25. Detachment. Parenthesis. Inversion. Parcellation.

Sometimes one of the secondary parts of a sentence by some specific consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Such parts of structures are called detached. The essential quality of detached construction lies in the fact that the isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. But a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of a primary member of the sentence—it always remains secondary from the semantic point of view, although structurally it possesses all the fea­tures of a "primary member”. Detached constructions in their common forms make the written variety of language akin to the spoken variety where the relation between the component parts is effectively materialized by means of intonation. In the English language detached constructions are generally used in the belles-lettres prose style and mainly with words that have some explanatory function. Detached construction as a stylistic device is a typification of the syntactical peculiarities of colloquial language.

A variant of detached construction is parenthesis. Parenthesis is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word, phrase, clause, sentence, or other sequence which interrupts a syntactic construc­tion without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic into­nation and indicated in writing by commas, brackets or dashes.

Inversion - the reversal of the normal order of words in a sentence, for the sake of emphasis (in prose) or for the sake of the metre (in poetry): Dark they were and golden-eyed. Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional coloring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is the inevitable satellite of inversion. Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not be regarded as a violation of the norms of standard English. It is only the practical realization of what is potential in the language itself. Inversion as a stylistic device is always sense-motivated. There is a tendency to account for inversion in poetry by rhythmical considerations.

Stylistic inversion may be of various types:

1) the predicate may precede the subject of the sentence;

2) the object is placed before the predicate;

3) the attribute stands after the word it modifies (the post-position of an attribute).

Stylistic inversion is used to single out some parts of the sentence and sometimes to heighten the emotional tension.

 Parcellation is a deliberate break of the sentence structure into two or more isolated parts, separated by a pause and a period. Parcellation is typical of colloquial speech. The main stylistic functions of parcellation are as follows: 1) specification of some concepts or facts, e.g. His wife had told him only the night before that he was getting a habit of it. Curious things, habits (A. Christie); 2) characterization of the personages' emotional state, e.g. It angered him finally. With a curious sort of anger Detached, somehow, separate from himself (C.B. Gilford); 3) description of the events or giving the personages' portrayal, e.g. I’d say he was thirty-five or –six. Sallow, dark hair and eyes, with the eyes set pretty close together, big mouth, long limp nose, bat-wing ears  - shifty-looking (D.Hammett); A touring car, large, black, powerfully engined and with lowered curtains, came from the rear... Possibly a scout (D. Hammett).     The usage of coordination instead of subordination helps the author, to show differ-ent planes of narration. In this case the connection itself is more important stylistically than the contents of the sentence, e.g. He was more enthusiastic about America than ever, and he was not so simple, and he was not so nice (E. Hemingway).