SDs used within an utterance

 SDs based on parallelism

Parallel constructions (Parallelism) are formed by the same syntactical patterns closely following one another. They are often backed up by repetition of words and conjunctions and prepositions. It does not on any other kind of repetition but the repetition of the syntactical design of the sentence.

E.g. The coach was waiting, the horses were fresh, the roads were good

 and the driver was willing.

E.g. And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,

E.g. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.

In the example parallelism backs up repetition, alliteration making the whole sentence almost epigrammatic.

Parallelism can be complete or partial. It is complete when the construction of the second sentence fully copies that of the first. It is partial when only the beginning or the end of several sentences is structurally similar.

Parallelism strongly affects the rhythmical organization of the paragraph. So it is imminent of the oratorical speech in pathetic and emphatic extracts. In most cases parallelism is strengthened by the repetition or antithesis.

Reversed parallelism is called chiasmus (хиазм – инверсия во второй половине фразы).

 It belong to the group of SDs based on a repetition of syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. The second part of the chiasmus is inversion of the first construction

              E.g. I know the world and the world knows me.

 E.g. It is strange, - but true, for truth is always strange.

E.g. There are so many sons who won’t have anything to do with their fathers and so many fathers who won’t have anything to do with their sons.

 SDs based on a special arrangement of the parts of the utterance

They are climax, anticlimax or bathos, suspense, antithesis

Climax or gradation (нарастание) represents a structure in which every successive word; sentence or phrase is emotionally stronger or logically more important than the preceding one

E.g. For that one instance there was no one in the room, in the house, in the world, besides themselves.

Such an organization of the utterance creates a gradual intensification of its significance both logical and emotive. Climax can be of 3 types:

1) quantitative climax (количественное);

It is quantity or size that increases with unfolding of the utterance.

  e.g. – You have heard of Great Britain?

 - I see, - said the colonel with a smile. - England has heard of Great Britain. Europe has heard of Great Britain. World has heard of Great Britain.

2) qualitative or emotive (качественное);

Intensification is achieved through the introduction of emphatic words

  E.g. He was helpless, so helpless.

Usually in this type of climax the word most important semantically is repeated and intensified by the introduction of such emotionally coloured adverbs as terribly, immensely, especially, lovely, horribly, fairly, very etc.

3) logical climax; It is the most frequent type of climax in which every new concept is stronger, more important and valid (весомее)

E.g. Silence fell upon Closter Place. Peace. Oblivion  (забвение).

Functions of climax: they disclose the author’s outlook, his objective evaluation of facts and phenomena. They show the relative importance of things as seen by the author.

Anticlimax or bathos (переход от возвышенного к обыденному, комическому) It presents a structure where emotion and logical importance is accumulated only to be unexpected broken. It is unexpected turn of the thought which defeats expectations of the reader or listener and ends in complete.

E.g. This was appalling (ужасающий) and soon forgotten.

  He was inconsolable for an afternoon.

The sudden reversal of roused expectations usually brings forth a humourous effect; the majority of O. Wilde’s and B. Show’s paradoxes are based on anticlimax.

E.g. Women have wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious (O. Wilde).

Suspense is the deliberate slowing down of the thoughts postponing its completion till the very end of the utterance. Technically, suspense is organized 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 or utterance

E.g. R. Kipling’s poem “If”.

Functions of suspense: The main purpose of suspense is to prepare the reader for the only logical conclusion of the utterance. It concentrates the listener’s and the reader’s attention, it arises a feeling of expectation. It is a psychological effect that is aimed.

Antithesis is a SDpresenting two contrasting ideas in a close neighbourhood

E.g. They speak like saints and act like devils.  

                      Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

The main function of antithesis is to stress heterogeneity of the described phenomenon to show that the latter is a dialectical unity of two or more opposing features.