Reversed parallel construction

хиазм

a) reversed parallelism of the structure of several sentences (clauses)

b) <inversion> of the first construction in the second part (V.A.K.)

e.g. If the first sentence (clause) has a direct word order – SPO, the second one will have it inverted – OPS.

e.g. So long as men can breathe or eyes can See

e.g. So long [u]lives this and this gives[/u] life to thee. (W.Shakespeare – XVIII)

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- a group of stylistic devices based on repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases;

- reversed parallel construction, the word-order of one of the sentences being inverted as compared with that of the other;

- sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active voice to passive or vice versa;

- is effective in that it helps to lay stress on the second part of the utterence, which is opposite in structure;

- can appear only when there are two successive sentences or coordinate parts of a sentence;

- is sometimes used to break the monotony of parallel constructioins;

- always bring in some new <shade of meaning> or additional emphasis on some portion of the second part;

One cannot help noticing that the first part is somewhat incomplete, it calls for continuation, and the anticipation is rewarded by the second part of the construction, which is, as it were, the completion of the idea.

- contributes to the rhythmical quality of the utterance, and the pause caused by the change in the syntactical pattern may be likened to a caesura in prosody;

Source: <I.R.G.>:209-211

e.g. Down dropped the breeze, // The sails dropped down. (Coleridge)

e.g. As high as we have mounted in delight // In our dejection do we ink as low. (Wordsworth)

See: <parallel construction>, <inversion>, <repetition>, <syntactical SDs>

Syn.: chiasmus, reversed parallel construction

(stylistic) inversion

Inversion

(стилистическая) инверсия

a syntactical <stylistic device> in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate precedes the subject (complete inversion), or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair (partial inversion) (V.A.K.)

e.g. Of all my old association, of all my old pursuits and hopes, of all the living and the dead world, this one poor soul alone comes natural to me. (Dickens)

e.g. Women are not made for attack. Wait they must. (J.Conrad)

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aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface <meaning> of the utterance (I.R.G.:204)

e.g. Talent Mr. Micawber has; capital Mr. Micawber has not. (Dickens)

e.g. Down dropped the breeze … (Coleridge)

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нарушение обычного порядка следования членов предложения, в результате которого какой-нибудь элемент отказывается выделенным и получает специальные коннотации эмоциональности и экспрессивности (I.V.A.)

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- full inversion

e.g. Love he did her surely. (Th. Dreiser)

e.g. On the terrace stood a knot of distinguished visitors. (Huxley)

e.g. In one corner sat the band … (Huxley)

e.g. On the corner, waiting for a bus, had stood a young woman. (Buechner)

e.g. And only then will you truly joined the common European home … (David Atkinson)

e.g. Strange is the heart of woman. (S. Leacock)

- partial inversion

e.g. To a medical student the final examinations are something like death... (R.Gordon) – Для студента-медика выпускные экзамены – смерти подобны...

e.g. Money he had none.. (E. Gaskell) – Денег у него не было ни гроша.

e.g. Misty mountains they saw. (L. Sinclair)

e.g. This he knew very well. A pretty paradise did we build for ourselves. (Thackeray)

e.g. Terrible it had been! (K. Mansfield)

See: <chiasmus>, <ellipsis>, <syntactical SDs>

Suspense

a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence with the help of embedded clauses (homogeneous members) separating the predicate from the subject and introducing less important facts and details first, while the expected information of major importance is reserved till the end of the sentence (utterance) (V.A.K.)

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a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence (I.R.G.:218)

e.g. Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw. (Ch.Lamb)

e.g. Only when, after a few minutes, he \[the monkey\] ceased spinning and simply crouched in the pale light, bouncing softly up and down, his fingers digging into the carpet, his tail curled out stiff, did he start to speak to them. (Buechner).

See: <periodic sentences>, <syntactical SDs>

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