Re: ot- I could hardly fail to disagree with you less.

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 03:00 PM 5/14/2007, Patricia M. Godfrey wrote:
> David Auerbach wrote:
> > By me, litotic constructions are not unfavored. (Points to those
> > who know the name of the construction just used.
> Did you intend anastrophe or hyperbaton? I cannot find definitions
> that clarify the distinction--if any--between them.
> (And to be perfectly honest, I had to rummage about in Fowler's
> Technical Terms entry to refresh my memory. But I couldn't resist a
> challenge like that.)
Shades of inversion. Hyperbation is the inversion of words to, as
Sheridan Baker explains, create "elegance." His example, "That the
lady will surely enjoy" or "Him the crowed adores." Anastrophe is the
inversion of ideas, as Huntington Brown explains in The Princeton
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. His example, with a twist by me,
paraphrasing Milton, Laughing to teach the truth, what harm in that?

Splitting hairs is that?
By the by, of all the grammar primers on my shelf, the most useful
for a teacher, and the most entertaining, is Baker (THE COMPLETE
STYLIST AND HANDBOOK, 3RD ED., Harper Collins 1984) Clear thinker,
excellent writer. His 10-page list of classic rhetorical devices is
wonderful and fun to read.

Whoever started this thread, thanks. It's been great.
Michael Norman