collocates with two or more other words in different meanings—with some it is literal meaning, with others it is figurative meaning. ❖ 1) He lost his coat and his temper. ❖ 2) Yesterday, he had a blue heart and coat. ❖ 3) She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. ❖ 4) They sell clothes that fit figures and times.
❖ Climax is widely employed by speakers and writers. In persuasive speech or writing, it is extremely effective in stirring up feelings and emotions:
❖ 1) We often joked about his passionate love for his daughter, his cat and his ashtray.
❖ 2) Where shall I find hope, happiness, friends, cigarettes?
or sentences in ascending order of importance. ❖ Ideas arranged in such a way develop gradually,
like climbing a ladder, each idea outweighing the preceding one until reaching the summit. ❖ 彼采葛兮，一日不见，如三月兮。 ❖ 彼采萧兮，一日不见，如三秋兮。 ❖ 彼采艾兮，一日不见，如三岁兮。—《诗经》
❖ 1) It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is a crime; to put him to death is almost parricide. (Cicero)
❖ 2) We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
nor humor, but emphasis, e.g. ❖ For God, for America, and for Yale. ❖ Religion, credit and the eye are not to be
touched. (proverb)
9.3 Syllepsis一语双叙
❖ In Greek, “taking together” ❖ It is a way of using words in which one word
❖ I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American. (with simploce)
❖ Having power makes totalitarian leadership isolated; isolation breeds insecurity; insecurity breeds suspicion and fear; suspicion and fear breed violence. (with anadiplosis)
❖ The bomb co the new cinema, several dozen houses and my dustbin.
❖ “a sudden drop from the dignified or important thought or expression to the commonplace or trivial, sometimes for humorous effect” (Webster’s New World Dictionary);
❖ A climax usually consists of three or more parts
and is used together with other figures of speech.
❖ I came, I saw, I conquered. (with anaphora.)
❖ Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. (with parallelism)
9.2 Anticlimax 渐降/层降
❖ Anticlimax involves stating one’s thought in a descending order of significance or intensity from strong to weak, from weighty to light , from the sublime to the ridiculous.
❖ 3) He lost his empire, his family and his fountain pen.
❖ Anticlimax sometimes needs only two steps of descends, e.g.
❖ -- O dear! O dear! What shall I do? ❖ I have lost my beau and lipstick too. ❖ Sometimes, it is not to create satire nor ridicule
Chapter 9 Syntactic Figures of Speech
(II)
9.1 Climax 渐升/层进/递进法
❖ Climax comes from Greek meaning “ladder.” ❖ It is the arrangement of words, phrases, clauses