Lecture syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices based on syntactical peculiarities Types of syntactical stylistic devices

LECTURE 8. SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
1. Stylistic devices based on syntactical peculiarities
2. Types of syntactical stylistic devices

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

Is a syntactical stylistic device, which contains a statement made in the form of a question. In other words, the sentence which is affirmative statement in its logical sense has the form of interrogative sentence.
Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand, accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, not a wife a husband, a lover a mistress, nor a parent a child? (Gs. Gr.).
It is known that an interrogative sentence is more emotional than affirmative. Thus, when the statement gets the form of a question it becomes more emotional and emphatic.
Can’t you see that you are cutting your own throat as well as breaking my heartin trying your back on me?(Show. Mrs. Wrren’s Profession)
Only the context and the intonation can show whether a question is rhetorical or not. Rhetorical questions are usually expressed by complex sentences, in which the subordinate clauses serve as the context.
Who is here so vile that will not love his country?(Shakespeare)
Sometimes rhetorical question occurs in a simple sentence. The sentence itself forms the context which helps to show that the question is a rhetorical one.
What deep wounds ever closed without scar?(Byron “Child Hareld”)
Rhetorical question may have either positive or negative forms, the positive form of rhetorical question predicts the negative answer, the negative form – the positive answer.
Who will be open where is no sympathy, or has call to speak to those who never can understand?
Gentleness in passion! What could have been more seductive to the scared, starved heart of that girl? (J.C)
Have I not suffered things to be forgotten?(Byron)
Rhetorical questions are often very close to exclamatory sentences and sometimes it is rather difficult to distinguish between them.Rhetorical question is a question asked not for information but to produce some stylistic effect. It expresses various kinds of modal shades of meaning, such doubt, challenge, and scorn and so on.
Rhetorical questions, being more emotional than statements, are most often used in publicistic style and particularly in oratory which aims at rousing emotions.
INVERSION
Inversion is a change of the natural or recognized order of words or phrases in a sentence. The traditional word order of the English sentence is: “subject – predicate – object – secondary parts of the sentence”. This word order we may call neutral. It, homever, may be altered in accordance with the aims persuade by the speaker or writer. Such change of the utterance. This type of change in the traditional word order of the sentence is called stylistic inversion. It is used for the purpose of placing the most important words in the most prominent places, which are the beginning and the end of the line. There are following types of inversion:
1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Talent Mr.Micawber has, capital Mr. Micawber has not./Dickens/
2. The predicate or predicative are placed before the subject of the sentence.
Women are not made for attack. Wait they must.
Good generous player it was./Mark Twain/
3. Another variety of inversion is when the secondary parts of a sentence are syntactically isolated from other members of a sentence with which they are logically connected. This type of inversion is called Isolation (Isolated members of the sentence, Detachment, detached construction)
“I want to go,” – he said, miserably.
I have to beg you for money. Daily!
Here the word is emphasized by breaking its customary connections with another word or words. The violation of the usual traditional connections between the members of the sentence creates a specific sentence pattern which is reflected in the intonation of the sentence. An intonational pause generally precedes or follows isolated members of the sentence. An intonational pause generally precedes or follows isolated members of the sentence thus giving them grater prominence.
With fingers weary and worn
With eyelids heavy and red.
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread.
In written speech isolated mambers are seperated from the main part of the sentence by graphic means (a comma, dash, brackets, full stop).
Isolated sentence usually serve the purpose to single out certain secondary members of a sentence and to attract the readers’ attention to certain details.