Schemes of Omission & Addition
Figures that achieve effect by deliberately leaving out or adding connectives and grammatical elements.
5 figures across 2 subcategories
Syntactic Omission
Omission of expected grammatical elements from a sentence.
A_B, _B — omitted but understood element
Deliberate omission of a word or words that are implied by context, creating a compact expression.
A, B, C — no conjunctions between items
Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses to create a rapid, urgent effect.
Maximally compressed expression
Extreme brevity of speech; omitting virtually all dispensable words to produce a terse, compressed style.
V(A, B) — one word yoked to serve two objects differently
Use of a single word (usually a verb) to govern or modify two or more words in different ways, often with one use being figurative.
Syntactic Addition
Deliberate addition of connectives beyond what is grammatically necessary.
A and B and C and D — conjunction before every item
Deliberate use of many conjunctions in close succession, where they might normally be omitted, to slow the pace and add gravity or weight to each item.