A summary of the story “A Friend in Need”.

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3. Apokoinu construction is characteristic of irregular oral speech, presents a blend of two clauses into one, which is achieved at the expense of the omission of the connecting word and the double syntactical function acquired by the unit occupying the linking position between both former clauses. e.g. I am the first one saw he – is the blend of the complex sentence I am the first one who saw her. Due to its contraction to the apokoinu construction syntactical functions of the first one – predicative of the first clause and who – subject of the second one – are both attributed to the first one which becomes the syntactical centre of the newly coined sentence. The main stylistic function of that device is to emphasize the irregular, careless or uneducated character of the speech of personages.

 Inversion is an independent SD in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate (predicative) precedes the subject; or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair..

 e.g. My account you can trust (J.Barnes).

1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

A rhetorical question  is a figure of speech where the question is asked just for effect, or to lay emphasis on some point being discussed, when no real answer is expected. A rhetorical question may have an obvious answer, but the questioner asks it to lay emphasis to the point. In literature, a rhetorical question is self-evident, and used for style as an impressive persuasive device.

Broadly speaking, a rhetorical question is asked when the questioner himself knows the answer already, or an answer is not actually demanded. So, an answer is not expected from the audience. Such a question is used to emphasize a point or draw the audience’s attention.

Common Rhetorical Question Examples

Rhetorical questions, though almost needless or meaningless, seem a basic need of daily language. Some common examples of rhetorical questions from daily life are as follows:

·                     “Who knows?”

Suspense (retardation) Suspense (retardation) is a deliberate delay in the completion of the expressed thought. A suspense is achieved by a repeated occurrence of phrases or clauses expressing conditions, supposition, time and the like all of which hold back the conclusion of the utterance:

Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw.

Ellipsis is a syntactical SD, a figure of speech based on the principle of a deliberate omission of at least one member of the sentence. It is characteristic of oral speech and is not considered a stylistic device in oral communication. But it assumes a new quality in the written language. It becomes a stylistic device because in this case it supplies additional information. Consider the following example: "I'll go, Doll! I'll go!" This from Bead, large eyes larger than usual behind the horn-rimmed glasses. (J.)

Ellipsis leads to the emergence of the so-called apokoinu construction in which the omission of the pronominal (adverbial) connective creates a blend of the main and the subordinate clauses. E.g. There was a door led into the kitchen. (Sh. A.)

I bring him news will raise his drooping spirits. (Jespersen)