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Syllepsis
Syllepsis
use of a word to govern two or more
words though agreeing in number or
case
etc. with only one.
Syllepsis
Syllepsis, also known as semantic
zeugma, is a particular type of zeugma in which
the
clauses disagree in either meaning
or grammar. The governing word may change
meaning with respect to the other words
it modifies. This creates a semantic
incongruity that is often humorous.
Alternatively, a syllepsis may contain a governing
word or phrase that does not agree
grammatically with one or more of its distributed
terms. This is an intentional
construction in which rules of grammar are bent
for
stylistic effect.
Distributed term changes
meaning
The governing term
can change meaning in its distribution, sometimes
to comical
effect.
lives.
alter cum res gestas tum etiam studium
atque auris adhibere posset. Cicero, Pro
Archia Poeta (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)
He carried a strobe light and the
responsibility for the lives of his men. Tim
O'Brien,
The Things They Carried
And 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.
Ibid.
When he asked
Up her mind, and a dash for
the door Ibid.
I notice
with some relief, that the Icelandic group staying
on my floor have either
checked or
passed out. Agent Cooper on the television series
Twin Peaks
Syllepsis can be used with idiomatic
phrases to achieve a similar result:
You held your breath and the door for
me. Alanis Morissette,
I
got a part-time job at my father's carpet store,
laying tackless stripping and
housewives by the score. Warren Zevon,
I took her hand and then an
aspirin in the morning, Eve 6,
Wilde, The Importance of
Being Earnest (Cecily is making a catty remark to
Miss
Fairfax, a Londoner, by using
Thomas Babington Macaulay
television program Star
Trek: The Next Generation
I
Married an Axe Murderer
Dance
[edit] Syllepsis with figures and
schemes of grammar
A
syllepsis may employ a scheme of grammatical
construction or figure of grammar
to
manipulate discourse as part of a rhetorical
strategy.
—
and my
hopes
—
is falling.
As written, the sentence employs
syllepsis with the scheme of grammar, parenthesis,
and the phrase
require a
change to the plural verb
intentional
solecism.
The syllepsis employs an implied
bright thunder shook the temple
walls.
example of hypallage. The
syllepsis also employs catachresis by attributing
the effect
of shaking and loudness to
the lightning, a purely visual effect. Use of the
unconventional grammatical construction
is intentional so as to create alliteration
with
[edit]
Examples of syllepsis
[She]
went straight home in a flood of tears, and a
sedan chair. - Charles Dickens
Just a dissipated creep who wears a
Rolex on his wrist/On her nerves, too much
cologne, and down her power to resist.
Did she turn down the wrong
hallway, his advances, or the sheet? - Bob
Kanefsky,
...
and covered themselves with dust and glory. - Mark
Twain, The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer