Syntax Quiz

"The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge."

colon connects the clauses like a bridge. Makes the readers stop and look what is after the colon

"He had been prepared to lie, to bluster, to remain sullenly unresponsive; but, reassured by the good-humored intelligence of the Controller's face, he decided to tell the truth, straightforwardly.

repetition of "to" builds up to the big moment, and contrasts with "to tell the truth". Semicolon brings the two clauses together and shows the ending result that was led up to (emphasized)

"I slowed still more, my shadow pacing me, dragging its head through the weeds that hid the fence."

-ing participial phrases slows the reader down & echoes the meaning of the sentence. Pace of the words match the meaning

I hear an army charging upon the land, And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knees: Arrogant, in black armor, behind them stand, Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the charioteers.

makes the reader pay attention more until the end to see the subject, reverse verb and subject order stands out to make the sentence more emphasized

"No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl! - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation."

the appositives increase the intensity and the intensity creates the mood