SCHEMES OF SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION

Hyperbatons--departure from normal word order.(E.g.'s from the Bard unless noted.)


Anastrophe:unusual word order--'Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow.'

Tmesis: between parts of a compund word-- 'how dearly ever parted'

Hysteron Proteron: inverse temporal order--'flee and turn their backs.'*

Hypallage:Misattributions & misplacements--'What ignorant sin have I committed?'

Parenthesis: 'If you bestowed a small (of what you have little)/Patience.'

Apposition: 'Antiquity forgot, custom not known,

(Figures of omission)

Zeugma: One verb, several clauses."She stained her honor and her new brocade." Pope

Syllepsis: Zeugma with a mistake in grammar, "I have no grace to reckon, he to spend."

(Hypozeuxis: Every clause its own verb & subject."What? I love? I seek a wife?")

Diazeugma: one subject, many verbs, "He bites his lip and starts/ Stops in a sudden, looks upon the ground/The lays his finger on his temple etc."

Brachylogia: Omission of conjunctions between words. "..hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets cannot/ think, speak, cast, write, sing, number/ his love..."

Asyndeton: Omission of conjuncrtions between clauses. "I come/ to answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,/to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride..."

(Polysyndeton: Inclusion of all conjunctions between clauses. "...had the youthful Moses listened to and accepted that view of life, had he bowed his head and bowed his will and bowed his spirit before that arrogant admonition..." Joyce

 

Return to: Main Content

Email to: Marco Giordano