Scientific Description, Grammar Rules, and Renaissance Narrative Forms

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Understanding Scientific Description

The scientific description rigorously reports the characteristic features of objects, beings, phenomena, and processes.

Key Features of Scientific Description

  • Clarity and Accuracy: Ensures information is precise and easy to understand.
  • Objectivity: Presents reality without bias, avoiding personal opinions or interpretations.
  • Rigor and Verifiability: Features must be updated and verifiable through empirical evidence.

Types of Scientific Description

  • Static: Presents a fixed and stable reality.
  • Dynamic: Presents a phenomenon in process or evolution.

Essential Grammar Concepts

The Subject in Sentences

The subject is a function of the nominal group. It always agrees with the verb in number and person.

Impersonal Sentences Explained

Impersonal sentences are those that do not have a specific subject.

  • Meteorological phenomena (e.g., It's raining)
  • When the verb "to be" gives chronological information (e.g., It's late)
  • With the verbs "to have" and "to do" used impersonally (e.g., There is a problem)
  • With the impersonal "se" (e.g., One speaks Spanish here)

Understanding the Predicate

The predicate is the exclusive function of the verb. It is divided into core and complements.

Verbal Predicate

Sentences with a verbal predicate are called predicate sentences.

Nominal Predicate and Copulative Sentences

The nominal predicate consists of a copula (e.g., am, is, are, was, were) and an attribute. These are called copulative sentences.

The Attribute in Copulative Sentences

The attribute is the complement that refers to the subject of a copulative sentence.

Forms of the Attribute

  1. An Adjectival Group: The girl looks very serious.
  2. A Nominal Group: My son is a famous writer.
  3. An Adverbial Group: The pictures were pretty good.
  4. A Nominal Group with Preposition: The gentleman is from Brazil.

Renaissance Literature: Narrative Forms

The Renaissance Epic Tradition

In the Renaissance, the epic became a cultivated genre, with known authors, though still written in verse.

Key European Renaissance Epics

This tradition follows two of the most important writers of Greco-Roman antiquity: Homer (Greek literature) and Virgil (Latin literature).

AuthorWorksCharactersArgument
HomerIliadParis, Helen, Hector, AchillesRecounts the war between the Greeks and Trojans
HomerOdysseyOdysseus, Penelope, TelemachusDescribes the return of the hero Odysseus to his ancient city of Ithaca
VirgilAeneidAeneas, DidoThe adventures of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome
  • In Italy, Ludovico Ariosto recounts the war of Agramante against Charlemagne in Orlando Furioso, and Torquato Tasso wrote Jerusalem Delivered.
  • The Lusiads by Luís de Camões in Portugal.
  • In Spain, the most important poem was La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla.

The Renaissance Novel in Spain

This period distinguishes between novels of chivalry and new subgenres of fiction:

  • The pastoral novel and the Byzantine novel originated from Greco-Roman antiquity.
  • The Moorish novel and the picaresque novel are narrative forms specific to Spain.

Chivalric Romances

Chivalric romances continued to enjoy great success, especially Amadis of Gaul, which inspired many imitations.

The Pastoral Novel

These novels depict the love lives of shepherds. Diana by Jorge de Montemayor is a representative Spanish pastoral novel.

The Byzantine Novel

Known for adventure, a notable example is Selva de Aventuras by Jerónimo de Contreras.

The Moorish Novel

Often anonymous, a notable example is Historia del Abencerraje y la hermosa Jarifa.

The Picaresque Novel

Lazarillo de Tormes is a prime example of this genre.

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