Syntax Techniques – Flashcards

(Gk 'carrying up or back') A rhetorical device involving the repetition of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Here's an example from Annie Dillard, in An American Childhood: We saw the long, low-slung stripes of steel factories by the rivers; we saw pyramidal heaps of yellow sand at glassworks by the shining railroads tracks; we saw rusty slag heaps on the outlying hilltops, and coal barges tied up at the docks. (74) We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. (Churchill)

(Gk 'turning back') The changing of the normal order of words for a particular effect, such as the emphasis on particular words in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": The helmsman steered; the ship moved on; yet never a breeze up blew. I loved dark chocolate; I craved cashews; licorice I despised.

(Gk 'opposition') Contrasting ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction, as in this speech of Brutus from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are beauty itself.

(Gk 'unconnected') A rhetorical device where conjunctions (sometimes articles and even pronouns) are omitted for the sake of speed and economy. A good example is from J.F. Kennedy's inaugural speech: We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, Oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. Or Annie Dillard, from An American Childhood: There were pounds of frozen vegetables, quarts of ice cream, dozens of popsicles. (182)

(Gk 'upon-turning') Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses, such as in the following speech by Franklin Roosevelt: In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo - without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia - without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria - without warning. In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia - without warning. Later in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland - without warning. And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand - and the United States - without warning.

(Gk 'a placing crosswise') A balancing pattern in verse or prose, where the main elements are reversed (not a-b-a-b, but a-b-b-a). Thus the last line of Sonnet 154 by Shakespeare: Love's fire heats water, water cools not love. Or... Eat to live; don't live to eat. Or Annie Dillard, in An American Childhood: When I visited my friends, I was well advised to rise when their parents entered the room. When my friends visited me, they were well advised to duck. (55)

(Gk from litos 'single, simple, meagre') The opposite of hyperbole - the use of understatement for emphasis. For example, A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. War is not healthy for children or other living things. A nuclear explosion can ruin your whole day.

Gk 'alongside one another') Writing is smoother and clearer when the same grammatical form is used to express equal, or parallel, ideas. You pair a noun with a noun, a phrase with a phrase, a clause with a clause, and an infinitive with an infinitive: I like movies and popular music. [nouns paired together] For an athlete, playing should be as important as winning. [gerunds paired together] I want either to win the contest or to get at least an honorable mention. [infinitives paired together]

A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax. In a periodic sentence the dependent clauses come first, and the main clause comes last, as with this sentence from Macaulay's Essay on Milton: Instead of catching occasional glimpses of the Deity through an obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze full on this intolerable brightness... Or from Dillard's An American Childhood: But more often, then and for many years, I drew what I thought of as the perfect person, whose form matched his inner life, and whose name was, Indian style, Man Walking. (212)

(Gk 'much compounded') The opposite of asyndeton, and thus the repetition of conjunctions. Ernest Hemingway was particularly keen on this device: I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water. (After the Storm) Anadiplosis: (Gk 'doubling') A device of repetition to gain a special effect; specifically, repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next: Men in great places are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; Servants of fame; and servants of business. (Francis Bacon)

(Gk 'yoking') A figure of speech in which a word stands in the same relation to two other terms, but with a different meaning, as with the third and fifth lines of this quotation from The Rape of the Lock: Whether the Nymph shall break Diana's Law, Or some frail China jar receive a Flaw, Or stain her Honor, or her new Brocade, Forget her Pray'rs, or miss a Masquerade, Or lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball.

(Gk 'doubling') A device of repetition to gain a special effect; specifically, repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next: Men in great places are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; Servants of fame; and servants of business. (Francis Bacon)