Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An abrupt change within a sentence to a second construction inconsistent with the first, sometimes used for rhetorical effect; for example, I warned him that if he continues to drink, what will become of him?
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In grammar and rhetoric, an instance of anacoluthia; a construction characterized by a want of grammatical sequence. For example: “And he charged him to tell no man: but go and shew thyself to the priest.” Luke v. 14. “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” Mat. xv. 4. As a figure of speech it has propriety and force only so far as it suggests that the emotion of the speaker is so great as to make him forget how he began his sentence, as in the following examples:
- n. Also spelled anakoluthon and anakolouthon.
Wiktionary
- n. A sentence or clause that is grammatically inconsistent, especially with respect to the type of clausal or phrasal complement for the initial clause.
- n. Intentional use of such a structure.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A lack of grammatical sequence or coherence in a sentence; an instance of a change of construction in a sentence so that the latter part does not syntactically correspond with the first part.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an abrupt change within a sentence from one syntactic structure to another
Etymologies
- Late Latin, from Late Greek anakolouthon, inconsistency in logic, from Greek, neuter of anakolouthos, inconsistent : an-, not; see a-1 + akolouthos, following (a-, together; see sem-1 in Indo-European roots + keleuthos, path).
Examples
“She employed, not from any refinement of style, but in order to correct her imprudences, abrupt breaches of syntax not unlike that figure which the grammarians call anacoluthon or some such name.”
“We've talked about anacoluthon before, in this blog, and here's another instance.”
“What we have is technically described as an anacoluthon, defined eg by the OED as 'a construction lacking grammatical sequence'.”
“You can have cases of anacoluthon which retain the entire semantic content of the target sentences because only grammatical elements have been affected.”
“So, Mr. Crystal, basically speaking, anacoluthon is not a deviation from the norm - it's more like the omition of the bulky content of the sentence, which is understandable from the context, something like subtle implication.”
“There are usual several ways of resolving an anacoluthon, and yours is another - but there'd have to be a semi-colon or something beforehand, to avoid a reading miscue.”
“Now you point it out, it does read like the sort of rethink that would go on in speech I've talked about this before on the blog, in relation to anacoluthon.”
“If you want to put it in terms of deviations and norms, then anacoluthon is more like the deviant conflation of two syntactic norms, or the interference of one syntactic norm by another.”
“Presupposition doesn't enter into the definition of anacoluthon.”
“When writing in this way he is in fact often using grammatical-rhetorical figures which can easily look like mere carelessness to an untutored eye but which receive high literary sanction from classical sources and are employed by him artfully (e.g. anacoluthon).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anacoluthon’.
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Rhetorical Devices
syllepsis, zeugma, trope, wellerism, anastrophe, anaphora, apostrophe, metonymy, chiasmus, antimetabole, syncope, open-list and 431 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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for school!
squally, monetization, honorificabilitud..., hornswoggle, collywobbles, slangwhanger, filibuster, cliona, beknow, gallimaufry, sylvan, aide-de-camp and 31 more...
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tropic topics
tropical topicals
subtropic, phototropic, hypermetropic, geotropic, eolotropic, pleiotropic, inotropic, adrenocorticotropic, coptic tropic, apogeotropic, allotropic, orthotropic and 76 more...
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Metawords
Talking about talking, writing about writing, etc.
epizeuxis, tautological, aptote, bibliophagist, parataxis, scriptorium, aposiopesis, variorum, chantefable, boustrophedon, psellism, adoxography and 20 more...
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Incorrectum
Mistakes, Errors and Accidents.
nihilartikel, solecism, bevue, corrigendum, acyrology, cacoepy, fido, hamartithia, jeofail, mésalliance, mumpsimus, pseudochronism and 63 more...
jmjarmstrong JM wants to be a skilled anacoluthon practitioner so that all the world shall -- I will do such things,what they are, yet I know not. May 26, 2010
cryptofascistbbq Had ye been there — for what could that have done? (John Milton in Lycidas) Aug 4, 2009