17.Syntactical stylistic devices

1. Length & structure

Theoretically speaking a sentence can be of any length. Unable to specify the upper limit of sentence length we definitely know its lower mark to be one word. One-word sentence possesses a very strong emphatic impact for its only word obtains both the word & the sentence stress e.g. Silence. In the night.

Abrupt changes from short sentences to long ones & went back again create a very strong effect of tension for they serve to arrange to a nervous, uneven rhythm of an utterance. There is no direct correlation between the length & the structure of the sentence. Short sentences may be structured complicated while the long ones on the contrary may have only one subject predicate pair.

Inversion is a syntactical stylistic device based on violation of the traditional word order of the sentence, which does not alter the meaning of the sentence only giving it an additional logical impact or emotional colouring. When the inversion deals with the displacement of the predicate, it is complete inversion, when it deals with the displacement of the secondary members, it is partial inversion.

Rhetorical question Is a synt. SD based on a statement expressed in an interrogative from. As distinct from an ordinary question which is asked to find some information RQ does not require any answer, it serves the purpose of calling the reader’s attention to a particular point of writing or speech. e.g. What is this life, if full of care We have no time to stay & stare?

Syntactical stylistic devices dealing with completeness

Ellipses is a deliberate omission of at least one member of the sentence. E.g. I went to London as one goes to exile, she – to NYork.

Break in the narration is a SD which consists in breaking the narration for rhetorical effect. (threat, hesitation) E.g. Just come home, or I’ll …

Apokoinu is the omission of the pronominal (adverbial) connection which creates a blend of the main & subordinate clauses so that the predicate or the object of the 1^st clause is simultaneously used as a subject of the 2^nd clause.

E.g. Here is a gentleman wants to know you (‘who’ is omitted). He was the man killed that deer.

SD dealing with arrangement of the sentence.

Parallelism (parallel constructions) -Purely syntactical type of repetition a syntactical device based on the use of the similar synt. pattern in 2 or more sentence s or clauses. Parallel constructions (PC) may be partial or complete. Partial P arrangement is the repetition of the structure of some parts of successive sentences or clauses. Complete P arrangement represents identity of structures throughout the corresponding sentences. Chiasmus(or reserved P) is a synt. SD based on the repetition of a synt. pattern with a reserved word order.

e.g. He loved & was loved by everybody (active/passive voice)

Repetition (sd) is reiteration of the same word, word combination, phrase for 2 or more times. Several types:

simple repetition – is the R of one & the same member of a sentence without any strict regularity;

anaphora – is the R of the beginning of some successive sentences of clauses: a…, a…, a…;

epiphora – is the R of the end of some successive sentences of clauses: …a, …a, …a;

Framing – is the R of the beginning of the in the end thus forming the frame for the non-repeated part of the sentence. e.g. Nothing ever happed in that little town, left behind by the advance of civilization, nothing. The function of framing is to elucidate the notion mentioned at the beginning of the sentence a..a;

catch (anadiplosis) –(…a, a…) is the R of the end of the clause or sentence is the beginning of the following one. E.g. he was shaken, shaken & embitted;

chain (…a, a…b, b…c, c…) presents several successive catch repetitions. E.g. A smile would come into his face. Smile extends into laughter, the laughter into roar & the roar became general. The main function of chain R is to develop logical reasoning;

successive R: …a, a, a… – is the stream of closely following each other reiterated units. E.g. On her father’s being groundlessly suspected she felt sure. Sure. Sure This is the most emphatic type of R which signifies the pick of emotions of the speaker.

Detachment is a syntactical stylistic device consisting in separating a secondary part of a sentence with the aim of emphasizing it. e.g. She rose up, pale & with fury in her eyes.

Parenthesis- sentence, phrase or word, which is inserted in a longer passage without being gram.ly connected with it, usually marked off by brackets, dashes or commas.e.g. He came-just imagine what he looked like- & said..

Suspense is a deliberate postponement of the completing of the sentence.

SD based on various types of connection

Asyndeton is connection between parts of sentence without any conjunctions.

Polysyndeton is a syntactical stylistic device based on repeated use of conjunctions in close connection.

e.g. The heaviest rain & snow & hale & sleet.

Attachment is a syntactical stylistic device based on the deliberate separation of the second part of the utterance from the first one by a full stop.