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Syntactical schemes

Syntactical schemes. I. Figures of Speech:. Syntax: from “syn”—together; “tax”—arrangement the arrangement of words Scheme: from “schema”—form A deliberate and artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words. II. Stylistic SCHEMES. Order

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Syntactical schemes

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  1. Syntactical schemes

  2. I. Figures of Speech: • Syntax: from “syn”—together; “tax”—arrangement • the arrangement of words • Scheme: from “schema”—form • A deliberate and artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words

  3. II. Stylistic SCHEMES • Order • parallelism: repetition of syntactical structure in related phrases or clauses • …for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Protection, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. –The Declaration of Independence.

  4. Isocolon (a type of parallelism) • Gk. isos, "equal" and kolon, "member" • A sentence with w/p/c in structural similarity so that elements of equal importance have equal development (and, often, equal length) • “It is certain that if you were to behold the whole woman, there is that dignity in her aspect, that composure in her motion, that complacency in her manner, that if her form makes you hope, her merit makes you fear.”—Richard Steele, Spectator, No. 113

  5. Climactic parallelism • A sentence with w/p/c in structural similarity so that elements are in an order of increasing importance. • "I came, I saw, I conquered." (Julius Caesar) • “I think we’ve reached a point of great decision, not just for our nation, not only for all humanity, but for life upon the earth.” –-George Wald, “A Generation in Search of a Future”

  6. antithesis • Gk. anti “against” and thesis “a setting” • Juxtaposition of contrasting phrases or clauses in parallel structure • -"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." (Goethe)-"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Dickens) • -"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (MLK)

  7. Schemes of omission

  8. Asyndeton • See also brachylogia • omission of conjunctions between w/p/c, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect. • -"I have found the warm caves in the woods, filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves, closets, silks, innumerable goods"(Anne Sexton, "Her Kind") • -"In some ways, he was this town at its best--strong, hard-driving, working feverishly, pushing, building, driven by ambitions so big they seemed Texas-boastful." (Mike Royko, "A Tribute")

  9. ellipsis • Omission of a word or short phrase easily understood in context. • -“The Master’s degree is awarded by seventy-four departments, and the Ph.D by sixty.” • “Rape is the sexual sin of the mob, adultery of the bourgeoisie, and incest of the aristocracy.”—John Updike, from a book review in the New Yorker, August 2, 1969

  10. Paralipsis (a.k.a. apophasis) • Gk. para, "side" and leipein, "to leave"("to leave to one side") • Emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it • -"Mary Matlin, the Bush campaign's political director, said at a press briefing, 'The larger issue is that Clinton is evasive and slick.  We have never said to the press that he is a philandering, pot-smoking, draft-dodger.  There's nothing nefarious or subliminal going on.'“ (reported in Manchester Guardian, 1992) • -"Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it. It is not meet you know how Caesar lov'd you.“ (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, III.ii.136-51)

  11. Schemes of addition

  12. Catalog (enumeratio) • a series of items one after the other, designed to make a point more forcibly • “We formed in 1979, June, in Washington D.C. the Moral Majority, with a handful of people...which has grown now to over a hundred thousand—priests, rabbis and pastors, blacks and whites, young and old, and all kinds.—Jerry Falwell, The Role of Religion in Politics

  13. parenthesis • Gk. para, "beside" and thesis, "placing" • Insertion of a verbal unit that interrupts normal syntactical flow (the rhetorical term for interrupted sentence, a grammatical term) • -“Worship of success--with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success--is our national disease."(William James, Letter to H. G. Wells) • "The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation."(William Hazlitt)

  14. Synonymia • Gk. syn, "alike" and onoma, "name" • the use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a subject or term • “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!” (Julius Caesar)

  15. Schemes of repetition

  16. anaphora • Gk. ana “again” and phero “to bring or carry” • Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive p/c. (X_________, X___________) • -"I'm not afraid to die.  .  .  . I'm not afraid to live.   I'm not afraid to fail.  I'm not afraid to succeed. I'm not afraid to fall in love.  I'm not afraid to be alone.  I'm just afraid I might have to stop talking about myself for five minutes." (Kinky Friedman, When the Cat's Away)

  17. epistrophe • Gk. epi, "upon" and strophe, "turning" • Ending a series of p/c with the same word or words. • (______________X, ____________X) • ... this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. —Abraham Lincoln during the Gettysburg Address • When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. —1 Cor 13:11

  18. Polyptoton • Gk. poly, "many" and ptosis, "[grammatical] case" • Repetition of words derived from the same root. • “The gate is narrow, the threshold high, few are chosen because few choose to be chosen.” –Aldous Huxley • “I have fought the good fight…” 2 Timothy 4:7

  19. polysyndeton • Gk. poly- “many” and syndeton “bound together with” • Employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo. • "We lived and laughed and loved and left." (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)

  20. Symploce – Repetition of both beginnings and endings of successive p/c/s. • “I’ll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.” AYLI, Shakespeare

  21. Schemes of reversal

  22. Anadiplosis • Gk. ana “again” and diploun “to double” • The repetition of the last word (or phrase) from the previous p/c at the beginning of the next • (______________X, X____________) • -"Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task." (Henry James)-“Wales is the land of my fathers.  My fathers can have it.“ (Dylan Thomas on Wales) • “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” -Yoda

  23. Anastrophe • Gk. ana “back again” and strephein “to turn” • Inversion of natural word order • “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” –Hamlet • “One ad does not a survey make.” –a car ad. • “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” -Yoda

  24. Antimetabole (often mistaken for chiasmus) • Gk. anti “in opposite direction” and metabole “turning about” • Repetition of words, in successive p/c, in reverse grammatical order. • (X____________Y, Y____________X) “You have seen how a man was made a slave; now you will see how a slave was made a man.” Frederick Douglass

  25. epanalepsis • Gk. ep, "in addition," ana, "again,"and lepsis, "a taking" • repetition at the end of a p/c of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same p/c. • (X______________X) • "In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. " —Paul Harvey

  26. Types of sentence by arrangement • natural/basic sentence • A sentence with subject prior to predicate (don't say simple when you mean natural) • We traveled to Edmonton.

  27. loose/cumulative sentence • A sentence which expresses the subject and predicate near the beginning and adds modifying elements at end ("front loaded"—could end early) • Wilbur woke at dawn on the shores of Tripoli, that most exclusive of islands—the crown jewel of the Caribbean.

  28. Periodic sentence • A sentence which expresses the subject and predicate after all modifying elements ("rear loaded") • That morning, after a turbulent flight, three crappy airport meals and two complete searches by the sleepy airport security guards, we reached Edmonton.

  29. Interrupted sentence • A sentence with dependent elements set off by dashes, parentheses, or commas (draw attention to materials inside: example, appositive, explanation, qualification) • We reached Edmonton—though not our intended destination—that morning

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