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Syntactical stylistic devices
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Syntactical SDs
include: sentence length, <one-word sentences>, <punctuation>, <rhetorical question>, <parallel construction>, <chiasmus>, <stylistic inversion>, <suspense>, <detachment>, <ellipsis>, one-member sentences, <apokoinu constructions>, <break-in-the-narrative>, <polysyndeton>, <asyndeton>, <attachment>, <secondary predication constructions>
See: <repetition>, <enumeration>; <lexical SDs>, <cluster SDs>, <lexico-syntactical SDs>, <stylistic device>
One-word sentences
possess a very strong emphatic impact, for their only word obtains both the word- and the sentence-stress. The word constituting a sentence also obtains its own sentence-intonation which, too, helps to foreground the content. (V.A.K.)
e.g. I like people. Not just empty streets and dead buildings. People. People. (P.Abrahams)
See: <punctuation>, <syntactical SDs>
Sentence structure
структура предложения
Not only the clarity and understandability of the sentence but also its expressiveness depend on the position of clauses, constituting it.
@ loose structure
- opens with the main clause, which is followed by dependent units;
- less emphatic and is highly characteristic of informal writing and conversation;
@ periodic sentences
- open with subordinate clauses, absolute and participial constructions, the main clause being withheld until the end
- are known for their emphasis and are used mainly in creative prose
e.g. Such being at bottom the fact, I think it is well to leave it at that. (S.Maugham)
@ balanced sentences
- subordinate-main-subordinate similar structuring of the beginning of the sentence and its end;
- known for stressing the logic and reasoning of the content and thus preferred in publicist writing;
@
See: <punctuation>, <syntactical SDs>
Source: <V.A.K.>
Order of words
порядок слов
and <punctuation> are used to convey the corresponding pausation and intonation in the written form of speech (V.A.K.)
See: <punctuation>, <stylistic inversion>, <syntactical SDs>
Punctuation
пунктуация
Points of exclamation, points of interrogation, dots, dashes; commas, semicolons and full stops serve as an additional source of information and help to specify the <meaning> of the written sentence which in oral speech would be conveyed by the intonation. (V.A.K.)
e.g. ”What’s your name?” “John Lewis.” “Mine’s Liza. Watkin.” (K.Kesey)
e.g. ”You know so much. Where is she?” “Dead. Or in a crazy house.” Or married. I think she’s married and quieted down.” (T.Capote)
e.g. The neon lights in the heart of the city flashed on and off. On and off. On. Off. On. Off. Continuously. (P.Abrahams)
e.g.... a truth, a faith, a generation of men goes – and is forgotten, and it does not matter! (J.Conrad)
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See: <order of words>, <one-word sentences>, <syntactical SDs>
Rhetorical question
риторический вопрос
peculiar interrogative construction which semantically remains a statement;
- does not demand any information but
- serves to express the emotions of the speaker and also
- serves to call the attention of listeners;
- makes an indispensable part of oratoric speech for they very successfully emphasise the orator’s ideas.
Source: <V.A.K.>
••
a) a special syntactical stylistic device the essence of which consists in reshaping the <grammatical meaning> of the interrogative sentence;
e.g. Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace?
b) a statement expressed in the form of an interrogative sentence;
c) an utterance in the form of a question which pronounces judgement and also expresses various kind of modal shades of meanings, as doubt, challenge, scorn, irony and so on;
e.g. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? (W.Shakespeare)
- is generally structurally embodied in complex sentences with the subordinate clause containing the pronouncement;
- may be looked upon as a <transference> of <grammatical meaning>;
Source: <I.R.G.>
••
вопрос, который не предполагает ответа, ставится не для того, чтобы побудить слушателя сообщить нечто неизвестное говорящему, а чтобы привлечь внимание, усилить впечатление, повысить эмоциональный тон, создать приподнятость
e.g. Being your slave, what should I do but tend // Upon the hours and times of your desire? (W.Shakespeare – Sonnet LVII) – Для верных слуг нет ничего другого // Как ожидать у двери госпожу. (пер. С.Я.Маршака)
Source: <I.V.A.>
••
- contains a statement disguised as a question;
- usually a positive question hiding a negative statement. No answer is expected.
e.g. Can any one say what truth is?
e.g. Do we always act as we ought to?
e.g. What else could I do?
e.g. Who would have thought to meet you here?
Source: Кобрина Н.А. и др. Грамм. англ. яз. СПб., 2001. C. 307
See: <order of words>, negative-interrogative sentences, <transposition>, <question-in-the-narrative>, <syntactical SDs>
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Repetition
types: <anaphora>, <epiphora>, <framing>, <catch repetition> or <anadiplosis>, <chain repetition>, <ordinary repetition>, <successive repetition>; <synonymical repetition>;
- is a powerful mean of emphasis;
- adds <rhythm> and balance to the utterance;
e.g. … there lived a little man named Nathaniel Pipkin, …, and lived in a little house in the little High Street, within ten minutes' walk of the little church; and who was to be found every day from nine till four, teaching a little learning to the little boys. (Dickens)
See: <syntactical SDs>, <stylistic device>; <reprise>
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Anaphora
анафора
(a..., a..., a...,)
the beginning of two or more sentences (clauses) is repeated
The main stylistic function is not so much to emphasise the repeated unit as to create the background for the non-repeated unit, which, through its novelty, becomes foregrounded. (V.A.K.)
e.g. I might as well face facts: good-bye, Susan, good-bye a big car, good-bye a big house, good-bye power, good-bye the silly handsome dreams. (J.Braine)
e.g. And everywhere were people. People going into gates and coming out of gates. People staggering and falling. People fighting and cursing. (P.Abrahams)
e.g. So long as men can breathe or eyes can See
e.g. So long lives this and this gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare – XVIII)
Ant.: <epiphora>
See: <repetition>
Epiphora
эпифора
(... a,... a,... a,)
the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated
The main stylistic function is to add stress to the final words of the sentence. (V.A.K.)
e.g. 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 and I look at his face when I’m home and it’s dead. (J.Braine)
Ant.: <anaphora>
See: <repetition>
Framing
рамка, кольцевой повтор
(a... a)
the beginning of the sentence is repeated in the end, thus forming the “frame” for the non-repeated part of the sentence (utterance)
The stylistic function is to elucidate the notion mentioned in the beginning of the sentence, to concretise and to specify its semantics. (V.A.K.)
e.g. Obviously – this is a streptococcal infection. Obviously. (W.Deeping)
e.g. Then there was something between them. There was. There was. (Dreiser)
See: <catch repetition> or <anadiplosis>, <repetition>, <syntactical SDs>
Anadiplosis
Catch repetition
Reduplication
Linking
Epanalepsis
анадиплозис, подхват, эпаналепсис, стык
(... a, a...)
the end of one clause (sentence) is repeated in the beginning of the following one
The stylistic function is to elucidate the notion, to concretise and to specify its semantics on a more modest level. (V.A.K.)
e.g. 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)
e.g. And a great desire for peace, peace of no matter what kind, swept through her. (A.Bennet)
e.g. So long as men can breathe or eyes can See
e.g. So long lives [u]this and this[/u] gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare – XVIII)
See: <framing>, <repetition>, <syntactical SDs>
Syn.: anadiplosis, catch repetition, reduplication, linking, epanalepsis
Chain repetition
Chain-repetition
(... a, a... b, b...)
several successive repetitions
The effect is that of the smoothly developing logical reasoning. (V.A.K.)
e.g. ”To think better of it,” returned the gallant Blandois, “would be to slight a lady, to slight a lady would be to be deficient in chivalry towards the sex, and chivalry towards the sex is a part of my character.” (Dickens)
e.g. Failure meant poverty, poverty meant squalor, squalor led, in the final stages, to the smells and stagnation of B. Inn Alley. (D. du Maurier)
See: <repetition>
Ordinary repetition
(... a,... a..., a...)
(.. a..,.. a..,.. a..)
no definite place in the sentence, the repeated unit occurs in various positions
The stylistic function is to emphasise both the logical and the <emotional meaning> of the reiterated word (phrase). (V.A.K.)
e.g. Halfway along the right-hand side of the dark brown hall was a dark brown door with a dark brown settie beside it. (W.S.Gilbert)
e.g. I really don’t See anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. (Wilde)
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See: <repetition>
Successive repetition
(... a, a, a...)
a string of closely following each other reiterated units
The most emphatic type of repetition which signifies the peak of emotions of the speaker. (V.A.K.)
e.g. Of her father’s being groundlessly suspected, she felt sure. Sure. Sure. (Dickens)
See: <repetition>
Synonymical repetition
синонимический повтор
the repetition of the same idea by using synonymous words and phrases which by adding a slightly different nuance of <meaning> intensify the impact of the utterance (I.R.G.)
e.g.... are there not capital punishment sufficient in your statutes? Is there not blood enough upon your penal code? (Byron)
e.g. The poetry of earth is never dead … // The poetry of earth is ceasing never... (Keats)
See: <repetition>
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Parallel construction
параллельная конструкция
reiteration of the structure of several sentences (clauses), and not of their lexical “flesh”
almost always includes some type of lexical <repetition>, and such a convergence produces a very strong effect, <foregrounding> at one go logical, <rhythm>ic, emotive and expressive aspects of the utterance. (V.A.K.)
e.g. When a man wants to kill a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to kill a man it is ferocity. (I.V.A.)
••
- identical. or similar, syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of a sentence in close succession;
- is often backed up by repetition of words (lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (<polysyndeton>);
- may be partial or complete (balance);
- is most frequently used in <enumeration>, <antithesis> and in <climax>, thus consolidating the general effect achieved by these stylistic devices;
- is used in different styles of writing with slightly different functions;
- carries, in the main, the idea of semantic equality of the parts (matter-of-fact styles), an emotive function (<belles-lettres style>),
Source: <I.R.G.>:208
e.g. Speaking without thinking is shooting without aiming. (Cronin)
e.g. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. (Harper Lee) – Суд совершенен лишь настолько, насколько совершенны присяжные, а присяжные совершенны лишь настолько, насколько совершенен каждый из них. (пер. Норы Галь и Р.Облонской)
e.g. I notice that father’s is a large hand, but never a heavy one when it touches me, and that father’s is a rough voice but never an angry one when it speaks to me. (Dreiser)
e.g. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure -- a ghostly couple. (V.Woolf)
e.g. So long as [u]men can breathe[/u] or [u]eyes can See [/u]
e.g. So long lives this and this gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare – XVIII)
See: <chiasmus>, <coupling>, <repetition>, <syntactical SDs>
Chiasmus
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