Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with Conjunctions

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Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with
Conjunctions
Omitting conjunctions asyndeton Multiplying
conjunctions polysyndeton Review A Review B
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
Writers put words together to create fast action
or slow motion.
In his play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare gives
these words to Mark Antony, to express Antonys
horror and grief at the sight of Caesars dead
body
and
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?

Usually the conjunction and would come before the
last item in a series.
Why did Shakespeare not use a conjunction?
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Omitting conjunctions coordinating conjunctions
A conjunction is a connecting word that links
words, phrases, or clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases,
and clauses of equal importance and include and,
but, or, yet, nor, for, and so.
WORDS
We could turn right or left.
Carl ran down the stairs and out the front door.
PHRASES
CLAUSES
No one was home, so I left a message.
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
To find out why a great writer makes a certain
choice, we need to ask . . .
How does the writers choice affect the reader?
In this case, Mark Antonys four
adjectives,without a conjunction to separate
them, create intensity and abundance.
Abundance
Intensity
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
The technique of omitting conjunctions in a
series is called asyndeton.
This term comes from an ancient Greek word that
means not together.
not
together
(noun)
a
syn
deton
The prefix a- means not or without, as in
amorphous, without shape.
The root -syn- means together or same, as in
synchronous, at the same time.
The ending -deton makes the word a noun.
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Omitting Conjunctions Asyndeton
Asyndeton speeds up the pace of the sentence
andadds emphasis, as in this example from
Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we
cannot consecrate, and we cannot hallow this
ground.
No conjunction
Conjunction
Notice how the pace would slow if we added and.
The sentence would also sound less intense.
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
Experiment with asyndeton by removing the
conjunctions from each sentence. How does the
pace, intensity, or meaning of the sentences
change as a result?
1. The candidate promised more jobs, higher
salaries, and lower taxes.
2. We could go to a movie, a museum, or the
library.
3. That experience left me frightened and
cautious but wiser.
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
Experiment with asyndeton by removing the
conjunctions from each sentence. How does the
pace, intensity, or meaning of the sentences
change as a result?
1. The candidate promised more jobs, higher
salaries, lower taxes.
Omitting the conjunction and mimics the intense
delivery of a political speech. Doing so also
broadens the scope of the candidates promises,
as if these are only three of many possibilities.
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
Experiment with asyndeton by removing the
conjunctions from each sentence. How does the
pace, intensity, or meaning of the sentences
change as a result?
2. We could go to a movie, a museum, the library.
Omitting the conjunction or adds abundance to the
sentence by suggesting that our choices are not
limited to these three activities.
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Omitting conjunctions asyndeton
Experiment with asyndeton by removing the
conjunctions from each sentence. How does the
pace, intensity, or meaning of the sentences
change as a result?
3. That experience left me frightened, cautious,
wiser.
Omitting the conjunctions and and but makes it
seem as if the writer is taking stock of his or
her experience. Without the conjunction but to
signal a contrast between the last item and the
first two, wiser comes as more of a surprise.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Sometimes writers create drama and add emphasis
by slowing down the pace.
Nature is so uncomfortable. Grass is hard and
lumpy and damp, and full of dreadful black
insects.
Nature is so uncomfortable. Grass is hard and
lumpy and damp, and full of dreadful black
insects.
Notice how Oscar Wilde accomplishes these
effectsby using several conjunctions in a series.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Using only one conjunction at the end would
takeaway the emphasis and speed up the pace.
Nature is so uncomfortable. Grass is hard, lumpy,
damp, and full of dreadful black insects.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
The technique of including conjunctions between
every item in a series is called polysyndeton.
This term, the opposite of asyndeton, means many
together in ancient Greek.
many
together
(noun)
poly
syn
deton
The prefix poly- means many, as in polygon, a
shape having many sides.
The second half of the word ,syndeton, means
together just as in asyndeton.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Polysyndeton adds emphasis by presenting each
item in a series separately.
In Shakespeares play Othello, Iago prods
Othellos jealousy about his wife until Othello
says passionately
If there be cords, or knives, Poison, or fire, or
suffocating streams, Ill not endure it.
(Othello, III, iii)
The repetition of or makes Othellos suffering
stand out.
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Adding conjunctions polysyndeton
Authors from Shakespeare to Hemingway use
polysyndeton to capture the rhythm of speech and
to have the reader focus on every detail.
How many coordinating conjunctions can you spot
in this passage from Charles Dickens Dombey and
Son?
There were frowzy fields, and cow-houses, and
dunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, and
gardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beating
grounds, at the very door of the Railway.
There were frowzy fields, and cow-houses, and
dunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, and
gardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beating
grounds, at the very door of the Railway.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Practice polysyndeton by repeating the
underlined conjunction between every item in each
series. How does multiplying conjunctions affect
the sentence?
1. There the settlers found disease, hunger, and
backbreaking work.
2. Outbursts, refusals, threats, or blackmail
could end the peace negotiations.
3. I washed dishes, vacuumed, did laundry,
dusted, and then took a nap.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Practice polysyndeton by repeating the
underlined conjunction between every item in each
series. How does multiplying conjunctions affect
the sentence?
1. There the settlers found disease and hunger
and backbreaking work.
Multiplying conjunctions emphasizes the hardships
that the settlers experienced.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Practice polysyndeton by repeating the
underlined conjunction between every item in each
series. How does multiplying conjunctions affect
the sentence?
2. Outbursts or refusals or threats or blackmail
could end the peace negotiations.
Repeating or adds force to the declaration and
implies that speaking angrily or being stubborn
is equivalent to more hostile behavior.
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Multiplying conjunctions polysyndeton
Practice polysyndeton by repeating the
underlined conjunction between every item in each
series. How does multiplying conjunctions affect
the sentence?
3. I washed dishes and vacuumed and did laundry
and dusted and then took a nap.
Separating each item with and emphasizes how much
work the speaker did and how exhausting it was.
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Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with
Conjunctions
On Your Own

• Rewrite the following sentences by either
  omitting or adding conjunctions. Use each
  strategy at least twice, and identify your
  revisions as either asyndeton (A) or polysyndeton
  (P).
• 1. Our picnic included wraps, drinks, pretzels,
  and fruit.
• 2. That sound could be an owl, a coyote, or the
  wind.
• 3. Planning, foresight, and dedication brought us
  here.
• 4. Left and right, up and down bobbed the kite.
• The new office building is economical,
  spacious, and energy-efficient but
  extraordinarily ugly.

End of Section
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Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with
Conjunctions
Possible Answers

• Rewrite the following sentences by either
  omitting or adding conjunctions. Use each
  strategy at least twice, and identify your
  revisions as either asyndeton (A) or polysyndeton
  (P).
• 1. Our picnic included wraps, drinks, pretzels,
  fruit.
• 2. That sound could be an owl or a coyote or the
  wind.
• 3. Planning and foresight and dedication brought
  us here.
• 4. Left, right, up, down bobbed the kite.
• The new office building is economical and
  spacious and energy efficient but extraordinarily
  ugly.

A
P
P
A
P
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Review A
Describe an exciting scene in a movie. Use
asyndeton in at least one sentence to create a
sense of fast action for the reader.
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Review A
Describe an exciting scene in a movie. Use
asyndeton in at least one sentence to create a
sense of fast action for the reader.
possible answer
Taking the golden idol from the temple gives the
adventurous archaeologist serious problems. He
braves spiders, narrowly avoids falling into a
pit, dodges poisonous darts, runs just ahead of a
giant rolling boulder. All of this mayhem is much
more exciting than spending hours in the dirt
patiently digging and brushing.
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Review B
Write a paragraph that describes a suspenseful
scene. Use polysyndeton in at least one sentence
to allow the reader to focus on individual items
in a series.
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Review B
Write a paragraph that describes a suspenseful
scene. Use polysyndeton in at least one sentence
to allow the reader to focus on individual items
in a series.
possible answer
In return for his freedom, the genie offered to
grant Sandra a single wish. Rather than offering
her a bonanza, though, the choice was paralyzing.
She knew that she wanted to help others, but what
was the best option? Should she cure a disease,
or end a war, or feed the hungry, or get rid of
pollution?
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The End