4. Figures of inequality: climax, anticlimax, zeugma, pun.

Climax (Gradation) is the figure of inequality which consists in arranging the utterance so that each subsequent component of it is emotionally stronger and more significant in meaning than the preceding one.

E.g., I withheld from him, praying, begging, weeping and at last threatening. (H.Wells).

There was the boom, then instantly the shriek and burst.

1 am sorry, I am so very sorry, I am so extremely sorry.

Механізм справді був простий, зручний, корисний.

Climax may be of three main types: logical, emotional and quantitative.

Logical climax – every succeeding concept is logically more important than the previous one. E.g., He may lock himself, hide himself away, get guars about him, put an armour if he likes – Death, the unseen Death is coming. (H.Wells).

Важливий – вирішальний – грандіозний.

Гарний – чудовий – пречудовий – незрівнянний – божественний.

Кмітливий – розумний – мудрий.

Emotional climax presents a row of synonyms which gradually increase the emotional tension of the utterance, e.g., I felt astonished, dumbfounded and overwhelmed (H.Wells). Emotional gradation is created by synonymic words with emotive meanings:

nice – lovely – beautiful – fair – magnificent; surprised – astonished – astounded – struck – petrified – killed (figuratively).

На серці в Гната ставало так погано, прикро, болісно.

Сонце пече, аж в'ялить.

Пилип так зажурився, аж скис.

Quantitative climax implies an increase in the volume, size or number of each succeeding concept, e.g., Hours, days, weeks, months of waiting…

There were hundreds of houses, thousands of stairs, innumerable kitchens.

Око бачить далеко, а розум ще далі.

Минають дні, роки, і вже століття засвідчують реалії буття.

Anticlimax represents a set of notions arranged in an ascending scale of significance to be suddenly broken at the highest point by the final notion as something opposite to what was expected. E.g., Early to bed and early to rise makes a male healthy, and wealthy and dead. Anticlimax is often used by humorists as it can express a sudden turn from serious to the ridiculous, and it may serve as the basis for paradoxes.

If John's eyes fill with tears, you may have no doubt: he has been eating raw onions.

Вовк – хижак, і хижак лютий, кровожадливий, проте боятися його нема чого.

Лезо небезпеки нависло над бідолашним і розрізало навпіл... Але не треба почувати відразу і втрачати свідомість, бачучи червоні краплі. Перев'язувальний матеріал нам не потрібний – це ж помідор.

Climax and anticlimax may be combined, like in the anecdote:

Yes, I came face to face with a lion once. To make things worse, I was alone and weaponless. First, I tried to hypnotize him looking straight into his eyeballs. But it was useless. He kept on crawling towards me. Then I thought of plunging my arm down his throat, grabbing him by the tail from the inside and turning him inside out, but it seemed too dangerous. And he kept on creeping towards me, growling in anticipation. I had to think fast. Meanwhile, the situation got more and more monotonous with every coming second. And you know how I escaped the situation. When I became bored enough with the lion's muzzle, I just left him and went to the other cages.

Zeugma is the use of a polysemantic word referring to two adjacent words in the context in different semantic relations. Zeugma consists of at least three constituents. The basic word of it stands in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to a couple of adjacent words. The basic word combined with the first adjacent word forms a phraseological word-combination. The same basic word combined with the second adjacent word forms a free word-combination. For example:

Freddy got out of bed and low spirits.

It is a kind of a play upon words as the word enters one combination in direct meaning and the other combination – in figurative meaning,

e.g., He paid him a visit and a fee. Шел дождь и два студента.

Zeugma is used to create a humoristic effect which is achieved by means of contradiction between the similarity of the two syntactic structures and their semantic heterogeneity. E.g.: Mary dropped a tear and her handkerchief.

George possessed two false teeth and a kind heart.

Dora plunged into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room.

Любить медалі один, а другий – мрію

Pun is a variant of zeugma, or vice versa. It is a stylistic device which is also based on the simultaneous realization of two meanings (primary and figurative) within the same context. The difference is structural: the word on which the effect is based is repeated, e.g., Did you hit a woman with a child? – No, sir, I hit her with a stick.

1. Play on words may be based upon polysemy and homonymy:

a) Visitor, to a little boy:

- Is your mother engaged?

- Engaged? She is already married;

b) A young lady, weeping softly into her mother's lap:

- My husband just can't bear children!

- He needn't bear children, my dear. You shouldn't expect too much of your husband.

2. Play on words may be based upon similarity of pronunciation:

John said to Pete at dinner: "Carry on". But Pete never ate carrion.

Хотів розвалитися у кріслі, а воно не витримало і розвалилося.

Ваше чадо – чудо, але не чудове, якраз навпаки.

The main stylistic function of both devices based on the interplay of primary and secondary meanings of a word is the achievement of humorous and satirical effect.