Transference of structural meaning

First we’ll consider SDs and EMs based on arrangement of words in a sentence & sentences in a paragraph.

SDs and EMs based on arrangement of words in a sentence are Stylistic Inversion and Detached Constructions.

A. Stylistic Inversion.Unlike grammatical inversion, stylistic inversion does not change the structural meaning of the sentence. The latter aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional coloring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Inversiondeals with the displacement of the predicate (which is the case complete inversion) or with the displacement of secondary members of the sentence (which is the case of partial inversion) and their shift in the front, opening position in the sentence.

The direct word-order is: Subject-Predicate-Object – the combination points unmistakably at the subject of the sentence.

Stylistic inversion breaks the order of words in the sentence but doesn’t change its grammatical meaning. The logical message remains the same. The emphatic character of the sentence is increased. In the inverted word order the emphasized members of the sentence are usually placed in the position with a full force of the stress on them. Most frequently emphasized members are: Predicates, Objects, and Adverbial modifier including, so-called post positions.

Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not be regarded as a violation of the norms of Standard English.

The following patterns are most frequently met:

-the object is placed at the beginning of the sentence, eg. Talent Mr. M. has (Dickens);

-the attribute is placed after the word it modifies, eg. Once upon a midnight dreary…(Po);

-the predicative is placed before the subject, eg. A good generous prayer it was (Twain);

-the adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence, eg. At your feet I fall (Dryden); ‘Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,' said the Rat
- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ch. 1

-both modifier and predicate stand before the subject, e.g. In went Mr. Pickwick (Dickens).

B.Detached Constructions.A secondary part of a sentence placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Its position in the sentence and punctuation marks signify a pause and give the detached members the full force of predication. The most frequent cases of detached constructions are attributes and adverbial modifiers. Sometimes the isolation is so complete that a word syntactically connected with the sentence is separated into an independent sentence.

E.g. She was lovely: all of her – delightful (T. Driser).

The marks of punctuation and the intonation play an important role. They suggest a strong feeling of admiration here. The detached part becomes logically significant.

3. Among SDs and EMs based on arrangement of sentences in a paragraph are chaotic enumeration, gradation (climax), suspense and antithesis.

C. Chaotic enumerationis also called heterogeneous enumeration. It is the deliberate piling in a homogeneous syntactical line words so different semantically that they produce a humorous effect or express the idea of chaos.

E.g. A disorderly rush begins – my parents, my wives, my girls, my children, my farm, my animals, my money, my music lessons, my drunkenness, my brutality, my teeth, my face, my soul!

D.Gradation (Climax) is an arrangement of words in a sentence or sentences in a paragraph which secures a gradual increase in logical significance, importance, or emotional tension in the utterance, e.g.: “it was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city”.

God knows I loved her. For eight years I worshipped the ground she trod on.

She was intelligent & well-read. She was tender, unselfish & disinterested. In fact, she was too good to be true.

E. Suspense. It is a compositional device which consists in arranging the less important parts at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence.

E.g. He wanted – it’s strange, it’s grotesque – he wanted to be a gentleman. There was one subject in which her interest never failed. She followed it with great energy. No obstacle prevented her from returning to it, no chance word was so remote that she could not use it to come back to this subject & in effecting this she displayed a cleverness of which no one considered her capable. On this subject she could be witty, vivacious, philosophic, tragic, & inventive. There was no end and no limit to its variety. This subject was herself.

The function of suspense is to keep the reader in a state of uncertainty and expectation, to prepare the reader for the only logical conclusion of the utterance.

e.g. “If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…

…And which is more, you’ll be a man, my son” (R.Kipling “If”).

Suspense always requires long stretches of speech or writing, but it is framed in one sentence. Separate sentences would violate the principle of constant emotional tension which is characteristic of this device.

F. Antithesis(Greek for "setting opposite", from ἀντί against + θέσις position) means a direct contrast or exact opposition to something created by linguistic means, mostly by antonyms. If it’s used to describe the same object or concept, it reveals its contradictory nature. If applied to different objects or concepts, antithesis brings out the antagonistic features deliberately contrasted for effect.

E.g. The room was so small & this exhibit so large, that I had got a feeling of wanting the air.

She was sour, but she liked sweet things.

Sometimes antithesis doesn’t convey an idea of contrast, it makes the utterance emphatic due to the clash between the form & the meaning.

E.g. Derrick hadn’t chosen me for my emotional depth, or even for my intellectual great size.

I could see her applauding success. I could not so easily see her pitying & sympathizing with failure.