Is there a term for a *non-verb* word/phrase that connects multiple parts of a sentence? Examples: "Get milk and eggs from Costco." ("[F]rom Costco" applies to both the milk and the eggs.) "Eat the caramel or buttered popcorn." ("[P]opcorn" is modified by either caramel or buttered.) Notice how both example sentences would have their meaning changed by the addition of a comma. "Get milk, and eggs from Costco." "Eat the caramel, or buttered popcorn." How would you describe this grammatical phenomenon?
It seems like there would be...but a specific term isn't coming to mind right away. For the first example (for example), I would probably just describe it as a compound noun phrase that's the object of the verb "get" with "from Costco" as a prepositional modifier. Not as glamorous--but it does the job😅
So, in a nutshell, Syllepsis is a subset of Zeugma. ----------------------------------------------------------- And, with her, so died all of her dreams. ----------------------------------------------------------- To my eye, that would be an example of a syllepsis. And yet it may not be if we assume that dreams physically die with the person dying... which would also require the assumption that dreams are physical beings having a life cycle... or that the person dying *is* the dream. In either case, that sentence is a zeugma, a hypozeugma, specifically. This is the first I've heard of either of these terms, so may be off base. Did I get 'em right? Wrong?
I think you've got the right idea--this one's tricky because we can ask questions about whether dreams die in the same way as people. The basic idea here is that the verb governs multiple nouns--but syllepsis requires the verb to mean different things to work for both (like how a person and car both "run"). So, yes, if we have two distinct meanings of "dream," we could call it syllepsis.
This video seems to associate zeugma with style and charm - hence the coinage “zeugmagical”. But on the definition of zeugma offered here, zeugma can be quite dull. “Jack and Jill went home” is I think an instance of hypozeugma. But I am not sure why anyone would think this sentence exhibits an ornament of language.
Great thoughts, it might come down to the difficulty of teaching ornament while also needing a useful, structural definition for the ornaments. In the same way that dead metaphors are still metaphors (even if they're boring and uninspired), more mundane zeugma is still, structurally, zeugma. The real trick is in learning the structures and then doing inventive things with them
I think we simply disagree on this one. I believe that if the Jack and Jill sentence involves zeugma, then zeugma is not an ornament, not a figure of speech. Incidentally, what you present as an instance of regular style possibly involves isocolon - which is often thought of as a figure of speech.
@@MrAlexsegal A blood feud it is! In all seriousness, zeugma is a slippery character (Lanham has pointed out seven different ways the word has been understood over time), but ellipsis and parallelism are often regarded as key elements of zeugma. Whether something counts as ornamental, though, is an even slipperier hill and one I'm not ready to die on
Apologies for the tone of my previous comments. It arose out of my own failure to provide my students with a coherent account of the matters your videos treat. I was a source of confusion.
@@MrAlexsegal Oh, no worries--forgive my hyperbole! These terms aren't exactly in vogue, so it's cool to hear that you're teaching them (shifting definitions and confusing histories aside)!
I like your selection of topic, your style of explanation and your hardship behind it all ! (Have I used Zeugma correctly? :) )
You have--nicely done! (And thanks!)
Is there a term for a *non-verb* word/phrase that connects multiple parts of a sentence? Examples: "Get milk and eggs from Costco." ("[F]rom Costco" applies to both the milk and the eggs.) "Eat the caramel or buttered popcorn." ("[P]opcorn" is modified by either caramel or buttered.) Notice how both example sentences would have their meaning changed by the addition of a comma. "Get milk, and eggs from Costco." "Eat the caramel, or buttered popcorn." How would you describe this grammatical phenomenon?
It seems like there would be...but a specific term isn't coming to mind right away. For the first example (for example), I would probably just describe it as a compound noun phrase that's the object of the verb "get" with "from Costco" as a prepositional modifier. Not as glamorous--but it does the job😅
So, in a nutshell, Syllepsis is a subset of Zeugma.
-----------------------------------------------------------
And, with her, so died all of her dreams.
-----------------------------------------------------------
To my eye, that would be an example of a syllepsis. And yet it may not be if we assume that dreams physically die with the person dying... which would also require the assumption that dreams are physical beings having a life cycle... or that the person dying *is* the dream. In either case, that sentence is a zeugma, a hypozeugma, specifically.
This is the first I've heard of either of these terms, so may be off base. Did I get 'em right? Wrong?
I think you've got the right idea--this one's tricky because we can ask questions about whether dreams die in the same way as people. The basic idea here is that the verb governs multiple nouns--but syllepsis requires the verb to mean different things to work for both (like how a person and car both "run"). So, yes, if we have two distinct meanings of "dream," we could call it syllepsis.
This video seems to associate zeugma with style and charm - hence the coinage “zeugmagical”. But on the definition of zeugma offered here, zeugma can be quite dull. “Jack and Jill went home” is I think an instance of hypozeugma. But I am not sure why anyone would think this sentence exhibits an ornament of language.
Great thoughts, it might come down to the difficulty of teaching ornament while also needing a useful, structural definition for the ornaments. In the same way that dead metaphors are still metaphors (even if they're boring and uninspired), more mundane zeugma is still, structurally, zeugma. The real trick is in learning the structures and then doing inventive things with them
I think we simply disagree on this one. I believe that if the Jack and Jill sentence involves zeugma, then zeugma is not an ornament, not a figure of speech.
Incidentally, what you present as an instance of regular style possibly involves isocolon - which is often thought of as a figure of speech.
@@MrAlexsegal A blood feud it is! In all seriousness, zeugma is a slippery character (Lanham has pointed out seven different ways the word has been understood over time), but ellipsis and parallelism are often regarded as key elements of zeugma. Whether something counts as ornamental, though, is an even slipperier hill and one I'm not ready to die on
Apologies for the tone of my previous comments. It arose out of my own failure to provide my students with a coherent account of the matters your videos treat. I was a source of confusion.
@@MrAlexsegal Oh, no worries--forgive my hyperbole! These terms aren't exactly in vogue, so it's cool to hear that you're teaching them (shifting definitions and confusing histories aside)!
You yap alot
Oh...but explaining the joke takes so much of the fun out of it...