ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THEME 12.

Inversion. The structure of questions as we know is characterized by the grammatically inverted word order. If direct word order is re-established in questions, we can speak of secondary inversion (i. e. inversion of inversion). Thus, inverted questions (i. e. questions with direct word order) beyond conveying the tone and manner of the speaker also, due to the changed structure, acquire the connotation meaning of the questioner's awareness of the possible nature of the expected answer.

Antithesis is the basic idea of yin and yang. Hell is the antithesis of Heaven; disorder is the antithesis of order. It is the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, usually in a balanced way.

In rhetoric, it is a figure of speech involving the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences, within a parallel grammatical structure, as in the familiar phrase “Man proposes, God disposes” is an example of antithesis, as is John Dryden's description in “The Hind and the Panther”: “Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell.”

In grammatical usage, antithesis is often expressed by means of an antonym, such as high - low, to shout - to whisper, lightness - heaviness, etc; but the force of the antithesis is increased if the words on which the beat of the contrast falls are alliterative, or otherwise similar in sound, as: "The fairest but the falsest of her sex."

Among English writers who have made the most abundant use of antithesis are Pope, Young, Johnson, and Gibbon; and especially Lyly. It is, however, a much more common feature in French than in English; while in German, with some striking exceptions, it is conspicuous by its absence.

Gradation (Climax) A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical, emotional and quantitative.

Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts from the point of view of the concepts embodied in them. It goes from things of miner importance to things of more value in a text. The relative importance may be evaluated both objectively and subjectively, the author’s attitude towards the objects in question being disclosed.

Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced by words with emotive meaning, as in the example (‘lovely’, ‘beautiful’, ‘fair’).

Quantitative climax is an evident increase in the volume (number, measure, time, etc.) of the corresponding concepts, e.g.: “Little by little, bit by bit, day by day, year after year he got the worst of some disputed question” (Ch. Dickens).