STYLISTIC SYNTAX

OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE.
STYLISTIC DEVICES
OF THE SYNTAX
 PLAN
1 SD of the English syntax.

2 SD based on the interaction of syntactic

constructions of several contact clauses or
sentences.

SD based on the interaction of types and

3 forms and connection between clauses and
sentences.

SD based on transposition of meaning of a

4 syntactic structure in the given context
Basic notions
A supra phrasal
units is A paragraph is
• A combination of • A graphical term used
sentences presenting a to name a group of
structural and semantic sentences marked off
unity backed up by by indentation at the
rhythmic and melodic beginning and a
unity. break in the line at
the end.
Syntactic stylistic devices add
logical, emotive and expressive
information to the utterance
regardless of lexical meanings of
sentence components.
Stylistic Devices of the Syntax
Parallelism
Chiasmus (reversed parallel
constructions) is a stylistic device
based on the repetition of a
syntactical pattern with a reverse
word-order.

E.g. It was a shock to me that while I

observed Thompson, Thompson observed
me.
• Anaphora is a stylistic device when the beginning of
successive sentences, syntagms, lines, etc. with the same
sounds, morphemes, words or word-combinations.

E.g. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar.
( G. Byron)

• Epiphora is a stylistic device consisting in the repetition of the

final element of two or several successive sentences
(clauses).
• E.g. The death of a hero! What a mockery, what bloody cant!
What sickening putrid cant! George’s death is a symbol of the
whole sickening bloody waste of it, the damnable stupid waste
and torture of it (R. Aldington).
•Symploca is a combination of
anaphora and epiphora in two
or more adjacent utterance.

E.g. “If he wishes to float into

fairyland, he reads a book; If he
wishes to dash into the thick of
battle, he reads a book, if he
wishes to soar into heaven, he
reads a book ” (Chesterton)
SD based on the interaction of types
and forms and connection between
clauses and sentences
Parcellation Coordination instead of
subordination
is a stylistic device
is a stylistic device consisting
which consists in
in unusual combination of
deliberate division of
clauses of the sentence which
one syntactic
destroys the logic of syntactic
structure into two or
relations.
more intonationally
isolated parts that are
separated from one e.g. The day was clear and we
another by means of a decided to climb the mountain.
pause and dot.
e.g. They would
appear with soup.
Thin and watery. A
steam of cabbage ( D.
White).
SD based on transposition of
meaning of a syntactic structure in
the given context
• Rhetorical questions is a SD based
on emotional statement or negation
expressed in an interrogative form.

e.g. “Pigeons haven’t troubled us so far,

have they? Said Michael to Patchway.
Why should they?” said Patchway (I.
Murdoch).
Reported (represented) speech
is used to convey the actual utterances of
characters more adequately and emotionally.
It conveys the actual words or thoughts of a
character not directly, but within the author’s
speech, retaining the peculiarities of the
speaker’s manner of expression.
The narrator’s plane and the character’s
plane co-exist, which results in the increase
in emotiveness and expressiveness of the
narration.
Represented speech: Features
the tenses of the verbs are changed
from the present to the past;
the personal pronouns are changed
from the 1st to the 3rd person;
vocabulary preserves its
peculiarities;
but: the peculiarities of the question
and the exclamation remain.
Represented speech: forms
uttered represented
speech;
unuttered or inner

represented speech.
uttered unuttered or
represented inner
speech represented
speech
e.g. “Old Jolyon was on the alert
at once. Wasn’t the “man of
property” going to live in his new e.g. “Could he
house, then? He never alluded to
Soames now but under this title. bring a reference
"No" — June said — "he was from where he now
not; she knew that he was not!" was? He could.”
How did she know?
She could not tell him, but she (Th. Dreiser)
knew. She knew nearly for
certain.
It was most unlikely;
circumstances had changed!
Inner speech
Inner represented speech:
expresses feelings and thoughts of the character
which were not materialized in spoken or written
language by the character;
the syntactical pattern shows variations which can
be accounted for;
the tense forms are shifted to the past;
the 3rd person personal pronouns replace the 1st
and 2nd;
the interrogative word-order is maintained as in
direct speech
Inner represented speech is usually
introduced by verbs of mental
perception, as:
think
feel
occur
wonder
ask
tell oneself
understand
e.g. “Over and over he was asking
himself; would she receive him?
Would she recognize him? What
should he say to her?”
Why weren’t things going well
between them? he wondered.”
 Usage
Inner represented speech
remains the monopoly of
the belles-lettres style,
and especially of emotive
prose.