Stylistic semasiology

Suspense. It is a compositional device which consists in placing the less important subordinate parts at the beginning and withholding the main idea till the end of the sentence. The reader is kept waiting for an expected issue.
e.g. "Should you ask me
Whence these stories
Whence these legends and traditions
With the odours of the forest..."
("If..." by R. Kipling)
"I should answer, I should tell you. ("The song of Hiawatha" by Longfellow)
Sentences of this type are called "periods".

3.6 Revaluation of syntactical categories

Revaluation of syntactical categories means the use of certain syntactical categories or forms of their expression with their mean­ings transferred. Thus, a statement which is usually given the form of a declarative sentence may be expressed by means of interroga­tive sentence; several kinds of sentence patterns may express nega­tion, although they do not contain any grammatical devices of ne­gation (the negative particle or negative pronouns).
Rhetorical question is an affirmative or negative statement which only assumes the form of a question. The use of the inter­rogative form performs an expressive function since it implies di­rect appellation to the hearer's opinion. The speaker never doubts what kind of answer to his question can be expected, and the con-elusion is left with the hearer:
Is this belief from heaven be sent,
Is such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has done of man?
(Wordsworth)
The interrogative construction which semantically remains a statement is called a rhetorical question. Unlike an ordinary question the rhetorical one does not demand any information but serves to express the speaker's emotions and to call the listeners' attention. The interrogative intonation and/or punctuation draw the readers' (listeners') attention to the focus of the utterance:
e.g. What have I done to deslrve it?
Is the poor privilege to turn the key
Upon the captive, freedom?
(G. Byron)
Rhetorical, questions are often used in publicisitic style and oratory which lim at rousing of emotions.

4. Exercise