A Text Analysis Based on the Seven Sentences Given about The Iron Man by Ted Hughes - Essay Example

The Iron Man The purpose of this report is to make a text analysis based on the seven sentences given about The Iron Man by Ted Hughes Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness: The first noun in this sentence is 'iron man', where iron is a descriptive term of man. 'Cliff 'and 'darkness' and 'house' are the other nouns. The verb is in the past tense, and it is 'stood'. Prepositions used are 'at', 'of', 'on' and 'in.' Determiners include 'a' and 'the' because they refer to the noun. The articles are 'a', and 'the.' There is a degree word in the sentence. It is 'very'; hit shows the degree of his closeness to the edge of the cliff. Since phrases are many in a sentence, 'taller than a house', 'at the top of the cliff', 'on the very brink', and 'in the darkness are all examples of it. The main clause in this is 'iron man stood at the top of the cliff.' This clause is by itself a sentence. This means there is a complete meaning for it even if it is alone with no other phrase. (English grammar 2009). This structure of the sentence makes it ambiguous because since 'taller than a house' precedes 'iron man' and 'cliff', who or what is taller than a house might confuse the students. This affects the semantics of the sentence. This is due to improper phrase structure. It reads better as, 'The Iron Man, taller than a house, stood in the darkness, at the top, on the very brink of the cliff.' Thus, the sentence will be understood better. This creates a language cluster with 'at the top, on the very brink of the cliff.' Speaking about the pragmatics in it, the exact meaning of the sentence will be understood only if the students know who the iron man is or what the story is about. Else, they will be puzzled about how a man can be made of iron. The sentence alone will only give a sense of the real meaning; that the iron man, a very tall person, stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. As the students discuss among themselves, they might come up with negotiated meanings for the sentence like the iron man wanted to jump off the cliff because he was standing at the edge of it. The denoted meaning is that the man was made of iron, that he was very tall, and that he stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. But, connotation might arise at the mention of iron and the edge of the cliff. It varies with each student, but it might be something like imagining themselves as the iron man or as standing at edge of a cliff. In this case, the first level of pragmatism is that the tall iron man stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. The second level of pragmatism gives the idea that it was night time. The third level of pragmatism will bring in thoughts like he will or will not die if he falls off the cliff because he's made of iron and there is a chance of falling since its dark. This sentence contains almost all the elements of English language, and can be used as a good example for teaching what phrases and clauses are. But considering the limitations of the students, this one is a bit confusing to start with. 2. The wind sang through his iron fingers: The nouns in the sentence are 'wind and 'iron fingers' where again, iron is a descriptive part. 'Sang' is the simple past tense verb in it. 'The' is the article and 'through' is the preposition. 'His' is the pronoun. The sentence is a very simple one with just a single clause. The sentence does not provide any ambiguity in its structure, and is right semantically. The meaning of the sentence is pretty easy for any child. Taking this particular sentence alone, its pragmatism is to be discussed. Since the iron man's name is not mentioned, the reference of 'his' will create a problem. The sense of meaning that this sentence gives is that the iron fingers had gaps in between through which the wind blew singing. The negotiated meaning can be that a giant had iron fingers with so much of gap in between them that even a child can pass through it. The denoted meaning is that it was windy at the top of the cliff and that it made much noise. Thought of connotation might originate from the negotiated meaning about a child the size of them passing through his fingers or about the songs the wind sang. The first level of pragmatism allows for an understanding that wind blew through the person's iron fingers. The second level of pragmatism gives the idea that a man with iron fingers and gap in between them was standing in a place which was windy. The third level of pragmatism might make the students think that the man is a supernatural person. The sentence is suitable for a beginner to study about the basic parts of a sentence. 3. His great iron head, shaped like a dustbin but as big as a bedroom, slowly turned to the right, slowly turned to the left: The nouns in this sentence are 'iron head', where iron describes the head, 'dustbin', 'bedroom', 'right' and 'left'. The verbs are 'turned' and 'shaped.' Prepositions used are 'like' and 'to'. 'But' is the conjunction in it. Pronoun in the sentence is 'his.' There is a degree word and that is 'great.' 'Slowly' is used twice as adverb. 'As big as' act a connector for but and bedroom. The phrases in it are many; 'his great iron head', shaped like a dustbin', 'as big as a bedroom', 'slowly turned to the right' and so on. This sentence is again wrong in its construction. The use of 'but' is not required and repetition of 'slowly turned' is superfluous. Though the phrase structure is alright, the sentence could have been constructed in a better way. It will read better as, 'His great iron head, shaped like a dustbin as big as a bedroom, slowly turned to the right and to the left.' Here again, pragmatism will be a problem because the name of the person is not mentioned, instead a pronoun is used. The meaning of the sentence can be understood as the person had an iron head which he slowly turned to different directions. The negotiated meaning might be that he was an ordinary man with unnaturally big head, which made him turn slowly. The denoted meaning is that he had an iron head which he turned slowly. Now the connotation may be about the students' bedrooms which are always dirty. The first level of pragmatism gives the actual meaning that he had an iron head as big as bedroom and shaped like a dustbin. The second level of pragmatism arises from the fact that he had an iron head, so he must difficulty in turning his head because of its weight. The third level might be that he is a supernatural person, though unknown with head as large as a bedroom. 4. His iron ears turned, this way, that way: The nouns in the sentence are 'iron ear' and 'way.' The verb is again, 'turned.' 'His' is the pronoun and 'this' and 'that' are the modifiers. The clause in the sentence is 'his iron ears turned.' This is a simple sentence but with problems in syntactical error. Between 'this' and 'that', 'and' must be used to convey the right meaning. 'His ears turned this way and that way.' The topic of pragmatism comes in with the use of iron ears for a person who is unknown to the students. The real sense is understood as the person had iron ears which he turned. Negotiated meaning might be that he was deaf because his ears are explained as made of iron and he kept turning them. The denoted meaning is just that he turned his iron ears. The connotation can be about anything, like an animal which has long ears; for example an elephant. The first level of pragmatism is that he turned his iron ears in various directions. The second level of pragmatism is that he could turn his ears made of iron in many directions. The third level of pragmatism might be that he wanted to listen to something for which he kept turning his ears. The sentence can be used to teach the use of conjunctions. 5. He was hearing the sea: 'Sea' is the noun in this one. 'Was hearing' is the verb and 'he' is the pronoun. 'The' is the article used to describe the sea. This sentence is a pretty simple one. The meaning conveyed is that a person was hearing the sea. Pragmatism, as usual works out the problem as the use of pronoun instead of a name. The first level of pragmatism is that he heard the sea. The second level is that he was somewhere near the sea to hear it. The third level of pragmatism might be that he was purposely listening to the sound of the sea. There is no ambiguity in the sentence and can be taught as an example of a simple sentence. 6. His eyes, like headlamps, glowed white, then red, then infrared, searching the sea: The nouns in the sentence are 'eyes', 'headlamps', 'white', 'red', 'infrared' and 'sea.' The verbs are 'glowed' and 'searching.' The pronoun 'his' is used. The prepositions used are 'like' and 'then.' The article used in it is 'the.' There are many phrases in the sentence like, 'like headlamps', 'glowed white', 'then red', 'then infrared', and 'searching the sea.' The sentence does not make proper sense because of the problem in structuring. A change in phrase structure will give an idea about what it means. 'His eyes, searching the sea, glowed white, then red, then infrared like headlights.' Here is language cluster with 'then red, then infrared.' The sentence deals with pragmatism because of the use a pronoun. The real sense of it is that the person's eyes glowed like headlamps when he searched the sea. A negotiated meaning may be that his eyes changed colours as he searched the sea. The denoted meaning is that his eyes glowed like headlamps as he searched the sea. The connotation may be about any other character who changes his eye colour or about using lens for changing the colour of the eyes. The first level of pragmatism explains that his eyes glowed like headlamps when he searched the sea. The second level of pragmatism is that his eyes have the power to glow and change colours like headlamps. The third level of pragmatism might be that he is no normal man, but some character with powerful eyes. The sentence will be found difficult to learn and explain to beginners due to its complexity. 7. Never before had the Iron Man seen the sea: 'Before', 'Iron Man' and 'sea' are the nouns used. 'Had seen' is the verb and 'the' is the article. 'Never' is a modifier, since it describes the noun 'before.' Here, the phrases are, 'had the iron man', and 'seen the sea.' This makes perfect sense semantically. Pragmatism too is maintained as far as the students are aware of who the Iron Man is. Otherwise, it will not give complete meaning to the students. The sense of the sentence is that the iron man was seeing the sea for the first time. Negotiated meaning can be that the iron man did not have eyesight until then. The denoted meaning is that he was near the sea for the first time. Connotations might be about incidents when the students were near the sea. The first level of pragmatism is that he was seeing the sea for the first time. The second level of pragmatism is that until then, he was in some other land where there was no sea. The third level of pragmatism can be that he ia coming from outer space and so has not seen the sea before. Reference English grammar 2009, English club.com, viewed 24 March 2009, http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/ Read More