Download Proving Your Point: It`s Not Just What You Say. It`s

Proving Your Point: It's Not Just What You Say. It's How You Say It
Now that someone has a point to prove, how do they go about proving it? To prove your points, you need to understand how to answer
two things: What is Evidence? What is a Rhetorical Device?
Evidence: Examples, reasoning, quotes, (lyrics, pictures, graphs, tables, interviews, case studies, etc.) In other words, any information
in whatever forms that can prove your point, disprove the other person's point, strengthen your position.
(\:\ I. Aristotelian Argumentative/Rhetorical Appeals: These are strategies a writer or speaker (a rhetoritician) uses in presenting their
'1jJ evidence after carefully considering their purpose, occasion and audience. The Greeks commonly identified the folloWing ways to appeal
to an audience:
Pathos (Emotion):
Logos (Reasoning):
Ethos (Morality or Ethics):
II. Additionally, we see that persuasive writers and speakers make stylistic choices to better communicate their point. Some of them
are also used in literature by authors as artistic choices employed to create a world for their characters, and when used in this
context, they may be known as literary devices.
2) Vivid and Powerful Word Choices (Diction, Connotation/Denotation):
Imagery:
Metaphor/ Simile:
Analogy:
(j) Repetition/Alliteration/Rhyme! Assonance/Onomatopoeia:
;r()'ne.~
Syntax:
ct. L Sentence Length (telegraphic, short, medium, long/involved, run-on (Rhetorical Run-On)
2. Sentence Patterns:
*Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, Exclamatory
b. *Simple, Compound, Complex
*Loose vs. Periodic vs, Cumulative
*Balanced
-2'latural, Inverted or.~pli~ ?rder , "," ,,'
....,'
" ' ' .' ,
".I"
','
,'.,
','
, ''
*~Yr!t!:t(:NQ1Devices: *Jeixtaposi'tion, *Para'aoxlOrymol-on, *Pardllelrsrn, *Repetifion;,*Rhetiiricaf Question, *RhetoricalfragmeOt,
C, *pg:rfuiie1iS,m'{''':R"e"peti'tion;*Clliasrtlus;*Zeugma; * Anaphoro; ~:Asyriaet()ri7Polysyiideton;*Syll~P'?ts
~. 3.
* 6,l:(filli)g~ln9b~'1I ~'tIhlf}
Sentence Analysis
*Sentence Beginnings? (Pattern»)
*Subject (Has it been cmplified'). *Verbs (Gerunds, action, regular/irregular, transitive/intransitive, passive verbs, Patterns?),
*Parts of Speech (identify-7patterns?) *Case *Voice*Predicate(Patterns?), *Modifiers(Resumptive/Summative, Chain,
Placement-70ther Patterns?)
*Sentence Endings
4. Paragraph Analysis
Adapted byJ.Barrios-Ramirez, Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, 2004 from Heidi Bowlon, UCLA Writing Project In-Service Presentation, Malibu, Summer 2004, Developed for
Lesson Design Unit: Challenges ofa Multicultural Society:lssues in Education-A Persuasive Unit, _through the ISO, Usewith permission,
* Arrangement of ideas (Potter-ns»)
III. Other Argumentative Appeals:
Citing expertise:
Citing credentials:
Appealing to general or broad apinion
Appeal to common ground (We're on the same side!)
Listing problems, establishing urgency (The world's falling apart!)
Reference ta facts
Reference / Allusions to popular events, scandals, news
Adapted by J.Barrios-Ramirez, Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, 2004 from Heidi Bowton, UCLA Writing Project In-Service Presentation, Malibu, Summer 2004. Developed for
Lesson Design Unit: Challenges of a Multicultural Sociely:lssues in Education-A Persuasive Unit, Jhrough ,heISCA. Usewith permission.
ADDENDUM: Rhetorical Devices and Syntax
Repetition (rhetorical device)
In Phoetry, literature and rhetonc, there are several kinds of r$J.?'f..;,~UW","?'fh~.r~.~9!c!~oE,~.~I1aj,!1E:bJ;~.~~~_.~~er~~~~~eqfoX~?troll.ger~r~\Jl~e.si~,.bX
..t1b.e
~~
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.
Repetitio is just the simple repetition of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement ct the words. This is such
a common literary device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech.
Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked
to one another that a disaster' for one ~s a disaster for everybody.
(Natalia Ginzburg, The Little Virtues, 1962)
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Epizeuxis or palilogia is the repetition of a single word, with no other words in between. This is from the Greek words, "Fastening
Together"W
"Words, words, words." (Hamlet)
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Conduplicatio is the repetition of a word in various places throughout a paragraph.
"And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences ... and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure
that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world." (George W. Bush)
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Anadiplosis is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the
beginning of the next sentence.l-'
"This, it seemed to him, was the end, the end of a world as he had known it.." (James Oliver Curwood)
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\'~.n'~"~Br;llts the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause. Comes from the Greek phrase, "Carrying up or Back".W
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we sha!l fight in the
hills, we shall never surrender." (Winston Churchill)
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Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of every clause.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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Mesodiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the middle of every clause.
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed ..." (Second Epistle to the Corinthians)
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Diaphora is the repetition of a name, first to signify the person or persons it describes, then to signify its meaning.
"For your gods are not gods but man-made idols." (The Passion oJSs. Sergius and Bacchus)
Parataxis (grammar)
Parataxis in grammar refers to placing together sentences, clauses or phrases without conjunctions.
In terms of syntax, parataxis may resemble asyndetic coordination, and sometimes it is difficult to draw a distinction between the two.
The tenn was introduced into linguistics-'! by Friedrich Thiersch in his "Greek Grammar" in 1831. Since these times the conceptions behind the term
was expanded and a number of various, often conflicting, definitions are available!'!
Parataxis may be considered from three different points of view: ill
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the psychological aspect,
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the linguistic means to express the paratactic relation,
and the resulting sentence structure.
The underlying idea, important for understanding of the parataxis is that in a connected discourse the complete independence of the consecutive
sentences rarely exists. This observation is captured in the expression "train of thought".W
Consider the following four examples.
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Sun
Sun
Sun
Sun
was
was
was
was
shining
shining
shining
shining
bright. We went for a walk.
bright; we went for a walk.
bright and we went for a walk.
bright, so we went for a walk.
One may conclude that in the first example the two sentences are independent expressions, while the last example is that of dependence. However the
connection of though t in the first examples is just as real as in the last ones, where it is explicitly expressed via the syntax of subordination. In fact,
the putting side by side (without any indication of a separation, e.g., of a pause) of two totally nonrelated sentences usually startles the listeners, who
try to figure out whether the train of thought was lost for them. This arrangement is either an indication of a mental disorder of the narrator or of
humor (similar to garden path sentence).w
In spoken language, this continuance from sentence to sentence is supported by intonation and timing (rhythm, pause): while details may differ
among different languages and cultures, generally similar musicality and shortness of pauses indicate the continuation, while, the change of tone and
longer pause generally inti cates the transition to another connected group of ideas.
The continuance of the "train of thought" may be both that of coordination and subordination.
This psychological understanding is exploited in the notion of parataxis as a rhetorical device.
Asyndeton (Greek: ocuvosrov) is a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples are
veni. vidi. vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, 1 conquered." Its'use-can havetheeffeeH)f:spee4jpg·,~pxhe,rhythmofapassa~n(rmak1~
a~.~iiigle'idea:.Jri6remeinotahffi'. More generally, in gramm'!!:, an asyndetic coordination is a type of coordination in which no coordinating
conjunction is present between the conjuncts.
Aristotle wrote in his Rhetoric that this device was more effective in spoken oratories than in written prose:
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"Thus strings of unconnected words, and constant repetitions of words and phrases, are very properly condemned in written speeches: but
not in spoken speeches - speakers use them freely, for they have a dramatic effect. In this repetition there must be variety of tone, paving
the way, as it were, to dramatic effect; e.g. 'This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you
completely.''' Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book Ill, Chapter 12 (trans. W. Rhys Roberts).
Aristotle also believed that asyndeton can be used effectively in endings of works, and he himself employs the device in the final passage of the
Rhetoric:
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"For the conclusion, the disconnected style oflanguage is appropriate, and will mark the difference between the oration and the peroration.
'I have done. You have heard me. The facts are before you. I ask for your judgement." Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1lI, Chapter 19(trans. W.
Rhys Roberts).
Several notable examples can be found in American political speeches:
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"...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
n .. that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the
success of liberty." John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
The US Declaration of Independence includes an example of asyndeton, referring to the British:
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"We must .. hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."
This quotation is also an example of chiasmus.
Another frequently used, extended example, is Winston Churchill's address, "We shall fight on the beaches":
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"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and
growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... "
Asyndeton may be contrasted with syndeton (syndetic coordination) and polysyndeton, which describe the use of one or multiple coordinating
conjunctions, respectively.
Polysyndeton is the use of several conjunctions in close successioh, especially where some might be omitted (as in "he ran and jumped and laughed
for joy"). It is a stylistic scheme ~~~~!~{~!9~;~f:.T.hythnrXJf1p'ros~~il.d;Ga!iad~al1:ajjfpfsolet)JI\'ty:to~-ap~~.sag~::lJ1
grammar, a polysyndetic
coordination is a coordination in which all conjuncts are linked by coordinating conjunctions (usually and, but, or or in English).
Polysyndeton is used extensively in the King James Version of the Bible. For example:
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And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the
fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. Genesis
7:22-24
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Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean
creeping things, and ifit be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Leviticus 5: 1-3
Writers of modem times have also used the scheme:
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"I said, 'Who killed him?' and he said 'I don't know who killed him, but he's dead all right,' and it was dark and there was water standing in
the street and no lights 'or windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and
went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was right only she was full of water." Ernest Hemingway, After the
Stann
It can be contrasted with asyndeton, which is a coordination containing no conjunctions, and syndeton, with one conjunction.
In rhetoric, chiasmus is the figure of speech in which two or more clau:;es are related to each other through a tev:ersal'ofstriJctur¢SJjn order to make a
larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted Q'lIalielism. Chiasmus was particularly popular in Latin literature, where it was used-to-articulates'
b'iHah'qeQr:order'wlthifi A'te,*f¥TheGreek and Hebrew texts of the Bible also contain many long and complex chiasma.
Today, chiasmus is applied fairly broadly to any "criss-cross" structure, although in classical rhetoric, it was distinguished from other similar devices,
such as the antimetabole. In its classical application, chiasmus would have been used for structures that do not repeat the same words and phrases, but
invert a sentence's grammatical structure or ideas. The concept of chiasmus has been applied to motifs in stories and plays, producing chiastic
structure.
The elements of a simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form A B B A, where the letters correspond to grammar, words, or meaning.
Chiasmus in inverted meaning
But 0, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves.
-Shakespeare, Othello 3.3
"Dotes" and "strongly loves" share the same meaning and bracket "doubts" and "suspects."
A
B
B
A
dotes doubts suspects strongly loves!
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Chiasmus in inverted grammar
An example of a parallel sentence is:
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"He knowingly lied and we blindlyfollowed"
(A B A B)
odvcvo
Inverting into chiasmus:
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"He knowingly lied and we followed blindly"
Other examples:
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"By day thefrolic, and the dance by night". Samuel Johnson The Vanity ofHuman Wishes.
"His time a moment, and a point his space." Alexander Pope Essay on Man, Epistle I.
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"Swift as an an'ow flying.fleeing like a hare afraid..."
The clause above follows the form of adjective, simile, gerund, gerund, simile, adjective (A
Bee
B A).
Chiasmus in Scripture
The ancient Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments are rich in chiasmus. Many of these have become lost in translation, but
hundreds of others remain. The following examples are indented to show the paral lei structure of the text.
A "But many that arejirst
B shall be last;
B I and the last
AI shall bejirst." Jesus (Bible: Matthew 19:13.)
(Note: this chiasmus ironically defines the structure of chiasmus itself.)
A "Do not give what is holy to dogs,
B and do not throw your.pearls before swine,
B I lest they (the pigs) trample them under their feet,
A I and (the dogs) tum and tear you to pieces." (Jesus Bible: Matthew 7:6.)
A "Make the heart of this people fat,
B and make their ears heavy,
C and shut their eyes;
C I lest they see with their eyes,
B I and hear with their ears,
A I and understand with their heart, and convert [return], and be healed" (Bible: Isaiah 6: I0)
A "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
B to the house ofthe God ofJacob
C ... and we will walk in his paths...
D And he sha! [ judge among the nations
E they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
E 1 and their spears into pruninghooks:
J
D nation shall not lift up sword against nation ...
B I 0 house ofJacob,
A J come ve,
.
C I and let us walk ill the light of the Lord" (Bible: Isaiah 2:3-5)
I
(Note: in this example, C does not fall where it is expected to fall; it follows AI.)
A "... but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves
B and become as little children,
C and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
D For the natural man
E is an enemy to God,
F and hus been from the [1[ I of Adam.
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F and will be, forever and ever,
E unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,
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D and putteth off the natural man
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C and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,
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B and becometh as a child,
A I submissive, meek, humble .. " (Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3: 18-19)
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Chiasmns in Latin
Chiasmus is often used in Latin poetry as an alternative form of the golden line, but it can be found in prose as well.
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From Seneca the Youn~, Tlll'estes
visceribus atras pascit effossis aves (10)
"He feeds the black birds with his gutted wounds"
AbVaB
(A and B denote nouns; a and b denote adjectives and the nouns they modify; V is the verb.)
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A more complex form can be found in Cicero's oration Pro Archia Poeta
Adest vir summa auctoritate et religione et fide, M. LliCUI/US, qui se non opinari sed scire, non audisse sed vidisse, nOll interfuisse sed egisse dicit. (8)
"There is a man present of the highest authority, duty, and faith, M. Lucullus who (will testify) that he himself does not believe hut knows, did not
hear but saw, was not only present but did it himself."
The grammar of the Latin follows the form of Verb, Subject, ablative, ablative, ablative, Subject, (relative clause in indirect statement), infinitive
verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, Verb. The ablatives of quality are bracketed by the subjects they modify and form a
chiasmus within a chiasmus.
ABbbbBaaaA
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Pliny the Younger also uses the chiasmus frequently in his letters.
For example, in his letter about the death of Pliny the Elder, he described his uncle sailing into danger to save others:
[es tinat il/uc unde aliifugiunt
"He hurried to the place from where others were fleeing."
Here, he places the verbsjestinat (hurried) andjiJgilint (were fleeing) on the outside of the chiasmus and the adverbs illuc (to the place) and unde
(where from) in the middle to form the cross. This contrasts his uncle's two actions (hurrying and fleeing), and emphasizes his bravery.
Chiasmus as a synonym for antimetabole
These examples are often quoted by modem commentators to demonstrate chiasmus, although they are defined as antimetabole in the classical sense.
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"Who sheds the blood of a man, by a man shall his blood be shed..." Genesis 9:6
In the original Hebrew the above phrase is exactly six words long, in the form (A Bee B A)
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"...ask not what your country can do for you 1961.
ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, January 20,
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"...Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.." John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
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"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind" John F. Kennedy
"Let's make sure' that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, and this president does not choose the next Supreme Court."
Albert Gore Jr. at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
1
ill Jimmv
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"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America."
Carter Farewell Address
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"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." Frederick Douglass, Narrative ofthe Life of
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself
"To be kissed by a fool is stupid; To be fooled by a kiss is worse." Ambrose Redmoon
"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog." Dwight D. Eisenhower January 1958
speech to the Republican National Committee
"Well, it's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men." Line spoken by Mae West in I'm No Angel (1933)
An earlier example, from Croesus dates back to the 6th century BC: "In peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons."
"In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, the Party can always find you!" Yakov Smirnoff(See Russian Reversal)
A popular saying is, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy."
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Chiasmus may be implied, referring to a well-known expression, as when Kermit the Frog says "Time's fun when you're having flies" or Mae West
says "A hard man is good to find," or Jethro Tull's "In the beginning Man created God."
Chiasmus is not limited to an exchange of words; it can also involve the exchange of letters or syllables. as in Tom Waits' quote, "I'd rather have a
bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."
An informal term for chiasmus introduced by Calvin Trillin and used particularly among political speechwriters is reversible raincoat sentences.
,/
Zeugma (from the Greek word "1;WYfLU", meaning "yoke") is a figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a
single common verb or noun. A zeugma employs both ellipsis, the omission of words which are easily understood, and parallelism, the balance of
several words or phrases. The result is a series of similar phrases joined or yoked together by a common and implied noun or verb. In a modem sense,
the zeugma has been classified as a synonym for syllepsis, a particular kind of zeugma, although there is a clear distinction between the two in
classical treatises written on the subject. Henry Peacham praises the "c{t!§.lighfb'fthe'ear..1f in the use of the zeugma in rhetoric, but stresses to avoid
"too many clauses." The zeugrna is categorized according to the location rnd part of speech of the governing word.
("-('tHe.So c\-thjh\- i n-("O'd( rn
V-eao\-e\
Prozeugma
The prozeugma (also called the Synezeugmenon or the Latin praeiunctioi is a zeugma where a verb in the first part of a sentence governs several
later clauses in series.
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"Vicit pudorem libido, tirnorern audacia, rationem amentia" (Cicero, Pro Cluentio, VI.I5)
"Lust conquered shame, audacity fear, madness reason." (Also an example of a tricolon)
\'\DlLiVltj ~
v-c.st of SCn'Ci1C:t:
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"Povertiehath gotten conquest of thy riches, shame of thy pride, danger of thy safetie, folly of thy wisedorne, weakenesse of thy strength,
and time of thy imagined irnmortalitie. [sic]" (Henry Peacham)
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"Mr Jones took his coat and his leave"
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"He [Mr. Finching] proposed seven times once in a hackney-coach once in a boat once in a pew once on a donkey at Tunbridge Wells and
the rest on his knees."
[Flora Finching] - (Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, Chapter 24)
Mesozeugma
The mesozeugma is a zeugma where a verb in the middle of the sentence governs several parallel clauses on either side.
-r:">:
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Both determination and virtue will prevail; both dedication and honor, diligence and commitment.
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"What a shame is this, that neither hope of reward, nor feare of reproch could any thing move him, neither the perswasion of his friends,
nor the love of his countrey. [sic]"--Peacham
~C'U5
Hypozeugma
The hypozeugma, also called an adjunctio in Latin, is a zeugma where a verb falls at the end of a sentence and governs several parallel clauses that
precede it.
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morbo aut vetustate formae dignitas deflorescil.-Rhelorica ad Herenllium
"Either with disease or age, physical beauty fades"
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"through rain or sleet or dark of night, the mail must get through."-motto of postal carriers (also contains a rhetorical bracketing and
repetition of the word "through")
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Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium palatii, nihil urbis vigilae, nihil timor populi. nihil concursus bonorum omnium. nihil hie munitissimus
habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora vultusque moverunt? -Cicero In Cali!inam I-IV.
"Does not the nightly watch of the Palatine, Does not guard of the city, Does not the fear of the people, Does not the union of all good men,
Does not the holding of the senate in this most defensible place, Do not the looks and faces of these people move you?"
By suspending the verb until the end, the listener is unable to determine what action the atrocities will cause, which is precisely the point Cicero
intends to make. In this manner, the hypozeugma lends itself well to the forming of a periodic sentence.
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"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears."-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
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"Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere."- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Paul Revere's Ride"
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"The foundation of freedome, the fountaine of equitie, the safegard of wealth, and custodie of life, is preserved by lawes."-Peacham
Following a hypozeugma with a prozeugma can create a chiasmus (The foundation of freedom and the fountain of equity is preserved by laws. Our
lawless acts destroy our wealth and threaten our custody of life.)
Diazeugma
The diazeugma is a zeugma where a noun governs two or more verbs. Latin rhetoricians further divide the diazeugma according to the placement of
the subject and verbs.
Diazeugma Disjunction
The subject appears at the beginning of the sentence and each verb follows in its respective clause.
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Populus Romanus Numantiam dele vii. Kartaginem sustulit, Corinthian disiecit, Fregellas evenit-s-Rhetorica ad Herennium
The Roman people destroyed Numantia, razed Carthage, demolished Corinth, and overthrew Frcgella.
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Formae dignitas aut morbo deflorescit (lui vetustate extinguitur-i-Rlietorica ad Herennium ..
Physical beauty: with disease it fades; with age it dies.
Diazeugma Conjunction
The subject appears in the middle of a sentence and may take the place of a conjunction.
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Stands accused, threatens our homes, revels in his crime, this man guilty of burglary asks for our forgiveness.
Despairing in the heat and in the sun, we marched, cursing in the rain and in the cold.
Hypozeuxis
The Hypozeuxis is the opposite of a zeugma, where each subject has its own verb.
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The parents scowled, the girls cried, and the boys jeered while the clown stood confused.
"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills. We shall never surrenderlv-e-Winston Churchill
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"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering" - Yoda, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom vlcnacc.
Syllepsis is a particular type of zeugma in which the clauses are not parallel either in meaning or grammar. The governing word may change meaning
with respect to the other words it modifies. This creates a semantic incongruity which is often humorous. Alternatively, a syllepsis may contain a
governing word or phrase which does not agree grammatically with one or more of its distributed terms. This is an intentional construction bending
the rules of grammar for stylistic effect.
Distributed term changes meaning
The governing term can change meaning in its distribution, sometimes to comical effect.
alter cum res gestas tum etiam stadium atque auris adhibere posset.-Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, (62)
the other was able to lend not only his achievements, but also his support and ears
Here thou, great Anna' whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take - and sometimes tea.
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Pope was speaking of Queen Anne and Kensington Palace; note that in Pope's time, "tea" was
pronounced "tay" and thus rhymed with "obey.")
He carried a strobe light and the responsibility/or the lives of his men.
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Syllepsis can be used with idiomatic phrases to achieve a similar result:
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You held your breath and the door/or me.
Alanis Morissette, Head over Feet
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/ took her hand and then an aspirin in the morning,
Eve 6, "Girl Eyes"
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"Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London." (from The fmportance ofBeing Earnest by Oscar Wilde) Cecily
is making a catty remark to Miss Fairfax, a Londoner, by using "common" in two senses, namely "numerous" and "vulgar".
"The Russian grandees came to Elizabeth's court dropping pearls and vermin." Macaulay tells us here in one short phrase a great deal about
the Russian grandees.
"Are you getting fit or having one?" (from the television program M*A *S*H)
"You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit." (from the television program Star Trek: The Next Generation)
"She was a thief, you got to believe: she stole my heart and my cat." (from the film So I Married an Axe Murderer)
Syllepsis with ambiguous grammar
A syllepsis may contain a governing word which does not agree grammatically with one or more of the words or clauses to which it is distributed.
•
"Loud lightning and thunder shook the temple walls."
Here, neither "loud" nor "shook" agree with "lightning", a purely visual effect..
•
•
"The sky and my hopes are falling"
"Our son's diaper and your excuses is stinking"
The first subject is brought to our attention more ominously by the verb with which it agrees.
Examples of syllepsis
•
•
[She] went straight home in a flood of tears, and a sedan chair. - Charles Dickens
He said, as he hastened to put out the cat, the wine, his cigar and the lamps ...
She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes and his hopes
When he asked, "What in Heaven?" she made no reply, up her mind, and a dash for the door - Flanders and Swann, "Madeira M'Dear"
•
Just a dissipated creep who wears a Rolex on his wrist/On her nerves, too much cologne, and clown her power to resist.
Did she turn down the wrong hallway, his advances, or the sheet? - Bob Kanefsky, "The Girl Who Had Never Been
•
•
•
•
•
•
... and covered themselves with dust and glory. - Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
You can leave in a taxi. [f you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. [f that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. - Groucho
Marx, from Duck Soup
Come the (computer) revolution, all persons found guilty of such criminal behavior will be summarily executed, and their programs won't
be!--Numerical Recipes
My teeth and ambitions are bared; be prepared! - Scar, from The Lion King with lyrics by Tim Rice
The levees were broken and so were the promises. - Anderson Cooper, Dispatchesfrom the Edge
The word "Arms" would have two different meanings at once: "weapons" (as the object of "keep") and (as the object of "bear") one-half of
an idiom. It would be rather like saying "He filled and kicked the bucket" to mean "He filled the bucket and died." Grotesque. - Justice
Scalia's majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, rejecting the notion that the phrase "bear arms" was used as an idiom in the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.554 U.S.
(2008), slip op. at 13.
Aristotelian Argumentative/Rhetorical Appeals
Aristotle's treatise on rhetoric is an attempt to systematically describe civic rhetoric as a human art or skill (techne). His definition ofrhetoric as "the
faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion," essentially a mode of discovery, seems to limit the art to the inventional
process, and Aristotle heavily emphasizes the logical aspect of this process. But the treatise in fact also discusses not only elements of style and
(briefly) delivery, but also emotional appeals (pathos) and characterological appeals (ethos). He thus identifies three steps or "offices" ofrhetoric-­
invention, arrangement, and style--and three different types of rhetorical proof:
•
•
•
ethos: how the character and credibility of a speaker influence an audience to consider him to be believable.
o This could be any position in which the speaker-from being a college professor of the subject, to being an acquaintance of
person who experienced the matter in question--knows about the topic.
o For instance, when a magazine claims that, A MIT professor predicts that the robotic era is coming in 2050, the use of big name
"MIT" (a world-renown college for advanced research in math, science, and technology) establishes the strong credibility.
pathos: the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience's judgment.
o This can be done through metaphor. amplification, storytelling, or presenting the topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in
the audience.
logos: the use of reasoning, either inductive or deductive, to construct an argument.
o Logos appeals include appeals to statistics, math, logic, and objectivity. For instance, when advertisements claim that their
product is 37% more effective than the competition, they are making a logical appeal.
o Inductive reasoning uses examples (historical, mythical, or hypothetical) to draw conclusions.
o Deductive or "enthymematic" reasoning uses generally accepted propositions to derive specific conclusions. The term logic
evolved from logos. Aristotle emphasized enthymematic reasoning as central to the process of rhetorical invention, though later
rhetorical theorists placed much less emphasis on it.
Sentence Analysis: More Information
This section is actually a guide on how to create sentence variety in one's own writing. I include it here because it provides a comprehensive
overview of how sentences are formed-and how we can then get an "insider's look" into the possible strategies the authors may use in their
own syntax.
"For a better, more interactive experience (online quizzes), as well as to access links embedded in the text, see the
information below in its original context at: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMARlsentences.htm
Definition of a Sentence
Before elaborating too much on the nature of sentences or trying to define a sentence's parts, it might be wise to define a sentence itself. A sentence
is a group of words containing a subject and predicate. Sometimes, the subject is "understood," as in a command: "[You] go next door and get a
cup of sugar" That probably means that the shortest possible complete sentence is something like "Go!" A sentence ought to express a thought that
can stand by itself, but it would be helpful to review the section on Sentence Fragments for additional information on thoughts that cannot stand by
themselves and sentences known as "stylistic fragments." (see website for links.) The various
'f@eS'ofSciitenc~
structurally, are defined, with
examples, under the section on sentence variety. Sentences are also defined according to function: declarative (most of the sentences we use),
interrogative (which ask a question -
"What's your name?"), exclamatory ("There's a fire in the kitchen!"), and imperative ("Don't drink that!")
In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I (lliv), we see that great "stuffed cloak-bag of guts," Falstaff, in debate with his good friend Prince Hal, the future
King of England. After a night of debauchery together, he is imploring his young mend not to forget him when Hal becomes King, The banter goes
Oil, but the best part of it is Falstaff's last few sentences on the matter (talking about himself here - his favorite subject):
\
\
~
:J
f)
g
t1
But to say I know more harm in him than in myself,
were to say more than I know. That he is old, the
more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but
that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster,
that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault,
God help the wicked! if to be old and merry be a
sin, then many an old host that I know is damned: if
to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine
are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto,
banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for sweet Jack
Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff,
valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant,
being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him
thy Harry's company, banish not him thy Harry's
company: banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.
~
r
.~
The speech is quite a ramble, filled with Falstaff's lively good spirits. How can the Prince follow this? He does, with two little sentences:
r:
~
I do. I will.
4-.
o (~(ttl;J%~y(juhil.ve it. The prince knows he must someday, soon; renounce' his life with Falstaff~n'dTd&'1'dthe'tesponsjlJiHti~:QhilliiigEnglahd: :AI1~
.(J ~.~:k:in~Hcenergyof Falstaff, manifested in thetums.of'phrase.andrhythrn in -this speech, has beendammed up"thwarted and tujiled: back by thos~
~ ~.liiS1ittl~'Sei1teii(;es;fourlittlewotd9 ..J ~~w5n\o.x~\cC\\ a.VU\~\~
'3
6
T.qil-t,'§:~.ha!;vatiety ofsentence length cando, Grea:texpahsivenessToIl6wed~pbythe
buI':;Vh!.p:~(~c)C-iif~'0p..e:;1i~~.It's not that one kind of sentence
is better than the other (although the taste of the twentieth-century reader generally favors the terse, the economical). It's just that there are two
different kinds of energies here, both potent. Use them both, and your prose will be energized.' ~
c\C56\1 be:5
shQY-\ SC(')\CYlce~
The trouble is that many writers, unsure of themselves, are leery of long sentences because they fear the run-on, that troll under the bridge, forgetting
that it is often better to risk imperfection than boredom.
What we need, then, is practice in handling long sentences. It is relatively easy to feel confident in writing shorter sentences, but if our prose is made
lip entirely of shorter structures, it begins to feel like "See Dick run. See Janejump. See Jane jump on Puff." Primer style (pronounced "primmer" in
the U.S.A.), it's called, and it would drive a reader crazy after a while.
Run-ons and Length
First, review the section of the Guide that defines Run-on Sentences. Remember that a really long sentence and a run-on sentence are not the same
thing. Joseph Williams's fine book Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Univ. of Chicago: 1990), enlists this monster of a sentence from Thomas
Hooker, father of American democracy and founder of Hartford, Connecticut:
5\z\I2-\.3vu1~ \'\t
Now
IF NATURE SHOULD INTERMIT HER COURSE
II
and leave altogether, though it were but for awhile, the observation of her own laws; if those principal
and mother elements of the world, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should lose the qalities which now they have; if the frame of that
heavenly arch erected over our heads should loosen and dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget their wonted motions, and by irregular
volubility tum themselves any way as it might happen; if the prince of the lights of heaven which now as a giant doth run his unwearied course,
should, as it were through a languishing faintness, begin to stand and to rest himself; if the moon should wander from her beaten way, the times and
seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mixture, the winds breathe out their last gasp, the clouds yield no rain, the earth be
defeated of heavenly influence, the fruits of the earth pine away as children at the withered breasts of their mother no longer able to yield them relief
'~'whilfwould becomeofman himself, whomthese
things-now dp~I!,s~[¥~? - 'rf\C\ iYl C \ C\ V
'.:::>-e.
-from Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
flikc t 0\'\ c\C\U::>e s
The modem reader might rebel at the complexity of those !iJ<;IJ,lS¢S'P!I.%!;.QN~~.l}M.~!ht<:·.otb.~and it does seem rather ponderous at first. In fact, if you
were to write such a sentence in academic prose, your instructor would probably call you in for a conference. But if, as reader, you let yourself go a
bit, there's a well earned delight in finding yourselfat the end of such a sentence, having successfully navigated its shoals. And, as writer (avoiding
such extremes), there's much to be learned by devising such monsters and then cutting them back to reasonable size.
Here are some hints about using long sentences to your advantage. The ideas here are based loosely on those in Williams' book, which we highly
recommend, but with our own examples.
Coordination
'~lOw the complexity of a longer sentence to develop
after the verb, not before it. Click HERE to read a 239-word sentence (not a run-on, though)
that succeeds grammatically but fails stylistically because it does way too much work before the subject-verb connection is made. Make the
connection between subject and verb quick and vigorous and then allow the sentence to do some extra work, to cut a fancy figure or two. In the
completer (predicate), however, be careful to develop the complex structures in parallel fmm.
;
Click HERE to visit our section on parallel form, most of which is taken from William Strunk's Elements of Style. Be sure to go
through our "slide show" on the Gettysburg Address and closely examine the uses of parallelism in that classic speech.
Repeated Terms
One of the scariest techniques for handling long sentences is the repetition of a key term. It feels risky because it goes against the grain of what
you've been taught about repetition. When properly handled, though, repetition of key words and phrases within a sentence and then within a
paragraph not only holds things together but creates a rhythm that provides energy and drives the meaning home.
The Swiss watchmakers' failure to capitalize on the invention of the digital timepiece was both astonishing and alarming ­
astonishing in that the Swiss had, since the beginnings of the industrial revolution in Europe, been among the first to capitalize on
technical innovations, alarming in that a tremendous industrial potential had been lost to their chief competitors, the watchmakers of
Japan.
In the following sentences, from a/speech by John F. Kennedy (dedicating the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College), observe how the repeated,
parallel phrases pile up meaning in rhythmical waves:<
IN AMERICA, OUR HEROES HA VE CUSTOMARILY RUN to men of large accomplishments. But today this college and country honors a man whose
contribution was not to our size but to our spirit, not to our political beliefs but to our insight, not La our self-esteem, but to our sel f-comprehension ..
I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our
wisdom, its power with our purpose. [ look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our
natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past, and which will build handsome
and balanced cities for our future.
Amherst, Massachusetts
October 26, 1963
The same principle can apply to repeated whole sentences in a paragraph. Watch how President Kennedy drives home his point in the famous "Ich
bin ein Berliner" speech:
THEREARE MANY PEOPLE IN THEWORLD who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the
Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there
are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is
true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
Remarks in the Rudolph Wilde Platz
West Berlin: June 26, 1963
Renaming and Amplifying the Subject
Consider the following sentence, the way information is appended and feels tacked on.
•
Hartford continues to lose its industrial base, which means that more and more of its income base depends on companies whose
primary business is paper shuffling.
Instead of using that clumsy "which clause," let's rename the event and follow it with <i:.9.ependel)t clause that amplifies the-added noun;'
I
I
•
Hartford continues to lose its industrial base, an economic catastrophe in the making [~] characterized by an income base
primarily dependent on companies engaged in paper shuffling.
A Chain of Modifying Phrases
Try ending a sentence with a set of prepositional phrases or phrases, each beginning with a present or past participle. This device works well if used
infrequently; used too often, it can lead to what some writers call purple prose as one modifying l}l!~,'t'j!,l'.1EPJ?,~?m~t1~[2n~~Yf!?r~.:lt~Used
sparingly, however, it can create a wonderful music.
.
(Xyy)P'IflC'6 ~CT IlvI"tY\
I SEE
IT NOW -
THE WIDE SWEEP OF THE BAY, THE GUTTERING SANDS,
crowd of attentive faces, the blaze of vivid colour -
the wealth of green infinite and varied, the sea blue like the sea of a dream, the
the water reflecting it all, the curve of the shore, the jetty, the high-sterned outlandish craft
floating still, and the three boats with the tired men from the West sleeping, unconscious of the land and the people and of the violence of sunshine.
And we all nodded at him: the man of finance, the man of accounts, the man oflaw, we all-nodded at him over the polished table that like a still sheet
of brown water reflected our faces, lined, wrinkled; our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking
always, looking anxiously for something out oflife, that while it is expected is already gone - has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash - together
with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.
Joseph Conrad
"Youth: A Narrative" (1902)
Resumptive and Summative Modifiers
mhon
By adding modifying phrases to the end of a sentence, a'writer;cantakethe:t"eaderiiJi!e;"If;'liometi:meS'.t)I1~l\P<¢Cred-ditecfio"i\Si:
A resum ptlve modifier
picks lip a word or phrase from a sentence that seems to be finished and then adds information and takes the reader into new territory of thought.
Because resumptive modifiers are, by nature, repetitive, they tend also to add a sense of rhythm to a sentence. The following sentence (borrowed
from above) employs this strategy twice:
•
The Swiss watchmakers' failure to capitalize on the invention of the digital timepiece was both astonishing and alarming­
astonishing in that the Swiss had, since the beginnings of the industrial revolution in Europe, been among the first to capitalize on
technical innovations, alarming in that a tremendous industrial potential had been lost to their chief competitors, the watchmakers
of Japan.
A summative modifier quickly re-names or sums up what was going on in an earlier part of the sentence and then adds new information:
•
The defensive coaches taught risk-taking, ball-hawking, and perpetual movement and resu lted in many bad passes, steals, and easy fastbreak baskets.
three strategies that bewildered the opposition
Variety in Modifier Placement
•
Using I nitial Modifiers:
1. Dependent Clause: Although she wasn't tired, Maria went to sleep.
2. Infinitive Phrase: To please her mother, Maria went to sleep.
3. Adverb: Quickly and quietly, Maria went to sleep.
4. Participial Phrase: Hoping to feel better, Maria went to sleep.
•
Using Mid-Sentence Modifiers:
5.
6.
•
Using Terminal Modifiers:
7.
8.
9.
•
Appositive: Maria, an obedient child, went to sleep.
Participial Phrase: Maria, hoping to catch up on her rest, went to sleep.
Present Participial Phrase: Maria went to sleep, hoping to please her mother.
Past Participial Phrase/Adjectival Phrase: Maria went to sleep, lulled by music.
Maria went to sleep, awakening to scary dreams, relieved when it was morning.
Combining Modifiers:
10. Quickly and quietly, Maria, a young girl, went to sleep hoping to please her mom.
Unlike medicine or the other sciences, writing has no new discoveries to spring on us. We're in no danger of reading in our
moming newspaper that a breakthrough has been made in how to write a clear English sentence-that information has been
around since the King James Bible.
- William Zinsser
in On Writing Well
Additional Hints on Variety
Try an occasional question, exclamation, orcommand. A';q~estjqncan'beespeciallyuseful atthebeginning.of-a P;If;lgr{lPhwDereY0llc,}V<,mttp
{1\lpl:marz~qllcjcklywh3.t preceded and thenlaunch into whah~iij"riowlo1l6~. "And what were the results of this Proclamation of 1763?" This
reminds your readers where you are in your discussion -
Ah yes, that's what we're talking about -
and prepares them for what comes next.
A command or directive provides direction and energy. Readers react to being. grabbed by thecollar'and told whatlotJ~. It's hard to ignore, ifnot t9
.resist. Tone is terribly important here. A bit of well-intentioned cajoling is usually more useful than in-your-face shouting. "Learning the principle of
parallel structure can be the most important thing you leam in writing class. Leam it new!"
Try beginning an occasional sentence with something other than the normal subject-followed-by-verb order of things. Begin with a modifying clause
or participial phrase instead. "After Pontiac's insurrection led to the Proclamation of 1763, a brief period of peace ensued. Having led his people in a
successful resistance, Pontiac was astonished to discover how Indian tribal differences and individualism began, instantly, to erode their base of
unified power."
Try beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, nor, for, yet, or, so). Many writers have had it pounded into their skulls that if
you begin a sentence with and or but that sentence should have been linked (instead) to the previous sentence in a compound structure. It goes against
the grain to begin a sentence with and or but. But give it a try.·A sentence beginning with a conjunction will almost.always call attention to itselfsand
it will always serve primarily as a connective device. If that's what you want, use it -- but not so often that the effect gets out of control and becomes
self-defeating.
Try using a variety of basic sentence structures. We can categorize sentences into four main types, depending on the number and type of clauses they
contain:
I.
Simple (one independent clause):
We drove from Connecticut to Tennessee in one day.
Compound (more than one independent clause):
2.
We were exhausted, but we arrived in time for my father's birthday party.
Complex (one independent clause and at least one dependent clause):
3.
Although he is now 79 years old, he still claims to be 65.
,e': 4. Compound-complex (more than one independent clause and at least one dependent clause):
After it was all over, my dad claimed he knew we were planning something, but we think he was really surprised.
In tenus of style, you will also find that sentences are classified as periodic or cumulative sentences. Periodic'
phrases and clausesi sometimes piling them on, and then end with an
independent clause, period.
;.~.entences·begihWith modifying
If, instead of listening to the war-mongers of the military-industrial establishment, the politicians had only listened to what people had
been writing in their letters and in the newspaper columns, if they had only listened to what the demonstrators had been shouting in the
streets and on the campuses, if they had only listened to what was in their hearts, the war would have ended long ago.
Cumulatlve sentences; on the other hand, begin With the independent clause and then finish with a flurry-of modifying constructions, See the
.
.
'. -,
sentences of President Kennedy above.
Again, it is not so much that one kind of sentence is to be preferred over another but that a good craftsperson uses the right tool for the right job and
doesn't usc the same tool all the time.
It does no good to be overly conscious of these sentence types in the first draft of your essay, but as you review your essay, keep in mind that too
many sentences of anyone kind.- especially too many simple sentences - will be tedious for your reader. On the other hand, as we have seen,
there is nothing like a brief sentence to drive home a point after a lengthy, rambling sentence. Try spicing up your prose by combining sentences into
different structures.
See the Exercise on Avoiding Primer Style.
The most important thing you will derive from using a variety of sentence types is the shifts in tone that will result. Variety of sentence structure and
type liberates your text from the monotone. Ezra Pound said that writing aspires to music, "which is the art of arts." Good academic prose is not
poetry and it is not music, but there is surely no reason for it to remain on the du 11 plains of sameness.
Try using an occasional cleft sentence. The structure of a cleft sentence allows a writer to emphasize a part of a sentence in the same way that a
speaker can emphasize part of a sentence using voice stress. We could say "Coach CALHOUN came up with the program of recruiting players from
foreign countries." and by stressing the word "Calhoun" we let the listener know that we're distinguishing this coach from all others (in this particular
context). To create the same kind of stress in writing, we can "cleave" (split) the sentence into two parts:
•
It was Coach Calhoun who came up with the program ofrecruiting players from foreign countries.
Or we could stress the idea of the PROGRAM in this way:
•
It was the program of recruiting players from foreign countries that Coach Calhoun came up with.
The cleft sentence usually uses it as the main subject with a to be verb; the real information in the sentence, oddly enough, follows in the predicate
and then in a dependent clause beginning with a dependent word (usually who, which, or that).
Another form of the cleft sentence can be created with what (instead oi it).
•
What you did in your youth is your own business.
The what form of the cleft sentence will frequently take the main verb (and business) of the sentence and put it into an initial noun clause:
•
A massive typhoon off the east coast delayed the invasion.
•
What delayed the invasion was a massive typhoon off the east coast.
Cleft sentences are useful for putting stress in a sentence exactly where you want it, but they should be used sparingly,
reserved for special occasions - Eke birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and the annual retum of the buzzards to
Hinckley, Ohio.
An emphatic sentence puts the stress on an auxiliary verb instead of some element after the verb, a complement or
modifier. In normal intonation, we might say something like "The President was traveling to EGYPT yesterday," thus
stressing how the President spent the day. If someone doubted the veracity of our statement, however, we might make
our statement more emphatic by placing the stress of our intonation on the auxiliary: "The President WAS traveling to
Egypt yesterday" In the absence of an auxiliary, the verb "do" is used to create emphasis: "The President DID spend the day in Egypt." The "to do"
form has no effect on the meaning of the sentence except that it adds emphasis. Click HERE for more information of the uses and forms of the
"emphatic do." Emphatic sentences are seldom used in academic, formal prose.