Lecture 5

STYLISTIC SYNTAX OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1. Stylistic syntax.
2. Stylistic functions of syntactic constructions.
2.1. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the
reduction of the sentence structure.
2.2. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the
redundancy of the sentence structure.
2.3. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the
violation of the grammatically fixed word order within a sentence.
2.4 Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the shifts in
syntactic meaning.
3. Stylistic effects of peculiar arrangement of syntactical constructions
in a sequence.

1. Stylistic syntax.
Stylistic syntax is aimed at finding out what expressive value a syntactical
unit (sentence or other utterance) possesses. The stylistically unmarked English
sentence pattern is (subject – predicate – object – adverb(ial phrase)), thus all the
deviations from it may acquire stylistic connotations.
Stylistically significant deviations of a sentence structure are based on:
1) the reduction of the sentence pattern that lies in the deliberate omission
of obligatory elements of the sentence structure (ellipsis, aposiopesis,
nominative sentences, incomplete sentences and asyndeton);
2) the redundancy of the sentence pattern that results from the addition of
some sentence elements or their deliberate repetition (repetition, enumeration,
polysyndeton, emphatic constructions, parenthetical clauses or sentences);
 3) the violation of the grammatically fixed word order within a sentence
or a deliberate isolation of some parts of the sentence (stylistic inversion,
syntactical split, suspense and detachment);
4) the shifts in syntactic meaning which result from changes in the use of
syntactic forms (rhetorical questions).
Stylistic effect may be created by a peculiar arrangement of sentences in
sequence. Hence, here we deal with parallelism, chiasmus.

2. Stylistic functions of syntactic constructions.

2.1. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the
reduction of the sentence structure.
Ellipsis (elliptical constructions/sentences) is the absence of one or both
principal parts (the subject, the predicate) in a syntactical construction. The
missing parts might be clearly understood from the context or are implied by the
situation. Elliptical sentences are, first and foremost, typical of conversational
English.
Elliptical sentences used in works of fiction may reproduce colloquial
speech, impart brevity, quick tempo and emotional tension, e.g.:
“Where were you last Friday evening?”
“I had dinner with some friends” I said.
“Where?”
“Southport”
“And after that?”
“Had a drink in the bar of the Castle Hotel and went to bed.”
“Alone?”
“That’s right”
“What time?” (R. Pitman, J. McNally)
Ellipsis is common to some special types of texts: in papers or handbooks
on technology or natural sciences, encyclopaedic dictionaries and reference
books. But here it does not perform any stylistic function but is employed for the
sake of brevity and economy.
Nominative sentences are one-member sentences with a noun, a
prepositional noun-phrase, or an adverb. In contrast with elliptical sentences,
they have only one principal part, with or without words modifying it. For
example:
“Jokes” he said. “As a writer that’s your main trouble. You don’t want to
recognize it. Tragedy! Plain tragedy! Historical tragedy! No hope. The end”
(G. Paley).
The use of nominative sentences may increase the dynamism of narration.
These sentences are also employed for acquainting the reader with the place or
background of action. In this function they are widely used for preliminary
descriptions introducing the reader to the exposition of a story.
Incomplete sentences are characterized by absence of auxiliary elements
of the sentence (auxiliary verbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions). All these
elements are often dropped in informal oral communication:
“Has Dr Thurmer written to your parents yet?”
“He said he was going to write them Monday” (T.D. Salinger) –
preposition on is omitted.

Aposiopesis (or break in the narrative) denotes a speaker‘s deliberate

failure to complete a sentence, which is caused by the influx of senses,
consideration of time, notice that he/she gives out some secret, unwillingness to
proceed, inability or unwillingness to finish the utterance. Aposiopesis usually
indicates speechless rage or exasperation, as in “Why, you ...”, and sometimes
implies vague threats as in “Why, I’ll…”. The listener is expected to complete
the sentence in his mind. To mark the break dashes and dots are used.
 Aposiopesis is mainly used in the dialogue or in other forms of narrative
imitating spontaneous oral speech. In order to show aposiopesis in a sentence,
one may use the em dash (–) or ellipsis (…).

Ellipsis vs Aposiopesis
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
[Jordan] ‘It was-simply amazing,’ she repeated abstractedly. ‘But I swore
I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.’ She yawned gracefully in my
face. ‘Please come and see me . . . Phone book . . . Under the name of Mrs.
Sigourney Howard . . . My aunt . . .’ She was hurrying off as she talked-her
brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.
(Chapter 3)

The omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or

clauses is called asyndeton. Asyndetic connection means a deliberate
avoidance of conjunctions used to connect sentences, clauses, or words.
Asyndeton creates a certain rhythmical arrangement, usually making the
narrative measured, energetic, dynamic and tense, as in: “That was a long time
ago; she and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother was dead”
(J. Joyce).

2.2. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the

redundancy of the sentence structure.
Repetition is a reiteration of the same word or phrase to lay an emphatic
stress on certain parts of the sentence. Repetition is widely employed in
colloquial speech as well as in poetry, imaginative prose, and emotional public
speeches. The element (or elements) repeated attracts the reader‘s or hearer‘s
attention as being the most important.
Repetition in oral communication is used when the speaker is under the
stress of strong emotion, then it shows the exited state of mind of the speaker:
“Would you do something for me now?” I‟d do anything for youг” “Would you
please please please please please please please stop talking?” (E.
Hemingway).
Various types of repetition can be found in fiction:
1) ordinary repetition, i.e. a repetition of a word in close succession:
Minnie remained where she was, sitting quite still, her eyes fixed on the young
man’s averted faces. She was happy, happy, happy. The long day ripened and
ripened, perfection after perfection (A. Huxley).
2) anaphora: the beginning of two or more successive sentences
(clauses) is repeated (very often it is used in parallel constructions). V.
Kukharenko indicates that the main stylistic function of anaphora is not so much
to emphasize the repeated unit as to create the background for the nonrepeated
unit, which, through its novelty, becomes foregrounded [Kukharenko, 2003: 79].
Here is an illustration: Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head
with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. The rain makes still
pools on the sidewalk. The rain makes running pools in the gutter (L. Hughes
“April Rain Song”).
3) epiphora: the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated. The
main function of epiphora is to stress the final words of a sentence: The thing
was a bit of a fraud; yes, really, he decided, rather a fraud (A. Huxley).
4) framing or ring repetition, i.e. a repetition in which the opening word
or phrase is repeated at the end of the sentence or a group of sentences. The
function of framing is to elucidate the notion mentioned in the beginning of the
sentence. Between two appearances of the repeated unit there comes the
developing middle part of the sentence which explains and clarifies what was
introduced in the beginning, so that by the time it is used for the second time its
semantics is concretized and specified [Kukharenko, 2003: 79]: Obviously – this
is a streptococcal infection. Obviously.
5) anadiplosis or catch repetition, i.e. device in which the last word or
phrase of one clause, sentence, or line is repeated at the beginning of the next,
e.g.: They laughed. They laughed because he could not find Tommy Flynn.
6) chain repetition, i.e. a combination of catch repetitions. In the
following example the case of chain repetition creates the effect of the
developing action gradually intensified: A smile would come into Mr Pickwick’s
face. The smile extended into laugh; the laugh into roar, the roar became
general (Ch. Dickens).
Enumeration is a repetition of homogeneous parts of the sentence, aimed
at emphasizing the whole utterance, e.g.: He had come near quietly, and he
leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and
dogs and chickens (J. Steinbeck).
Summing up the functions of repetition, it should be highlighted that the
primary one is to intensify the utterance. Repetition also may stress the
monotony of action, suggest fatigue, or despair, or hopelessness, or doom. Any
repetition enhances the rhythmical aspect of the utterance.
Polysyndeton is opposite to asyndeton and means a repetition of
conjunctions in close succession which are used to connect sentences, clauses,
or words and make the utterance more rhythmical. In most cases the conjunction
and is repeated, as in: The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and
rose, and at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in
points like rocks (S. Crane). But as a matter of fact any conjunction can be
repeated, for example: I know a little of the principal of design, and I know this
thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition,
or symmetry, or anything else that I ever heard of (Ch. P. Gilman).
 Emphatic constructions (the emphatic construction with “do”, “it is
smb/smth who/that”, “it is by/with/through smth that”, “it is then that”) may
intensify any member of a sentence, giving it more prominence, e.g.: It was then
that Byrne had his first glimpse of the little cloaked man in a yellow hat (J.
Conrad). It was the horses he loved; he spoke little to the jockeys (R. Pitman, J.
McNally).
Parenthesis is a word, phrase or clause put into a sentence which is
grammatically complete without the insertion. The functions of parenthesis are
those of exemplification, deliberation, or reference. As a parenthesis, the
interruption of a sentence is designated by the insertion of a word, phrase or
clause, which is placed in dashes, brackets, or commas, and is grammatically
complete and independent., e.g.:
“A little gravel alley, too small to be marked with a street sign but known
in the neighborhood as Shilling Alley, wound hazardously around our property
and on down, past an untidy sequence of back buildings (chicken houses, barns
out of plumb, a gun shop, a small lumber mill, a shack where a blind man
lived, and the enchanted grotto of a garage whose cement floors had been
waxed to the luster of ebony by oil drippings … silver water so cold it made
your front teeth throb) on down to Lancaster Avenue, the main street, where the
trolley cars ran.” (The Dogwood Tree: A Boyhood by John Updike)
“Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.” (One Art by Elizabeth
Bishop).
“I am, grant me the request,
In your covenant the third!” (Friedrich Schiller)
 2.3 Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the
violation of the grammatically fixed word order within a sentence.
Hyperbaton (Inversion) is the syntactic reversal of the normal order of
the words and phrases in a sentence:
Object there was none. Passion there was none.
"Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall."
"And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made."

I.R. Galperin distinguishes between the following patterns of stylistic

inversion most frequently used in English prose and poetry [Galperin, 1977:
204-205]:
1) The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence: “Talent Mr.
Micawber has; capital Mrг Micawber has not” (Ch. Dickens.)
2) The attribute is placed after the word it modifies: “Once upon a
midnight dreary…”;
3) The predicative is placed before the subject: “A good generous prayer
it was” (M. Twain).
4) The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence: Often
they came very close and stared at the men with black bead-like eyes (St.
Crane). Out of a dark and soft-seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room
filled with many people (A. Walker).
5) Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject: She braved it for
a moment or two with an eye full of love and stubbornness, and murmured a
phrase or two vaguely of General Pinkey; but at length down went her head
and out came the truth and tears (O. Henry).
A typical case of stylistic inversion is when the predicate is placed before
the subject. For example: In one of these cells were several globes or balls of a
most ponderous metalб about the bigness of our heads … (J. Swift).
 Separation or syntactical split is the splitting of a noun phrase by the
attribute adjunct which is removed from the word it modifies. Stylistically,
syntactical split is used to emphasize the phrase which was separated, e.g.: He
had never seen the truth before, about anything (R. Warren).
Detachment is a separation of a secondary part of the sentence with the
aim of emphasizing it. In this case some parts of the sentence are syntactically
separated from other members with which they are grammatically and logically
connected: Mrs. Rymer was a tall woman, big-boned (A. Christie).
Parcellation (parcelling) is a deliberate break of the sentence structure
into two or more isolated parts, separated by a pause and a period. Parcellation is
typical of colloquial speech. The main stylistic functions of parcellation are as
follows:
1) specification of some concepts or facts, e.g. His wife had told him only
the night before that he was getting a habit of it. Curious things, habits (A.
Christie);
2) characterization of the personages' emotional state, e.g. It angered him
finally. With a curious sort of anger. Detached, somehow, separate from himself
(C.B. Gilford);
3) description of the events or giving the personages' portrayal, e.g. I’d
say he was thirty-five or –six. Sallow, dark hair and eyes, with the eyes set
pretty close together, big mouth, long limp nose, bat-wing ears - shifty-looking
(D.Hammett); A touring car, large, black, powerfully engined and with lowered
curtains, came from the rear... Possibly a scout (D. Hammett).

2.4. Stylistic properties of syntactic constructions based on the shifts

in syntactic meaning.
Rhetorical questions are negative or affirmative statements rather than
questions, possible answers being implied by the question itself. Rhetorical
questions can often be foundХ in modem fiction in the descriptions of the
character’s inner state, his/her meditations and reflections.
In advertising: “Don’t you have better things to do?”

3. Stylistic effects of peculiar arrangement of syntactical constructions

in a sequence.
As it has been stated above the stylistic effect maybe created not only by
the peculiarities of a sentence structure (completeness/ incompleteness) or
arrangement of its members but by a specific arrangement of sentences in
sequence. So, parallelism is a repetition of similar syntactic structures in
close proximity.
Parallelism may be complete and partial. Complete parallelism is
observed when the syntactical pattern of the sentence that follows is completely
identical to the preceding one. Partial parallelism is considered when either the
beginning or the end of several neighbouring sentences is structurally similar,
e.g.: I don’t know why I should write this. I don’t want to. I don’t feel able (Ch.
P. Gilman).
Parallel structures have great perceptual prominence, they invite the
reader to search for meaning connections between the parallel constructions and
in particular in terms of the parts which are different.
Chiasmus (reversed parallelism) is a kind of parallelism where the word
order of the sentence or clause that follows becomes inverted, e.g.: Love’s fire
heats water, water cools not love (W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 154).
The main stylistic function of chiasmus is to emphasize this or that part of
the utterance, to break the rhythm and monotony of parallelism.