Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 29

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SYNTAX
MORGAN ST. JAMES
The word “syntax” has several definitions relative to the English language and
grammar, but the one that popped into my mind is from the Bing Online
Dictionary.

Organization of words in sentences
The ordering of and relationship between the words and other structural
elements in phrases and sentences. The syntax may be of a whole language, a
single phrase or sentence, or of an individual speaker.

When things go wrong
I was listening to an audio book by one of my favorite authors—a New York
Times bestselling author, no less. All of a sudden, there it was—the dreaded
double-meaning syntax. The narrator said, “The two men sat down quickly in suits
and ties.” Um, excuse me. Am I to picture these two fellows wandering through a
men’s department in Nordstrom or Macys, then quickly plunk themselves down
on a pair of chairs when they reach the Suits & Ties Department?
With apologies to an author whose following is huge, and an undoubtedly
highly regarded editor, it seems it should have been something like “The two men,
decked out in suits and ties, sat down quickly.”
The result of poor syntax or arrangement of the words in a particular sentence
can definitely create confusion and in some cases are also quite funny.
Years ago, mixed up placement was something I was guilty of as an author.
Then my sister Phyllice brought it to my attention. All of a sudden, misleading
sentences jumped off the page and I found myself acutely aware of them in other
author’s books as well.

Some examples
Somewhere in the recesses of my memory, I recalled a song with the line
“Throw mama from the train a kiss, a kiss.” The phrasing was such a good
illustration of today’s topic that I looked it up on the internet. The song, actually
called Mama From the Train (A Kiss, A Kiss) was recorded by songstress Patti Page
in 1956 and reached #11 in Billboard’s Top 100. The songwriter, Irving Gordon,
said the song was about memories of his deceased mother, whose Pennsylvania
Dutch-influenced English lead to quaint phrasings. Playing on the misdirection,
there was a movie with Danny DeVito called Throw Momma From the Train.
However, DeVito’s character would really have liked to do what the title suggested
and throw his shrew of a mother off a real train!
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

PAGE
19

MARCH - APRIL 2016