Lecture 4 Lexico-synatctical stylistic devices

Logical gradation
is based on the use of a successive unit which is stronger 
than the preceding one from the point of view of its meaning.
“Threaten him, imprison him, torture him, kill him, you will not induce him to 
betray his country.”
(Peter Abrahams)
 
The word 
“kill”
is the strongest in meaning among all these contextual synonyms. 
Emotional gradation
is based on the relative emotional tension produced by 
words of emotional meaning. 
“He was in love, and if in love then not just a little in love, but terribly,desperately, 
and needfully in love.”
(Iris Murdoch)
 
Quantitative gradation
is based on the use of hyperbole or numerals.
1. 
“Farmer’s wives had strength, endurance and energy of locomotives and the 
appetites of dinosaurs…”
(Betty MacDonald)
 
 2. “They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they 
inspected innumerable kitchens”.
(Somerset Maugham)
 
Function of climax. As a stylistic device climax is used to render balance and 
brevity to speech or writing. Being properly employed, it qualifies itself as a 
powerful tool that can instantly capture the undivided attention of listeners and 
readers alike. Hence, its importance cannot be underestimated. The main stylistic 
function of climax is to show the significance of the things described and to show 
the dynamic development of the same process. 
Bathos (Anticlimax)
comes from a Greek word 
bathos
which means ‘depth’.
Climax suddenly interrupted by an unexpected turn of the thought which defeats 
expectations of the reader (listener) and ends in complete semantic reversal of the 
emphasized idea, is called bathos (anticlimax).To stress the abruptness of the change 
emphatic punctuation (dash, most often) is used between the ascending and the 
descending parts of the anticlimax. Quite a few paradoxes are closely connected with 
anticlimax. 
“Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything 
except the obvious.”
(Oscar Wilde)
 
“This was appalling - and soon forgotten.”
(John Galsworthy) 

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Functions of Bathos. Bathos is a device, which if used skillfully, can really 
build up a nice comic scene. Bathos brings a certain degree of wit to a scene by 
highlighting the contrast in tone. Initially, it is used to create a serious and powerful 
dramatic situation, but suddenly the serious becomes comic. In this way the utterance 
becomes more emphatic.
Key words: 
Simile, Periphrasis, Euphemism, Antithesis, Litotes, Climax, Anticlimax. 
Questions: 
1.
What are the peculiarities of semantic-syntactical SDs? 
2.
What is simile?
3.
What is stylistic periphrasis?
4.
What is the main feature of antithesis?
5.
What is litotes?
6.
What are the ways of increasing the significance?
Speak on logical, emotional and quantitative gradation. 
7.
What in anticlimax? Give examples.