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Anacoluthon

An anacoluthon is a rhetorical device that can be loosely defined as a change of syntax within a sentence. More specifically, anacoluthons (or "anacoluthia") are created when a sentence abruptly changes from one structure to another.

Anacoluthon is often used in stream of consciousness writing, such as that of James Joyce, because it is characteristic of informal human thought.

Table of contents
1 Examples
2 Etymology
3 See also
4 External links

Examples

Etymology

The word 'anacoluthon' comes from the
Greek 'anakolouthon' which translates to "inconsistency in logic". This, in turn, is the result of the prefix an (not) combined with the root akolouthos (following).

See also

Anapodoton is a specific type of anacoluthon.

Anacoluthon is sometimes (wrongly) confused with anacoloutha.

External links

Silva Rhetoricae reference