Untitled Deck Flashcards
What is syntax?
The manner in which words are arranged into sentences.
What is anadiplosis?
Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.
Example: “The crime was common, common be the pain.” (Alexander Pope, “Eloise to Abelard”)
What is anaphora?
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.
Example: “In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace.” (Richard D. Bury)
What is epistrophe?
Repetition of phrases or words at the end of the clauses or sentences.
Example: “The big sycamore by the creek was gone. The willow tangle was gone. The little enclave of untrodden bluegrass was gone. The clump of dogwood on the little rise across the creek–now that, too, was gone….” (Robert Warren)
What is asyndeton?
A construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions.
Example: “They spent the day wandering, searching, thinking, understanding.”
What is polysyndeton?
The use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural.
Example: “He pulled the blue plastic tarp off of him and folded it and carried it out to the grocery cart and packed it and came back with their plates and some cornmeal cakes in a plastic bag and a plastic bottle of syrup.” (Cormac McCarthy, The Road.)
What is antithesis?
A figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other.
What is juxtaposition?
Placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast.
Example: “When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force.” (Leonard Pitts)
What is parenthetical?
A comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or explain.
Example: My aunt Eleanor (a mean woman who had nonetheless shared her home with me) is currently traveling through South America.
What is a simple sentence?
A sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause.
Example: “Jesus spoke.”
What is a cumulative sentence?
A sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases.
Example: “He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them–a quick shake, fingers down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys.”
What is a periodic sentence?
A sentence that has the main clause or predicate at the end, used for emphasis and can create suspense or interest for the reader.
Example: “Despite the blinding snow, the freezing temperatures, and the heightened threat of attack from polar bears, the team continued.”
