LECTURE 4

SYNTACTICAL LEVEL
Main Characteristics of the Sentence.
Stylistic study of the syntax begins with the study of the length and the structure
of a sentence. It appears, the length of any language unit is a very important factor
in information exchange, the human brain can receive and transmit information
only if the latter is punctuated by pauses.
Theoretically speaking a sentence can be of any length, as there are no linguistic
limitations for its growth, so even monstrous constructions of several hundred
words each, technically should be viewed, as sentences.
We are unable to specify the upper limit of sentence length but we definitely
know that its lower mark ought to be one word.
One-word sentences.
EXAMPLE: I like people. Not just empty streets and dead buildings. People. People.
(P. A.)
What is emphasized in this excerpt?
a) the speaker likes a townscape.
b) the speaker is sociable.
c) all above
2 What suggests this?
3 What stress do these sentences have:
a word-stress or a sentence-stress?
EXAMPLE: "They could keep the Minden Street Shop going until they got the
notice to quit; which mightn't be for two years. Or they could wait and see what
kind of alternative premises were offered. If the site was good.-If. Or. And, quite
inevitably, borrowing money." (J. Br.)
1 What is emphasized by the one-word sentences?
a) the speaker’s certainty
b) the speaker’s hesitation
c) the speaker’s disapproval

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 d) all above
2 Are these words notional or semi-notional parts of speech?
One-word sentences possess a very strong emphatic impact, because the 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.
Not only the clarity and understandability of the sentence but also its
expressiveness depend on the position of clauses, constituting it.
EXAMPLE: "He promised he'd come if the cops leave." (J. B.)
So, if a sentence opens with the main clause, which is followed by dependent units,
such a structure is called loose.
EXAMPLE: Because they are independent, take care of themselves, and purr, I
prefer cats over dogs.
It is less emphatic and is highly characteristic of informal writing and conversation.
In Periodic sentences subordinate elements precede the main clause of the
sentence, the main idea is delayed until the end of the sentence holding the
reader’s/listener’s interest until the final word.

EXAMPLE: Life is a comedy for those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.
(Horrace Walpole)
Balanced sentences are made up of two parts that are roughly equal in length,
importance, and grammatical structure.
Life is faster, but we are safer. (advertising slogan for Global Jet Airlines)
Beyond highlighting specific words and ideas, balance has a deeper
significance. It expresses the way of looking at the world and implies a sense of
control, objectivity and propotion.
Rhetorical Questions.
EXAMPLE: Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in
an institution? (H.L.Mencken)

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Rhetorical Question is the peculiar interrogative construction, which
semantically remains a statement. It does not demand any information but serves to
express the emotions of the speaker and also to call the attention of listeners.
Rhetorical questions make an indispensable part of oratorical speech for they very
successfully emphasize the orator's ideas.
The effect of the majority of syntactical stylistic devices depends on 1) the
arrangement of the members of the sentence or 2) the completeness of its structure.
One of the most prominent places among the SDs dealing with arrangement of
members of the sentence decidedly belongs to repetition is recurrence of the
same word, word combination, phrase for two and more times. Repetition is a
major rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity or emotional effect.
According to the place, which the repeated unit occupies in a sentence
(utterance), repetition is classified into several types:
1. anaphora:
EXAMPLE: I might as well face facts: goodbye Susan, goodbye a big car,
goodbye a big house, goodbye power, goodbye the silly handsome dreams.
(Braine)
anaphora the beginning of some successive sentences (clauses) is repeated. The
main stylistic function of anaphora is not to emphasize the repeated unit but to
create the background for non-repeated unit, which, through its novelty, becomes
foregrounded
2. epiphora:
EXAMPLE: I wake up and I’m alone, and I walk round Wariey 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. (Braine)
epiphora: the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated . The main
function of epiphora is to add stress to the final words of the sentence.
3. framing:
EXAMPLE: He ran away from the battle. He was an ordinary human being
that didn’t want to kill or be killed. So he ran away from the battle.

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framing: the beginning of the sentence is repeated in the end, thus forming the
"frame" for the non-repeated part of the sentence (utterance). The function of
framing is to elucidate the notion mentioned in the beginning of the sentence.
4. catch repetition (anadiplosis):
EXAMPLE: And a great desire for peace, peace of no matter what kind, swept
through her. (Bennett)
catch repetition (anadiplosis): the end of one clause (sentence) is repeated in
the beginning of the following one. Specification of the semantics occurs here too,
but on a more modest level.
5. chain repetition
EXAMPLE: To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on
creating oneself endlessly. (Henry Bergson)
chain repetition presents several successive catch repetitions. -
__________________ . The effect is that of the smoothly developing logical
reasoning.
6. ordinary repetition
EXAMPLE: It is the tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn’t
know; and the less a man knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything.
(Joyce Cary)
ordinary repetition has no definite place in the sentence and the repeated unit
occurs in various positions_______________. Ordinary repetition emphasizes
both the logical and the emotional meanings of the reiterated word (phrase).
7. successive repetition
EXAMPLE: I wanted to knock over the table and hit him until my arm had no more strength
in it, then give him the boot, give him the boot, give him the boot – I drew a deep breath.
(Braine)
successive repetition is a string of closely following each other reiterated
units___________ . This is the most emphatic type of repetition, which signifies the
peak of emotions of the speaker.
All types of repetition are accompanied by a parallel structure.

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Tina’s a teacher, Priscilla’s a preacher,
Donald’s a doctor and Ted drives a truck.
Fred’s a photographer, Joe’s a geographer,
Barry’s a barrister down on his luck.
Annie’s an anarchist, Monty’s a monarchist,
Prue is a proctor and Fred owns a farm.
Cy’s a psychologist, Bill’s a biologist,
Charley a charmer who’s run out of charm. (Who’s who?)
Parallel structure may be viewed, as a purely syntactical type of repetition
because two or more phrases or clauses are similar in length and grammatical
form. We deal with the recurrence of the structure of several successive sentences
(clauses), and not of their lexical "flesh". It produces a very strong effect,
foregrounding at one go logical, rhythmic, emotive and expressive aspects of the
utterance.
Reversed parallelism is called chiasmus [kaı´æzməs].

EXAMPLE: Take care of your money, and your money will take care of you.
(Kinsella)

It is a crisscross figure of speech in which the second part is, in fact, inversion
of the first construction. Thus, if the first sentence (clause) has a direct
word order - SPO, the second one will have it inverted -OPS.
Inversion.
EXAMPLE: She wouldn’t, for any reason whatsoever, to that smelly, foul,
unlikeable man be married.
Inversion is the practice of changing the conventional placement of words. It
is a SD in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the
predicate (predicative) precedes the subject, or partially so that the object
precedes the subject - predicate pair to produce a distinctive effect.
Correspondingly, we differentiate between a complete and a partial inversion.
Detachment.
EXAMPLE: "She was crazy about you. In the beginning." (Warren)

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A specific arrangement of sentence members is observed in detachment, a
stylistic device based on singling out a secondary member of the sentence with
the help of punctuation (intonation). The word-order here is not violated, a
detached phrase always remains secondary from the semantic point of view,
although structurally it possesses all the features of a primary member. because it
is detached from the rest of the sentence by commas, dashes or even a full stop.
The detached part, being torn away from its referent, assumes a greater degree of
significance and is given prominence by intonation.
Due to detachment and the ensuing additional pause and stress these words are
foregrounded into the focus of the reader's attention.
The second group of syntactical SDs deals with the completeness of sentence-
structure. The most prominent place here belongs to ellipsis.
EXAMPLE: Her hair was silver-tipped, her eyes large and bright. (Muriel
Spark)
Ellipsis is a deliberate _________ of one or more words, which must be
supplied by the listener or reader.
Ellipsis is an artful and arresting means of securing economy of expression. In
contemporary prose ellipsis is mainly used in dialogues to characterize oral
colloquial speech. It saves only the most vital information letting out those bits of
it, which can be easily reassembled from the situation.
• Please, drive slowly ⇒ Drive slowly ⇒ Slow

Break.
EXAMPLE: If everyone at twenty realized that half his life was to be lived after
forty… (W.)
EXAMPLE: Nothing lasts for-…
Break is an unfinished thought or broken sentence. It is a figure of speech in
which the speaker or writer breaks off abruptly and leaves the statement
incomplete, as if the speaker is not willing to state what is present in his mind
due to being overcome by passion, excitement or fear.

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 Another cause of the break is the desire to cut short the information with which
the sentence began. In such cases there are usually special remarks by the author,
indicating the intentional abruptness of the end. To mark the break dashes and dots
are used.
EXAMPLE: “People liked to be with her. And –” She paused again – “and she
was crazy about you” (R.W.)

The arrangement of sentence members and the completeness of sentence

structure necessarily involve various types of connection.
EXAMPLE: "What sort of a place is Dufton exactly?"
"A lot of mills. And a chemical factory. And a Grammar school and a war
memorial and a river that runs different colours each day. And a cinema and
fourteen pubs. That's really all one can say about it." (J. Br.)
EXAMPLE: "Well, guess it's about time to turn in." He yawned, went out to
look at the thermometer, slammed the door, patted her head, unbuttoned his
waistcoat, yawned, wound the clock, went to look at the furnace, yawned and
clumped upstairs to bed, casually scratching his thick woolen undershirt. (S. L.)
Types of connection are used within the sentence or between sentences.
Repeated use of conjunctions is called polysyndeton; deliberate omission of
them is, correspondingly, named asyndeton. Both polysyndeton and
asyndeton, have a strong rhythmic impact. The function of polysyndeton is to
strengthen the idea of logical (emotive) importance of connected sentences,
asyndeton, cutting off connecting words, helps to create the effect of terse,
energetic, active prose; the idea is presented in a nutshell.