Stylistic devices of the syntactical level

A peculiar interrogative construction which semantically remains a statement is called a rhetorical question. Unlike an ordinary question the RQ does not demand any information but serves to express the emotions of the speaker and also to call the attention of listeners. In fact the speaker knows the answer himself. RQs are also often asked in "unanswerable" cases, as when in distress or anger we resort to phrases like What have I done to deserve … or How long must we suffer? Where is the end?

Repetition is recurrence of the same word, word combination, or phrase for two and more times. According to the place which the repeated unit occupies in an utterance R is classified into several types:

1. anaphora, a case of R when the beginning is repeated;

a…, a…, a…

If only little Edward were twenty, instead of ten. If only it were not necessary to provide a dowry for his daughter. If only his own debts were less. (E.Rutherford)

2. epiphora, the end is repeated;

…a, …a, …a

I wake up and I’m alone and I walk round Warley and I’m alone; and I talk with people and I’m alone. (J.Braine)

3. framing, the beginning of the sentence is repeated at the end, thus forming the frame for the whole sentence;

a…a

He ran away from the battle. He was an ordinary human being that didn’t want to kill or be killed. So he ran away from the battle. (S.Heym)

4. catch repetition, or anadiplosis, the end of one clause or sentence is repeated at the beginning of the following one;

a...b, b…a

Now he understood. He understood many things. One can be a person first. A man first and then a black man or a white man. (P.Abrahams)

4. chain repetition presents several successive anadiploses;

a…b, b…c, c…d

Failure meant poverty, poverty meant squalor, squalor led, in the final stages, to the smells and stagnation. (D. du Maurier)

4. successive repetition is a string of closely following each other reiterated units. This is the most emphatic type of R which signifies the peak of emotions of the speaker.

a, a, a

I wanted to knock over the table and hit him until my arm had no more strength in it, then give him the boot, give him the boot, give him the boot,- I drew a deep breath. (J.Braine)

Parallel construction is a SD which may be viewed as a purely syntactical type of R for here we deal with the reiteration of the structure of several successive clauses or sentences. PCs almost always include some type of lexical repetition too, and such a convergence produces a very strong effect.

And everywhere were people. People going into gates and coming out of gates. People staggering and falling. People fighting and cursing. (P.Abrahams)

Reversed parallelism is called chiasmus. The second part of a chiasmus is, in fact, inversion of the first construction, i.e. two syntactical constructions are parallel, but their members change their syntactical positions.

He went to the country, to the town went she.

The happy lover kisses misses,

the unhappy lover misses kisses.

Stylistic inversion is very often used as an independent SD in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate precedes the subject, or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair. Correspondingly, we differentiate between partial and complete inversion.

There are 5 main patterns of SI:

1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Talent Mr. Micawber has; capital Mr. Micawber has not. (Ch.Dickens)

2. The attribute is placed after the word it modifies.

Once upon a midnight dreary … (E.A.Poe)

3. The predicative is placed before the subject.

A good generous prayer it was. (M.Twain)

4. The adverbial modifier of manner is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Eagerly I wished the morrow … (E.A.Poe)

5. Both the adverbial modifier and predicate stand before the subject.

Down dropped the breeze. (Coleridge)

Suspense is a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence. “To keep the reader in suspense” means to create an atmosphere of uncertainty about the outcome of the plot, or to keep the final solution out of sight. Technically, S is organized with the help of embedded (встроенные) clauses separating the predicate from the subject and introducing less important facts and details first, while the expected information of major importance is reserved till the end of the sentence, or utterance.

How many pictures of new journeys over pleasant country, of resting places under the free broad sky, of rambles (прогулки) in the fields and woods, and paths not often trodden – how many tones of that one well-remembered voice, how many glimpses of the form, the fluttering dress, the hair that waved so gaily in the wind – how many visions of what had been and what he hoped was yet to be – rose up before him in the old, dull, silent church! (Ch.Dickens)

Detachment, a SD based on singling out a secondary member of the sentence with the help of punctuation in writing and intonation in speech. The word order here is not violated, but secondary members obtain their own stress and intonation because they are detached, separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, dashes or even a full stop as in the following case.

E.g., I have to beg you for money. Daily. (S.Lewis)

Ellipsis - deliberate omission of at least one member of the sentence.

Nothing so difficult as a beginning. (G.Byron) (link-verb is omitted)

In manner, close and dry. In voice, husky and low. (Ch.Dickens) (both subject and predicate are omitted)

In contemporary prose E is mainly used in dialogue where it is consciously employed by the author to reflect the natural omissions characterizing oral colloquial speech.

• Were they interesting books?

• Don’t know. Haven’t read them. (A.Christie) (subject is omitted)

In apokoinu constructions the omission of the pronominal or adverbial connective creates a blend of the main and the subordinate clauses so that the predicative or the object of the first one is simultaneously used as the subject of the second one.

There was a door led into the kitchen. (Sh.Anderson)

Break (aposeopesis) is SD used mainly in the dialogue or in other forms of narrative imitating spontaneous oral speech. It reflects the emotional and psychological state of the speaker. A sentence, for example, may be broken because the speaker’s emotions prevent him from finishing it. In other cases B is the result of the speaker’s uncertainty as to what exactly he is going to say, to promise, to threaten, to beg, etc. To mark the B dashes and dots are used.

“I just work here,” he said softly. “If I didn’t – “ he let the rest hang in the air, and kept on smiling. (R.Chandler)

Polysyndeton is repeated use of conjunctions; deliberate omission of them is named asyndeton. Both P and A have a strong rhythmic impact. Besides, the function of P is to strengthen the idea of equal logical importance of connected sentences, while A, cutting off connecting words, helps to create the effect of terse, energetic, active prose.

E.g., He thought, and thought, and thought; I hadn’t realized until then how small the houses were, how small and mean the shops. (Shute)

He yawned, went out to look at the thermometer, slammed the door, patted her head, unbuttoned his waistcoat, yawned, wound the clock, went to look at the furnace, yawned and clumped upstairs to bed, casually scratching his thick woolen undershirt. (S.Lewis)