Part 2
The Colloquial Style
This is the style of informal, friendly oral communication. The vocabulary of colloquial style is usually lower than that of the formal or neutral styles, it is often emotionally coloured and characterized by connotations (cf. the endearing connotation in the words daddy, kid or the evaluating components in 'trash', etc. in the examples of connotations above).
Colloquial speech is characterized by the frequent use of words with a broad meaning ( ): speakers
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tend to use a small group of words in quite different meanings, whereas in a formal style (official, business, scientific) every word is to be used in a specific and clear meaning. Compare the different uses of the verb "get", which frequently replaces in oral colloquial speech its more specific synonyms:
/ got (= received) a letter today; Wliere did you get (= buy) those shoes?; We don'tget (= have) much rain here in summer, I got (= caught) flu' last month; We got (= took) the six-o 'clock train from London; I got into (=entered) the house easily; Where has my pen got to (= disappeared)?; We got (= arrived) home late; Get (=put) your hat on!; I can 'tget (=fit) into my old jeans; Get (= throw) the cat out of the house.'; I'll get (= punish) you, just you wait.'; We got (= passed) through the customs without any checking; I've got up to (= reached) the last chapter of the book; I 'II get (= fetch) the children from school; ft's getting (= becoming) dark; He got (= was) robbed in the street at night; I got (= caused) him to help me with the work; I got the radio working at last(= brought it to the state of working); Will you get (= give, bring) the children their supper tonight?; Ididn 'tget(= hear) what you said; You got (= understood) my answer wrong; I wanted to speak to the director, but only got (= managed to speak) to his secretary; Will you get (= answer) the phone?; Can you get (= tune in) to London on your radio?
There are phrases and constructions typical of colloquial type: What's up?(= What has happened); so-so (= not especially good); nothing much/nothing to write home about (= nothing of importance); How are you doing? (= How are things with you?); Sorry? Pardon?(= Please, repeat, Ididn't hear you); Not to worry! (= there is nothing to worry about); No problem!( = This can easily be done); See you (= Good-bye); Me too/neither (= So/neither do I), etc.
In grammar there may be: a) the use of shortened variants of word-forms, e.g. isn't, can't; there's; I'd say; he'd 've done (= would have done); Yaa (= Yes); b) the use of elliptical (incomplete) sentences / did; (Where's he?) At home; Like it? ( = Do you/Did you like it?) Not too much (= I don 't like it
too much); (Shall I open it'?) Don 't.'; May I? (= May I ask a question/do this?).
The syntax of colloquial speech is also characterized by the preferable use of simple sentences or by asyndetic connection (= absence of conjunctions, ) between the parts of composite sentences or between separate sentences. Complex constructions with non-finite forms are rarely used. Note the neutral style in the following extract:
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When I saw him there, I asked him, 'Where are you going?', but he started running away from me. I followed him. When he turned round the corner, I also turned round it after him, but then noticed that he was not there. I could not imagine where he was...
and the possible more colloquial version of the same: / saw him there, I say 'Where'ye going?' He runs off, 1 run after him. He turns the comer, me too. He isn 't there. Where's he now?/can't think.... (note also the rather frequent change from the Past tense to the Present, in addition to the absence of conjunctions or other syntactic means of connection).
Familiar-Colloquial Style and Slang (- , )
Besides the standard, literary-colloquial ( -) speech, there is also a nonstandard (or substandard) style of speech, mostly represented by a special vocabulary. Such is the familiar-colloquial style (a 'lower' variant of colloquial style) used in very free, friendly, informal situations of communication (between close friends, members of one family, etc.). Here we find emotionally coloured words, low-colloquial vocabulary ( ) and slang words. This style admits also of the use of rude and vulgar vocabulary, including expletives/obscene words/four-letter words/swearwords ( ).
See some examples of familiar-colloquial/low-colloquial words (also called 'slang'):
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Rot/trash/stuff (= smth. bad); the cat's pyjamas (= just the right/suitable thing); bread-basket (= stomach); grass/pot (=* marijuana, narcotic drugs); tipsy/under the influence (affluence)/ under the table/has had a drop (=drunk); cute/great! (Am) (=very good); wet blanket (^uninteresting person); hot stuff! (smth. extremely good); You're damn right! (= quite right); Where are those darned/damned socks? What the hell do you want?
The term slang is used in a very broad and vague sense. Besides denoting low-colloquial (familiar-colloquial) words, it is also used to denote special social jargons/cants, i.e. words typically used by particular social groups to show that the speaker belongs to this group, as different from other people. Originally jargons were used to preserve secrecy within the social group, to make speech incomprehensible to others such is the thieves' jargon/cant. There is also teenagers' slang/jargon, school slang, army slang, prison slang, etc. See examples of American army slang: to take felt (= to retire from the army, literally put on a felt hat); fly boy (= pilot); coffin ( = unreliable aeroplane); Molotov cocktail ( = bottles with explosive materials);
But often words from a particular jargon spread outside its social group and become general slang. See examples of general British slang: crackers (= crazy), the year dot ( = long ago), drip (= uninteresting person without a character), get the hump (= get angry), mac (~ Scotsman), mug (=fool), nipper (= young child), ratted (= drunk), snout (= tobacco).
Some examples of general American slang: buddy (= fellow), buck (= dollar), cabbage (= money), John (= lavatory), jerk (= stupid person) Juice (= wine); joker ( = man); glued (= arrested); give smb. wings (= teach to use drugs); stag party (= ); top dog (= boss); like a million dollars (-very good); to nip (= steal), smash (= a drink).
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There is also professional slang/jargon, i.e. words which are used by people in their professional activity: tin-fish (= submarine); block-buster (= a bomb- in military use, or a very successfitlfilm in show business); piper (= a specialist decorating
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cakes with cream and using a pipe); see also some professional slang words for a 'blow' in boxing: an outer (= a knock-out blow), a right-hander (=one made with the right hand); an uppercut (); a clinch (position of boxing very close, with body pressed to body).
The Formal (Lofty, Bookish) Style (, )
A formal (lofty, bookish) style is required in situations of official or restrained relations between the interlocutors, who try to avoid any personal and emotional colouring or familiarity, and at the same time to achieve clarity of expression (to avoid any ambiguity and misunderstanding). This style is used in various genres of speech, such as in official (legal, diplomatic,
~? etc.) documents, scientific works, publicist works or public
\ speeches, etc.
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The Style of Official or Business Documents
Official (legal, diplomatic, etc.) and business documents are written in a formal, 'cold' or matter-of-fact style of speech, which requires the choice of a special kind of vocabulary, grammar forms and structures. Such documents often require the use of special formulas of politeness and cliches, e.g. I beg to inform you; I beg to move; I second the motion; the items on the agenda, the above-mentioned, hereinafter named; on behalf of; Dear Sir; We remain respectfully yours, etc. Official documents are frequently characterized by the use of abbreviations or conventional symbols. MP (Member of Parliament), Gvt (government), Ltd (company of limited liability), Co (company); ad (advertisement); AD (Anno Domini = since Christ's birth); (before Christ's birth); USA; UK; $ (dollar); Lb. (pound), etc.
Official or business documents may require special patterns; see the structure of a business letter below:
Domby and Co. 24 South Street Manchester 7th February, 1985 (the address of the sender) Mr. John Smith 19 Green Street London (the address of the party addressed)
Dear Sir, We beg to inform you of a plausible opportunity of concluding an agreement on the issue on the following terms...
Respectfully yours,
Domby and Co. The syntax of official or business style is characterized by the frequent use of non-finite forms gerund, participle, infinitive (Considering that...; in order to achieve cooperation in solving the problems), and complex structures with them, such as the Complex Object (We expect this to take place), Complex Subject (This is expected to take place), the Absolute Participial Construction (The conditions being violated, it appears necessary to state that...).
The vocabulary is characterized by the use of special terminology {memorandum; pact; the high contracting parties; to ratify an agreement; extra-territorial status; plenipotential representative; proceedings, protocol, the principles laid down in the document, etc.) and generally by the choice of lofty (bookish) words and phrases: plausible (= possible); to inform (= to tell); to assist (to help), to cooperate (=to work together), to be determined/resolved (= to wish); the succeeding clauses of the agreement (= ), to reaffirm faith in fundamental principles; to establish the required conditions; the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law; to promote (= to develop) and secure ( = to make stable) social progress; with the following objectives/ends (=for these purposes).
The Style of Scientific Works
The genre of scientific works exists for the most part within the bounds of the written form of language (scientific articles, monographs or textbooks), but it may also manifest itself in its oral form (in scientific reports, lectures, discussions at conferences, etc.); in the latter case this style already has some features of colloquial speech.
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The aim of scientific speech is to present precise information, therefore it requires the use of special terminology which does not admit of polysemy or of figurative meanings, of emotional connotations (all of which is typical of colloquial and publicist styles). The author of scientific works tends to sound impersonal, hence the use of the pronoun "WE" instead of "I", of impersonal constructions, of the Passive Voice (which allows the author not to mention himself or any other subjective participants of the events described).
The syntax of scientific speech is characterized by the use of complete (non-elliptical) sentences (unlike the syntax of colloquial speech), the use of extended complex and compound sentences without omission of conjunctions, as these connectors enable the author to express the relations between the parts more precisely (as different from the asyndetic connection typical of colloquial speech); the use of bookish syntactic constructions, such as complexes with non-finite forms of the verb; the use of extended attributive phrases, often with a number of nouns used as attributes to the following head-noun (Noun + Noun construction). See some examples of grammar structures typical of scientific language:
Noun + Noun constructions:
the sea level; the time and space relativity theory; the World peace conference; a high level consensus; the greenhouse effect (); carbon dioxide emissions ( ): fossil fuel burning ( ); deforestation problems (= problems related to the disappearance of forests on the earth).
Passive Voice constructions:
Water is not the sole variety of substance from which oxygen can be obtained'. Methane is produced by leaks from gas pipelines.
Bookish syntactic structures:
The compound type of predicate: These gases are easy to control but they are persistent once emitted (= // is easy to control these gases, but it is hard to stop them when they come out)'. Deforestation is probably even harder to change (= It is even harder to change the situation when forests begin to disappear).
The use of abstract nouns, gerundial, participial or infinitive phrases and complexes instead of the much simpler clauses with conjunctions: Apart from this, controlling emissions of greenhouse gases would require huge increase in energy efficiency (= Besides, if we want to control the gases which come out when the air becomes warmer, we shall have to produce much more energy); Agreement to implement such huge projects would require overcoming differences between countries (= If we want to agree to carry out such big projects, we shall have to change the situation when every country is different from another); The measures suggested are worth considering/require careful consideration (= It is necessary to think about the measures that we have suggested); Our planet is known to have been hot once and to have grown cooler in the course of time (= We know that once it was hot and then grew cooler).
Special emphatic constructions to lay a logical stress on some part of the sentence: It is not solely from water that oxygen is to be obtained (= we can get oxygen not only from water). It is on these terms that the UN would be prepared to intervene into the conflict (= The UN will intervene only on these terms).
Publicist (Oratory) Style
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This is a style used in public speeches and printed publicist works, which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. Such communication requires clarity in the presentation of ideas, its aim is to convince the readers/listeners
of the truth of the ideas expressed, and at the same time to produce an emotional impact (impression) on the audience. Thus the main features of this style are clear logical argumentation and emotional appeal to the audience. In this way the publicist style has features in common not only with the style of official or scientific works, on the one hand, but also with some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style, on the other hand. Indeed, in this case the author has no need to make his speech impersonal (as in scientific or official style) on the contrary, he tries to approximate his text to lively communication, as though he were talking to people in direct contact. Accordingly, the publicist style is characterized by the use of logically connected syntactic structures in their full form, i.e. complete extended sentences connected by conjunctions clearly showing the relations expressed, but at the same time, an emotional impact is achieved by the use of emotionally coloured vocabulary, just as in belles-lettres style (the style of fiction works) and in colloquial style.
Publicist (oratory) style requires eloquence (), and such works are often ornamented with stylistic devices and figures of speech (see Part 3). Some authors of publicist works may prefer verbosity (), others brevity of expression, often resembling epigrams.
There are various genres in which the publicist style is employed, such as public speeches, essays, pamphlets, articles published in newspapers or magazines, radio and TV commentaries, etc.
The oral variant of publicist style the oratory style proper (which is used in speeches and mass media commentaries), is especially close to spoken language in its emotional aspect. It is aimed at logical and emotional persuasion of the audience. As there is direct contact with the audience, it allows the speaker to combine effects of written and spoken varieties of language. For example, the author can use direct address (the pronoun of the second person "You"), and often begins his speech with special formulas of address to the audience: Ladies and
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Gentlemen! My Lords', (in the House of Lords); Mr. Chairman: Highly esteemed members of the conference.'; or. in a less formal situation Dear Friends; or, with a more passionate colouring My friends/
As the speaker/author attempts to reach closer contact with the audience, he may use such devices as asking the audience questions:
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, he trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? (Th. Jefferson)
or making an appeal to the audience:
Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles! (ibid.).
On the other hand, as different from colloquial style, the vocabulary of speeches and printed publicist works is usually very elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of lofty (high-flown) style. See examples below:
a) Friends and Fellow Citizens:
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire (Th. Jefferson. First Inaugural Speech)
b) The method which Mr. Burke takes to prove that the people of
England had no such rights, and that such rights do not now
exist in the nation...is of the same marvellous and monstrous
kind with what he has already said; for his arguments are,
that the persons, or the generations of persons, in whom they
did exist, are dead, and with them the right is dead also.
(Th. Paine. Rights of Man)
Like colloquial style, the publicist style is usually characterized by emotional colouring and connotations, but there is a difference. The emotional colouring of publicist style is lofty: it may be solemn (as in example a) above), or it may be ironic/sarcastic (as in example b)), but it cannot have the "lower" connotations (jocular, endearing, rude or vulgar, slangy) found in colloquial/familiar colloquial speech.
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The syntax of publicist style is often characterised by repetition of structures (syntactic parallelism) a device used to rouse the audience emotionally:
'It is high time this people had recovered from the passions of war. It is high time that the people of the North and the South understood each other and adopted means to inspire confidence in each other (from a public speech made at the end of the Civil War in the USA).
What do we see on the horizon? What forces are at work? Wither are we drifting? Under what mist of clouds does the future stand obscured? (from Lord Byron's speech in Parliament)
Syntactic repetition may be combined with lexical repetition (periphrasis):
Robert Burns exalted our race and the Scottish tongue. Before his time we had for a long period been scarcely recognised; we had been falling out of the recollection of the world... Scotland had lapsed into obscurity... Her existence was almost forgotten (all those different phrases simply repeat the idea "nobody knew us, Scots, before").
Some Particular Genres of Publicist Style
The Essay
This genre in English literature dates from the 16"' century, and its name is taken from the short "Essays" (= experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects, which preserves a clearly personal character and has no pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of
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the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any definite conclusions. See an extract from Ben Johnson (16lh century):
Language most shows a man; speak, thai I may see thee. It springs of the most retired and in most parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a man's form or likeness so true, as his speech, and, as we consider feature and composition in a man, so words in language. Some men are tall and big, so some language is high and great. Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, all grace, sinewy () and strong. Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is humble and low; the words are poor and flat; the members are periods thin and weak, without knitting () or number.
Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article ( ) in a magazine or newspaper. It is characterized by clarity and brevity of expression, by the use of the first person singular, by expanded use of connecting words (to express clearly all the logical relations in the development of thought), and abundant use of emotionally coloured words, of metaphors and other figures of speech.
Newspaper Speech
English newspaper writing dates from the 17"' century. First newspapers carried only news, without comments, as commenting was considered to be against the principles of journalism. By the 19lh century newspaper language was recognised as a particular variety of style, characterized by a specific communicative purpose and its own system of language means.
The content of newspaper material is fairly diverse, it comprises news and commentary on the news, press reports and articles, advertisements and official announcements, as well as short stories and poems, crossword puzzles and other such like material for entertainment of the reader.
Newspaper style includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means serving the purpose of informing, instructing, and, in addition, of entertaining the reader. As a result of this diversity of purposes, newspapers contain not only strictly informational, but also evaluative material comments and views of the news-writer (esecially characteristic of editorials and feature articles).
As the newspaper seeks to influence public opinion on various social, political or moral matters, its language frequently contains vocabulary with evaluative connotation, such as to allege (theperson who allegedly committed the crime), or to claim (the defendant claims to know nothing about it), which cast some doubt on what is stated further and make it clear to the reader that those are not yet affirmed facts. A similar idea is expressed by special grammar structures, e.g. The man is said to have taken part in the affair, or The chief of the police is quoted as saying... Evaluation can be included in the headlines of news items (Government going back on its own promises) and in the commentary on the news, in feature articles, in leading articles (editorials), where emotionally coloured vocabulary is widely employed. The characteristics mentioned are common to different genres of publicist style. Nevertheless, the informative content generally prevails in newspaper material as compared with purely publicist or oratory works.
On the whole we may single out the following features typical of newspaper style:
in vocabulary the use of special political or economic terminology (constitutional, election, General Assembly of the UN, gross output, per capita production):
the use of lofty, bookish vocabulary, including certain cliches (population, public opinion, a nation-wide crisis, crucial/pressing problems, representative voting), which may be based on metaphors and thus emotionally coloured: war hysteria, escalation of war, overwhelming majority, stormy applause/a storm of applause, captains of industry, pillars of society (), the bulwark of civilization (; , ).
frequent use of abbreviations names of organizations, political movements, etc.: UN (United Nations Organization), NATO {North Atlantic Treaty Organization), EEC (European Economic Community), UK(The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), FO (Foreign Office), PM (Prime -minister), MP (member of Parliament), etc.
the use of neologisms, since newspapers quickly react to any new trends in the development of society, technology, science and so on: sputnik, a teach-in (the form of campaigning through heated political discussions), black Americans/Afro-Americans (= Negroes), Latin Americans (emigrants from South America), front-lash (a vigorous anti-racist movement), stop-go politics (= indecisive policies), a shock announcement, to work flat out(= to work very hard), a frosty reception.
in grammar the use of complete simple sentences, of complex and compound sentences, often extended by a number of clauses:
The Secretary to the Treasury said he had been asked what was meant by the statement in the Speech that the position of war pensioners would be kept under close review.
On the other hand, in newspaper headlines we find elliptical sentences, with the finite verb omitted or replaced by a non-finite form, and the grammatical articles also often omitted:
Price rise expected (=A rise in prices is expected); Witnesses silent in court (= The witnesses are silent during the court trial); Prime Minister on new tax (= What the Prime Minister said about the new tax).
Part3
Expressive Means of Language (Stylistic Devices)
As expressive means, language uses various stylistic devices which make use either of the meaning or of the structure of language units.
STYLISTIC DEVICES MAKING USE OF THE MEANING OF LANGUAGE UNITS (FIGURES OF SPEECH)
The term Figures of speech ( , , ) is frequently used for stylistic devices that make use of a figurative meaning of the language elements and thus create a vivid image ().
Metaphor ()
Metaphor denotes a transference of meaning based on resemblance (, ), in other words, on a covert () comparison:
He is not a man, he is just a machine; What an ass you are!; the childhood of mankind; the dogs of war, a film star.
Not only objects can be compared in a metaphor, but also phenomena, actions or qualities: Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, andsome few to chewedanddigested (F. Bacon); pitiless cold; cruel heat; virgin soil; a treacherous calm.
Metaphors may be simple, when expressed by a word or phrase (Man cannot live by bread alone = by things satisfying only his physical needs), and complex (prolonged, or sustained, ), when a broader context is required to understand it, or when the metaphor includes more than one element of the text; cf. the metaphoric representation of a city as a powerful and dangerous machine in the example below:
The average New Yorker is caught in a machine. He whirls along, he is dizzy, he is helpless. If he resists, the machine will crush him to pieces. (W. Frank)
... the scene of man,
A mighty maze, but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot;
A garden tempting with forbidden fruit....(A. Pope)
A trite metaphor ( ) is one that is overused in speech, so that it has lost its freshness of expression. Such metaphors often turn into idiomatic phrases (phraseological expressions) that are fixed in dictionaries: seeds
of evil, a rooted prejudice, a flight of imagination, in the heat of argument, to burn with desire, to fish for compliments, to prick one's ears
Simile ()
This is a comparison creating a vivid image due to the fact that the object with which we compare is well-known as an example of the quality in question. The characteristic itself may be named in the simile, e.g. when the conjunction "as" is used: (as) beautiful as a rose; stupid as an ass; stubborn as a mule; fresh as a rose; fat as a pig; white as snow; proud as a peacock; drunk as a lord. Such similes often turn into cliches. In some idiomatic similes the image is already impossible to distinguish: as dead as a doornail, as thick as thieves.
The characteristic on the basis of which the comparison is made, may only be implied, not named, as when the preposition "like" is used: to drink like a fish (= very much);
Oh, my love is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June. (Burns);
Rise like lions after slumber, in unvanquishible number,
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
That in sleep had fallen on you.
We are many, they are few. (Shelly).
Similes may contain no special connector expressing comparison, as in: She climbed with the quickness of a cat; He reminded me of a hungry cat.
Comparative constructions are not regarded as simile if no image is created, viz., when the object with which something is compared, is not accepted as a generally known example of the quality: John skates as beautifully as Kate does; She is not so clever as her brother, John is very much like his brother.
Note that, unlike a simile, a metaphor contains a covert (not expressed openly) comparison, which is already included in the figurative meaning of a word: cf. a metaphor in What an ass he /with the simile He is stupid as an ass. Metaphors are usually more expressive and more emotionally coloured
than similes just because they do not express the comparison openly.
Metonymy ()
Metonymy denotes a transference of meaning which is based on contiguity of notions (, , ), not on resemblance. In cases of metonymy, the name of one object is used instead of another, closely connected with it. This may include:
1. The name of a part instead of the name of a whole
(synecdoche, ):
Washington and London (= USA and UK) agree on most issues; He was followed into the room by a pair of heavy boots (= by a man in heavy boots); cf. the Russian: ", ", (). In a similar way, the word crown (to fight for the crown) may denote "the royal power/the king"; the word colours in the phrase to defend the colours of a school denotes the organization itself.
2. The name of a container instead of the contents:
He drank a whole glass of whiskey (= drank the liquid contained in a glass). This is such a frequent type of transference of meaning in the language system that in many cases (like the latter example), it is not perceived as a stylistic device. Sometimes, however, the stylistic use of this change of meaning can be still felt, and then it is perceived as a figure of speech: The whole town was out in the streets (= the people of the town).
3. The name of a characteristic feature of an object instead
of the object:
The massacre of the innocents (= children; this biblical phrase is related to the killing of Jewish male children by King Herod in Bethlehem).
4. The name of an instrument instead of an action or the
doer of an action:
All they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword (= war, fighting).
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Let us turn swords into ploughs (= Let us replace fighting by peaceful work; ).
Zeugma (, )
This is a stylistic device that plays upon two different meanings of the word the direct and the figurative meanings, thus creating a pun ( ). The effect comes from the use of a word in the same formal (grammatical) relations, but in different semantic relations with the surrounding words in the phrase or sentence, due to the simultaneous realization (in one text) of the literal and figurative meaning of a word:
A leopard changes his spots, as often as he goes from one spot to another (spot = 1. ; 2. ).
Dora plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room. (Shaw)
She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. (O. Henry)
She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. (Dickens)
At noon Mrs. Turpin would get out of bed and humor, put on kimono, airs, and water to boil for coffee. (O. Henry)
The title of O. Wilde's comedy The importance of being Earnest plays upon the fact that the word earnest (= serious) and the male name Ernest sound in the same way: one of the female characters in the play wished to marry a man with the name of Ernest, as it seemed to her to guarantee his serious intentions.
A similar effect may result from the decomposition of a set-phrase, when the direct and figurative meanings of the words within the set-phrase are realised at the same time:
May's mother always stood on her gentility, and Dot's mother never stood on anything but her active little feet. (Dickens)
' When Bishop Berkley said: 'there is no matter' And proved it it was no matter what he said'. (Byron)
One of the characters of I. Carrol's book 'Alice in Wonderland' is called Mock Turtle ( ); this name has been coined from the phrase "mock turtle soup" ( , ).
One more example of zeugma (or decomposition of a set-phrase) is represented in the humorous story about two duellists who fired at each other and both missed, so when one of the seconds said, after the duel, 'Now, please, shake your hands!', the other answered 'There is no need for that. Their hands must have been shaking since morning'.
Oxymoron ()
This is a device which combines, in one phrase, two words (usually: noun + adjective) whose meanings are opposite and incompatible ():
a living corpse; sweet sorrow; a nice rascal; awfully (terribly) nice; a deafening silence; a low skyscraper.
Hyperbole and Litotes
These are stylistic devices aimed at intensification of meaning. Hyperbole (, ) denotes a deliberate extreme exaggeration of the quality of the object: He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face. (O. Henry); All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. (Shakespeare); a car as big as a house; the man-mountain (-, ); a thousand pardons; I've told you a million times; He was scared to death; I'd give anything to see it.
Litotes (understatement; , ) is a device based on a peculiar use of negative constructions in the positive meaning, so that, on the face of it, the quality seems to be underestimated (diminished), but in fact it is shown as something very positive or intensified: Not bad (= very good); He is no coward (= very brave); It was no easy task (= very difficult); There are not a few people who think so (= very many); I was not a little surprised (= very much surprised); It was done not without taste (= in very good taste).
Epithet ()
This is a word or phrase containing an expressive characteristic of the object, based on some metaphor and thus
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creating an image:
dreamy, gloomy, friendly trees! (Trench)
Note that in phrases like an iron (silver) spoon, the adjective is just a grammatical attribute to noun, not an epithet, as no figurative meaning is implied; on the other hand, in a man of iron will the adjective is already an epithet, as this is an expressive description, based on covert comparison (metaphor).
An epithet may be used in the sentence as an attribute: a silvery laugh; a thrilling story/film; Alexander the Great; a cutting smile (, ), or as an adverbial modifier: to smile cuttingly. It may also be expressed by a syntactic construction (a syntactic epithet): Just a ghost of a smile appeared on his face; she is a doll of a baby; a little man with a Say-nothing-to-me, or I'll- contradict- you expression on his face.
Fixed epithets () are often found in folklore: my true love; a sweet heart; the green wood; a dark forest; brave cavaliers; merry old England.
Periphrasis (, )
This is a device by which a longer phrase is used instead of a shorter and plainer one; it is a case of circumlocution (a roundabout way of description), which is used in literary descriptions for greater expressiveness:
The little boy has been deprived of what can never be replaced (Dickens) (= deprived of his mother);
An addition to the little party now made its appearance (= another person came in).
The notion of king may be poetically represented as the protector of earls; the victor lord; the giver of lands; a battle may be called a play of swords; a saddle = a battle-seat; a soldier = a shield-bearer, God = Our Lord, Almighty, Goodness, Heavens, the Skies.
Periphrasis.may have a poetic colouring:
a pensive warbler of the ruddy breast (= a bullfinch, : A. Pope); The sightless couriers of the air (= the winds: Shakespeare),
or a humorous colouring: a disturber of the piano keys (= a pianist; O. Henry).
Antonomasia (, )
This device consists in the use of a proper name instead of a common name or vice versa. Thus, we may use a description instead of a person's name, creating a kind of nickname: Mister Know-all (a character of S. Maugham); Miss Toady, Miss Sharp (W.Thackeray); Mr. Murdstone (Ch.Dickens). On the other hand, a proper name may be used instead of a common name: He is the Napoleon of crime (= a genius in crime as great as Napoleon was in wars); You are a real Cicero (= a great orator, reminding of Cicero); [have a Rembrandt at home (= a picture by Rembrandt); He looked at himself in the glass. Here, then, was a modern Hercules very distinct from that unpleasant naked figure with plenty of muscles, brandishing a club. (A. Christie) (= a man who is like this hero of ancient Greek myths).
As we can see, on the one hand, antonomasia is a subtype of periphrasis, on the other, it is a subtype of metonymy.
Euphemisms ()
This term denotes the use of a different, more gentle or favourable name for an object or phenomenon so as to avoid undesirable or unpleasant associations. Thus, the verb to die may be replaced by euphemisms like to expire, to be no more, to join the majority, to begone, to depart; a madhouse may be called a lunatic asylum or a mental hospital; euphemisms for toilet, lavatory are ladies'(men's) room; rest-room; bathroom.
Euphemistic expressions may have the structure of a sentence:
China is a country where you often get different accounts of the same thing (= where many lies are told) (from Lord Salisbury's Speech).
There are euphemisms replacing taboo-words (taboos), i.e. words forbidden in use in a community: The Prince of darkness
or The Evil One (=the Devil); the kingdom of darkness or the place of no return (= Hell).
Allegory () and Personification ()
Allegory is a device by which the names of objects or characters of a story are used in a figurative sense, representing some more general things, good or bad qualities. This is often found in fables {) and parables {). It is also a typical feature of proverbs, which contain generalizations (express some general moral truths): All is not gold that glitters {= impressive words or people are not always really so good as they seem); Every cloud has a silver lining {= even in bad situations we may find positive elements); There is no rose without a thorn (= there are always disadvantages in the choice that we make); Make the hay while the sun shines (= hurry to achieve your aim while there is a suitable situation).
As a subtype of allegory we distinguish Personification, by which human qualities are ascribed to inanimate objects, phenomena or animals:
'No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flyingfeef. (Byron)
Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song...the dying day breathes out her last... and Night, upon her sombre throne, folds her black wings above the darkening world, and, from her phantom palace, lit by the pale stars, reigns in stillness. (Jerome).
In the well-known poem:
Twinkle, little star!
How I wonder what you are!...
a star is represented as if it were a living being whom the author addresses.
In poetry, fables, etc., personification is often represented grammatically by the choice of masculine or feminine pronouns for the names of animals, inanimate objects or forces of nature. The pronoun He is used for the Sun, the Wind, for the names of
any animals that act like human beings in the tale (The Cat who walked by himself), forstrong, active phenomena (Death, Ocean. River) or feelings (Fear, Love). The pronoun She is used for what is regarded as rather gentle (the Moon, Nature, Silence, Beauty, Hope, Mercy: cf. Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth, But Melancholy marked him for her own Gray) or in some way woman-like (in Aesop's fable about The Crow and the Fox, the pronoun She is used for the Crow, whose behaviour is coquettish and light-minded, whereas He is used for the Fox).
Allusion ()
This is indirect reference to (a hint at) some historical or literary fact (or personage) expressed in the text. Allusion presupposes the knowledge of such a fact on the part of the reader or listener, so no particular explanation is given (although this is sometimes really needed). Very often the interpretation of the fact or person alluded to is generalised or even symbolised. See the following examples:
Hers was a forceful clarity and a colourful simplicity and a bold use of metaphor that Demosphenes would have envied. (Faulkner) (allusion to the widely-known ancient Greek orator).
He felt as Balaam must gave felt when his ass broke into speech (Maugham) (allusion to the biblical parable of an ass that spoke the human language when its master, the heathen prophet Balaam, intended to punish it).
In B. Shaw's play "Pygmalion", the following remark of Mr. Higgins " Eliza: you are an idiot. I waste the treasures of my Mi/tonic mind by spreading them before you alludes to the English poet of the 17"' century John Milton, the author of the poem "Paradise Lost"; apart from that, the words spreading the treasures of my mind before you contain an allusion to the biblical expression to cast pearls before swine { ). In A. Christie's book ol'stories' The Labours of Hercules' the name of the famous detective Hercule Poirot is an allusion to the name of Hercules and the twelve heroic deeds (labours) of this hero of the ancient Greek myths.
Irony
Irony, like the stylistic device of zeugma, is based on the simultaneous realisation of two opposite meanings: the permanent, "direct" meaning (the dictionary meaning) of words and their contextual (covert, implied) meaning. Usually the direct meaning in such cases expresses a positive evaluation of the situation, while the context contains the opposite, negative evaluation:
How delightful to find yourself in a foreign country without a penny in your pocket!
Aren 't you a hero running away from a mouse!
I like a parliamentary debate,
Particularly when it is not too late. (Byron)
The Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria) was minded to stretch the arm of its Christian charity across the Atlantic and put republicanism down in the western hemisphere as well as in its own. (Goldwin Smith).
I do not consult physicians, for I hope to die without their help. (W. Temple).
Rhetorical Questions
Having the form of an interrogative sentence, a rhetorical question contains not a question but a covert statement of the opposite: Who does not know Shakespeare? (the implication is "everybody knows "); Is there not blood enough... that more must be poured forth? (Byron) (= there certainly is enough blood). This king, Shakespeare, does not he shine over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest, indestructible? (Carlyle) (= he certainly does).
The most common structural type of rhetorical question is a negative-interrogative sentence, as in the examples above. But it may also be without an open negation: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? (a phrase from "The Old Testament") (the implication is that they cannot); For who has sight so swift and strong, That it can follow the flight of a song?
(Longfellow) (= nobody has). What business is it of yours?(Shaw) (= it is none of your business).
Since the implied statement is opposite to what is openly asked, a rhetorical question may contain irony: Since when are you interested in such things? (= I doubt that you are really interested in them); / never see him doing any work there... Why can't he work? What use is he there?.. (Jerome) (= he certainly ought to work, he is no use here).
STYLISTIC DEVICES MAKING USE OF THE STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE UNITS
Repetition ()
Lexical repetition is often used to increase the degree of emotion:
'Oh, No, John, No, John, No, John, No!'(( a folk song) And like a rat without a tail, Til do, I'll do, I'll do. (Shakespeare)
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea. (Coleridge)
The repetition of the same elements at the beginning of several sentences is called anaphora:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne? ( Burns)
The repetition of the same elements at the end of several sentences is called epiphora:
/ am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as that. lam above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy in such a case as that. (Dickens)
The term Syntactic repetition refers to repetition of syntactic elements or constructions. This may include syntactic tautology ( ), such as, for example, the repetition of the subject of a sentence, which is typical of English folklore:
Little Miss Muffet
She sar on a tuffet. (Nursery rhyme)
and also of later stylisations of the ballad character:
Ellen Adair she loved me well,
Against her father's and mother's will. (Tennison)
The skipper he blew a whiff from his pipe
And a scornful laugh laughed he. (Longfellow)
Syntactic tautology may be used in literary works to
represent the speech of a person of little education: Well, Judge Thatcher, he took it....(M. Twain) Repetition of the subject may also be combined with giving
it some more specific additional information:
She has developed power, this woman this wife of his!
(Galsworthy)
Oh, it's a fine life, the life of the gutter. (Shaw)
A special variant of syntactic repetition is syntactic
parallelism, which means repetition of similar syntactic
constructions in the text in order to strengthen the emotional
impact or expressiveness of the description: The seeds ye sow another reaps, The robes ye weave another wears, The arms ye forge another bears. (Shelley) Few of them will return to their countries; they will not embrace
our holy religion; they will not adopt our manners. (B. Franklin) There were real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china
cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes.
(Dickens)
Chiasmus ()
This term denotes repetition of the same structure but with the opposite order of elements (a reversed version of syntactic parallelism):
Down dropped the breeze,
The sails dropped down. (Coleridge)
In the days of old men made the manners;
Manners now make men. (Byron)
The loud-like rocks, the rock-like clouds
Dissolved in glory float. (Longfellow) The sea is but another sky, The sky a sea as well (ibid)
Climax (gradation, ) and Anticlimax
Climax is repetition (lexical or syntactic) of elements of the sentence, which is combined with gradual increase in the degree of some quality or in quantity, or in the emotional colouring of the sentence:
A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: the smile extended into a laugh: the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general. (Dickens)
Doolittle. I've no hold on her. I got to be agreeable to her. 1 got to give her presents. I got to buy her clothes... I'm a slave to that woman. (Shaw)
He was pleased when the child began to adventure across floors on hand and knees; he was gratified, when she managed the trick of balancing herself on two legs; he was delighted when she first said 'ta-ta; and he was rejoiced when she recognised him and smiled at him. (Paton)
They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they inspected innumerable kitchens. (Maugham)
The opposite device is called anticlimax, in which case the final element is obviously weaker in degree, or lower in status than the previous; it usually creates a humorous effect:
Music makes one feel so romantic at least it gets on one's nerves, which is the same thing nowadays. (Wilde)
People that have tried it tell me that a clean conscience makes you very happy and contented. But a full stomach does the thing just as well. (Jerome)
Doolittle: I'm a thinking man and game for politics or religion or social reform, same as all the other amusements. (Shaw)
The autocrat of Russia possesses more power than any other man on earth, but he cannot stop a sneeze. (M. Twain)
This war-like speech, received with many a cheer. Had filled them with desire of fame, and beer. ( Byron)
Stylistic Inversion
By inversion is meant an unusual order of words chosen for emphasis greater expressiveness. The notion of stylistic inversion is broader than the notion of inversion in grammar, where it generally relates only to the position of subject and predicate. Thus, in stylistics it may include the postposition of an adjective in an attributive phrase:
Adieu, adieu! My native shore
Fades 'er the waters blue. (Byron)
A passionate ballad gallant and gay.... (A. Tennyson)
Little boy blue,
Come blow your horn (Nursery rhyme)
It may also refer to a change in the standard position of all other members of the sentence (Subject Predicate Object). Thus, in poetic language secondary members (object, adverbial modifier) may stand before the main members:
Yon sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight. (Byron)
The sea is but another sky,
The sky a sea as well,
And which is earth and which is heaven,
The eye can scarcely tell! (Longfellow)
At your feet /fall. (Dryden)
As for the position of the predicate before subject, we may distinguish cases of 1) full inversion:
The cloud-like rocks, the rock-like clouds
Dissolved in glory float,
And midway of the radiant flood,
Hangs silently the boat. (Longfellow)
On goes the river
And out past the mill. (Stevenson)
On these roads from the manufacturing centres there moved many mobile homes pulled by trucks. (Steinbeck): Blessed are
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Malhew) 2) cases of partial inversion, usually when an adverbial modifier, object or a predicative begins the sentence and only part of the predicate comes before the subject:
Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep. (Milton); How little had I realized that, for me, life was only then beginning. (Christie); Many sweet little appeals did Miss Sharp make to him about the dishes at dinner. (Thackeray); Terribly cold it certainly was. (Wilde)
Ellipsis
As in colloquial speech, this device consists in omission of some parts of the sentence that are easily understood from the context or situation. But, while in colloquial style this omission simply makes the speech more compact (Where is he? In the garden), in literary descriptions it may give the construction an additional expressive or emotional colouring. Note, for example, the solemn tone of the extracts below with the predicate omitted:
And on that cheek, and 'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent! (Byron)
Youth is full ofpleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare)
The sea is but another sky,
The sky a sea as well.... (Longfellow)
Asyndeton {, )
This is a deliberate omission of conjunctions or other connectors between parts of the sentence. It may be used in the
4!
description of a group of events connected in time: taking place simultaneously or in succession; in this case the absence of a conjunction may correspond to the meaning of the conjunction 'and':
There was peace among the nations;
Unmolested roved the hunters,
Built the birch-canoe for sailing,
Caught the fish in lake and river,
Shot the deer and trapped the beaver;
Unmolested worked the women,
Made their sugar from the maple,
Gathered wild rice in the meadows,
Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. (Longfellow)
Asyndeton may also express other logical connections between parts, thus corresponding to various connectors:
'There's no use in talking to him, he's perfectly idiotic!'said Alice desperately. (L. Carroll) (reason: " because")
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injuries. (Thomas Jefferson) (contradiction: "but")
Youth is full ofpleasance, Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare) (contrast: " whereas")
Should a Frenchman or Englishman travel my route, their stored pictures of it would be different from mine. (Steinbeck) (condition: "If)
Polysyndeton {, )
This is a device opposite to asyndeton: a repeated use of the same connectors (conjunctions, prepositions) before several parts of the sentence, which increases the emotional impact of the text:
Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odours of the forest,
With the dew, and damp of meadows.
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions... (Longfellow)
Antithesis (, )
This denotes a structure that stresses a sharp contrast in meaning between the parts within one sentence: Art is long, life is short; One man's meat is another man's poison; Some people are wise, some otherwise. (B. Shaw)
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I
rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was
ambitious, I slew him. There's tears for his love; joy for his fortune;
honour for his valour, and death for his ambition. (Shakespeare)
Youth is full ofpleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather (ib.)
Suspense (Retardation, , )
This is a compositional device by which the less important part of the message is in some way separated from the main part, and the latter is given only at the end of the sentence, so that the reader is kept in suspense.
'Mankind', says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw'. (Ch. Lamb)
A Break in the Narration (Aposiopesis, )
This device consists in a sudden stop in the middle of a sentence when the continuation is quite clear: 'Don't you do this, or... '(a threat); 'These are certainly good intentions, but...' (the continuation is clear from the well-known proverb that
good intentions pave the way to Hell); Keith: My God! If the police come find me here (Galsworthy)
Represented Speech (- )
This is the case when the speech of a character in the work of fiction is represented without quotation marks, as if it were the author's speech:
To horse! To horse! He quits, for ever quits A scene of peace, though soothing to his soul. (Byron) Old Jolion was on the alert at once. Wasn 't the "man of property "going to live in his new house, then? (Galsworthy)
Note that although represented speech resembles direct speech, it still preserves some features of indirect (reported) speech, such as the phenomenon of Sequence of Tenses, which is observed in the last example.
