Inversion (stylistic)(инверсия) is a syntactical stylistic device in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate precedes the subject (complete inversion), or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair (partial inversion)
Of all my old association, of all my old pursuits and hopes, of all the living and the dead world, this one poor soul alone comes natural to me. (Ch.Dickens) To a medical student the final examinations are something like death... (R.Gordon) - Для студента-медика выпускные экзамены - смерти подобны...
•• aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance (I.R.G.) Down dropped the breeze... (Coleridge)
•• нарушение обычного порядка следования членов предложения, в результате которого какой-нибудь элемент отказывается выделенным и получает специальные коннотации эмоциональности и экспрессивности (I.V.A.)
Inversion or displacement of some component of a sentence aims at giving additional logical or emotional stress to the meaning of the utterance. Inversion may be complete - when the predicate is displaced, and partial with the displacement of secondary members of the sentence. There are 5 structural types of inversion: 1) the object is placed in pre-position e.g. Over everything she brooded and brooded: 2) the attribute is placed after the word it modifies e.g. Spring begins with the first narcissus, rather cold and shy and wintry; 3) the predicative is placed before the subject e.g. Shameless and fascinating the advertisements were; 4) the adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence e.g. Weakly she climbed the stairs and opened the door; 5) both the modifier and predicate stand before the subject e.g. There was a rustling m the bushes on his left and suddenly like a cuckoo from a nursery clock out popped a large black bird.
Detached Construction is a secondary part of a sentence, placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. The detached part, being torn away from its referent, assumes a greater degree of significance.
Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fury in his eyes.
This stylistic device is akin to inversion, detached construction produces a much stronger effect. ‘I want to go’, he said, miserable.’
A variant of detached construction is parenthesis. Parenthesis is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word, phrase, sentence, etc. which interrupts a syntactic construction, giving an utterance an additional meaning or emotional colouring. It is indicated in writing by commas, brackets or dashes.
Carl, a great singer, was not a good dancer.
Parallel Construction may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro-structures. The necessary condition in parallel construction is identical, or similar, syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of a sentence in close succession:
‘There were real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china cups to drink tea out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes and toast in.’
Parallel Construction is most frequently used in enumeration, antithesis and climax, thus consolidating the general effect achieved by these stylistic devices.
In the following example parallelism backs up repetition, alliteration, and antithesis, making the whole sentence almost epigrammatic:
‘And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.’
Parallel Construction emphasizes the similarity, diversity, contrasts the ideas equates the significance of the parts.
Our senses perceive no extremes. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view.
Parallelism always generates rhythm; hence it is natural to be used in poetry.
10. Compositional patterns of syntactical arrangement. (Chiasmus, Repetition, suspense)
Chiasmus/ Reversed Parallel Construction is based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phases.
1. In peace sons bury their fathers,
But in war fathers bury their sons.
2. Down dropped the breeze,
The sails dropped down.
Chiasmus lays stress on the second part of the utterance and always brings in some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis.
Chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device and one must differentiate it from parallel constructions or epigrams. e.g. He sang as he walked and he walked as he sang, and got more inflated every minute. Chiasmus хиазм
1. reversed parallelism of the structure of several sentences (clauses)
2. inversion of the first construction in the second part (V.A.K.) If the first sentence (clause) has a direct word order - SPO, the second one will have it inverted - OPS. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see So long lives this and this gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare - XVIII)
•• a group of stylistic device s based on repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases (I.R.G.) Down dropped the breeze, // The sails dropped down. (Coleridge) As high as we have mounted in delight // In our dejection do we ink as low. (Wordsworth)
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>
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)
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>
Suspense consists in arranging the matter of communication in such a way that the less important parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence. Thus the reader’s attention is held and his interest kept up, as he is in the state of uncertainty and expectation. Suspense sometimes goes together with Climax.
Suspense- a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence with the help of embedded clauses (homogeneous members) 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 (utterance) (V.A.K.)
••
a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence (I.R.G.:218)
e.g. Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw. (Ch.Lamb)
e.g. Only when, after a few minutes, he \[the monkey\] ceased spinning and simply crouched in the pale light, bouncing softly up and down, his fingers digging into the carpet, his tail curled out stiff, did he start to speak to them. (Buechner).
See: <periodic sentences>, <syntactical SDs>