Decomposition of set phrases

The meaning of a set-phrase is understood only from the combination as a whole (to pull one’s leg, to be over the moon, etc).

The SD of decomposition of set phrases consists in reviving the independent meaning of the components, in other words, it makes weach word of the combination acquire its literal meaning:

E.g. ‘safe and sound’ – “I leave Don Juan for the present safe - / Not sound, poor fellow, but severely wounded. “ [Byron]

“It was raining cats and dogs and two kittens and a puppy landed on my window sill”[Chesterton]- here the author changes the set expression into a sustained metaphor, which creates a vivid image of the rain and rain-drops.

Often authors decompose set-units (proverbs, idioms) to create an implication, to express a complicated idea in a short way:

E.g. “Come!” he said, “milk’s spilt”[Galsworthy]

Decomposed Set expressions add originality to the text.

The SD of decomposition of set phrases is also widely uses in newspapers, magazines and advertisements.

ALLUSION

Allusion is a device, which consists in brief indirect reference to some cultural, literary or historical event commonly known. As a rule only a word or phrase is mentioned without any indication of the source.

E.g. many book titles contain allusion

“The Painted Veil”,

“Tender is the Night”, etc

Allusions are based on the accumulated experience and knowledge of the writer who presupposes a similar experience and knowledge in the reader.

SYNTACTICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

1. Stylistic devices dealing with arrangement of sentence members

REPETITION

Repetition is recurrence of the same element (word, word-combination, phrase) within a sentence.

According to the level of the repeated element repetitions may be classified into the following types:

1. morphological repetition (morpheme): wind-window, light-lightning

2. semantic repetition (one or several semantic components): table-chair, love-friendship, fire-snow

its subtype is called synonymic repetition: Joe was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish dear fellow (Dickens)

3. lexical repetition: They talked and talked all night.

It is very, very good.

4. phrase repetition: They always disliked their neighbour, their neighbours’s noisy company, the very sight of their neighbour, in fact.

5. repetition of the whole sentence or a syntactical structure (syntactical parallelism) : John kept silent; Mary was thinking; or: “The cock is crowing / The stream is flowing” (Wordsworth)

According to the position of the repeated unit in the consecutive clauses, sentences or phrases repetitions are classified into the following types:

1). ordinary repetition, which has no definite place in the sentence. In this case the repeated unit occurs in various positions. It emphasizes both the logical and emotional meaning of the repeated unit.

2). anaphora – the repeated unit comes at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses:

e.g. My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the highlands, a’chasing the deer… (R.Burns)

e.g. Today we do more to celebrate America, we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America. An idea born in the revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge. An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriads of diversities the deepest measure of unity. An idea infused with the conviction that America’s long heroic journey must go forever forward. (B. Clinton, 1993)

Anaphora helps the reader to fix the repeated element in his memory and makes the text more rhythmical.