Syntax & semantics, orthography and readability elements (SSORE)
[W]ords form phrases, grammatical functions emerge from morphological and phrasal structure, and patterns of phrases evoke a complex meaning.
A framework of SSORE
The framework addresses some of the recurring patterns and different kinds of structures in manuscripts.
The following describes how SSORE is incorporated into our copyediting process and overall model:
- Syntax & Semantics focuses on constituent arrangement (sentence level) and meaning (paragraph/global level), respectively.
- Orthography focuses on spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, word breaks, emphasis (italics) and punctuation (SCHWEP).
- Readability Elements focuses on ensuring that there is a smooth flow and that the text makes sense overall via literary devices, such as comparison, contrast and opposition, rhetoric, syntactic coordination, and different types of agreements including that of subject-verb and antecedent-anaphor (i.e. relative clauses).
The premise
“A natural language utterance is rich in structures of different kinds: sounds form recurring patterns and morphemes, words form phrases, grammatical functions emerge from morphological and phrasal structure, and patterns of phrases evoke a complex meaning.” (Mary Dalrymple, John Lamping, Fernando Pereira, and Vijay Saraswat, “Overview and Introduction.” Semantics and Syntax in Lexical Functional Grammar: The Resource Logic Approach, ed. by Mary Dalrymple. The MIT Press, 1999)
The method
We encourage you to both approach and use English through the taxonomy of syntax & semantics, orthography and readability elements (SSORE) to study the logic of words, grammatical functions and patterns of phrases that create meaning.
Any word, grammatical function or pattern that emerges out of this logic is organized into a strict categorical list that we like to refer to as “the SSORE of writing and editing,” or simply, “SSORE.”
The result
As a heuristic technique, SSORE can be applied to any writing, editing or linguistic discipline to aid in learning English grammar, English syntax and English linguistics. Its usability in all types of prose is directly correlated with not only trenchant editing but also logical writing.
SSORE could also be taken as a heuristic approach because of its focus on exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilizes self-educating techniques.