of that part. This repeated structure,
which is very simple in type, helps stress the overall objective feel
of the description and the way that the focus of the description is entirely
on just one person, and different external; aspects of that person.
There is also some elementary parallelism at a phrase level, usually
involving the simple coordination of adjectives, nouns or simple noun
phrases (e.g 'high and wide', 'the space between thumb and forefinger
and the hams of his hands'). Again, the overall effect is to emphasise
the simplicity of the description and the intense concentration on particular
physical aspects of the man.
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