Stylistic Grammar

Morphological expressive means in English

The stylistic potential of the morphology as a grammar level of the language is somewhat
restricted in comparison with that of the lexical level. It can be explained by the fact that
grammar structure is a main, organizing and unifying layer of the language. It is characterized by
stable and unchangeable systemic ties. Extra-linguistic factors, which give rise to stylistic
phenomena, are much less influential in the morphology than in the lexical system of the
language.
Expressive means on the morphological level are not as numerous, because to the
majority of morphological forms expressivity can hardly be attributed. However, there are some,
which alongside their ordinary grammatical function display a kind of emphasis and
therefore are referred to expressive means.
Observations on the distributional value of grammatical forms give sufficient evidence to
distinguish between their primary and secondary meanings, i.e between denotation and
connotation in grammar.
On the connotative level a grammatical from may take on special subjective meaning,
stylistically different from its primary denotative content:

 “We Americans agree, but may be not our Senate”

“That Senate of yours”, muttered Hubert.
 That dog of yours is spoiling the garden. I shouldn’t keep dog if I were you.
 Now, where had that child got to?

The context is always sufficiently explicit to reveal the emotive use of the partitive
genitive which in patterns with the demonstratives this or that may develop connotative
meanings denoting strong feelings on the part of the speaker (emotions, such as scorn, contempt,
indignation, etc).
Here are a few more examples to illustrate the fact that on the connotative level a
grammatical form may take on special subjective shades of meaning, stylistically different from
its primary denotative meaning:

 You are always coming late! (= You come late very often, perhaps too often, or more
often than normal).
  I’m regretting my decision to give her the job. (= I’m increasingly aware that it was the
wrong decision) With some verbs describing mental states (find, regret, realize, think,
and understand) we can use the present continuous to emphasize that we have recently
started to think about something or that we are not sure about something.
 Who’s been messing around with my papers? They are all over the place. We use the
pr.p.c when we draw a conclusion from what we can see, hear, etc. We often use this
form to complain or criticize
 You’ve been eating chocolate, haven’t you? There’s some on your shirt.
 They could at least have said they were sorry. Used for expressing annoyance.

Grammatical synonyms
The study of grammatical aspects of style is associated with the problem of synonyms.
The existence of synonymic forms of expression is a universal feature in all languages
and presents a chief point of linguistic interest in discussing the problems of usage and style in
any language. There exist in grammar such forms as coincide in their content but differ in
subtle shades of that content or in emotive value. These are grammatical synonyms.
The change in synonymous grammatical forms is often a change in style, and the effect
on the reader is quite different. Even a slight alteration in the grammatical device can subtly shift
the meaning of the utterance. For example,

 Did you ever hear of such a thing?

 Who did break it?
 Hasn’t she got long hair!
 I did see him coming out of the hotel. He did come. He does live.
 Don’t you forget! You don’t forget!
 He shall do it!

On the grammatical level expressive nuances may be obtained, for instance, through
different types of intensifiers, word-order or through the use of grammatical forms endowed
with a distinct expressive function and stylistic colouring.
It is necessary to note that not all grammatical forms are equally endowed with expressive
functions to be performed in different contexts. Some of them are less dynamic in their use,
while others possess quite a peculiar mobility and are particularly suitable for use in emotional
context with various subtle shades of expressive meaning.
Grammatical devices may differ greatly in their connotative power and stylistic aspect.
 Now we can turn to a brief review of expressive constructions in grammar:

Attributive genitives
Endowed with attributive functions attributive genitives are able to express more
complex and more subtle shades of meaning than ordinary adjectives do. They are forceful and
expressive denoting delight, admiration, scorn, anger.
Such structures are good evidence of the fact that quality in some cases can be
expressed more effectively by a noun than an adjective.

 a doll of a baby, a deuce of a journey, a deuce of a headache, a beast of a cold, a slip of a

boy, a slip of a thing, the deuce of a noise
 a hulking great brute of a man
 a brute of a problem
 In these days he felt how insufficient were his memories of Jolly, and what an amateur
of a father he had been.
 She’s just a slip of a thing but she can run faster than all of us.
 He was a shrimp of a boy, about six years old.

 a joyful look – a look of joy

 an energetic man – a man of energy
 very reputable writers – writers of great repute
 a valuable thing – a thing of great value
 дуже важлива справа – справа великого значення
 дуже розумна людина – людина великого розуму
 an actor’s actor (the best of all actors)
 lawyer’s lawyer
 a ballplayer’s ballplayer
 Mr Pickwick is kindness itself.
 You are patience itself.
 She’s all patience. You are all activity. He is all nerves.
 A special kind of affective grammatical idiom is found in patterns with the ing from
following the verb to go when the latter does not signify motion but is used idiomatically to
intensify the meaning of the notional verb.
Besides its ordinary use with reference to a future action, the Future Tense may denote
the activity essentially characteristic of the subject, very often with some disapproval or
reproach.
 He goes frightening people with his stories.
 Don’t go putting on any airs with me.
 Don’t listen to him! He’ll tell you incredible things. You’ll sit here for hours doing
nothing.
 Сидить і глазом не моргне. Мовчить і слова не скаже.
 He answered never a word. – Він так і не відповів.
 Bill never turned his head. – Він так і не обернувся.
 She never looked up, and never spoke. – Вона так і не глянула на нього, не сказала ні
слова.

Inversion, emphatic “Do”, “Does”

 Away you go with your advice!
 Ellen had wrung her hands and counseled delay, in order that Scarlett might think the
matter over at greater length. But to her pleadings, Scarlett turned a sullen face and a
deaf ear. Marry she would! And quickly, too. Within two weeks.
 Gladly would we now consent to the terms we once rejected.
 Bitterly did he complain about his rudeness.
 Talent Mr. Micawber has, capital Mr. Micawber has not
 Courage George II certainly had.
 Money he had none.
 Mine is a long and a sad tale.
 Ours is a totally different purpose.
 Well did I remember that day.
 Statements beginning with a negative word or phrase: hardly ever, neither, never, no
sooner…than, nor, not often, not once, not only…but also, nowhere, under no
circumstances, seldom, only then, scarcely.
 Never again did Max buy another motorcycle.
Not until next year will the new tax change take place.
Nowhere had the explorers been met with more hospitality than in this village.
Not often is a Rembrandt stolen.

Stylistic emphasis
 Nobody didn’t pass.
 I’m loving this film.
 “Serve him right”, said Sir Pitt; “him and his family has been cheating me on that farm
these hundred and fifty tears”.
 “I’m nothing to you – not so much as them slippers” – “Those slippers”
 “Curiouser and curiouser”, said Alice.
 When we was coming down I looked through one of them windows. I saw the other part
of the plane.
 And them little ‘uns was wandering about down there where the fire is.
 …you know damn well it’s the onliest way.
 Eisenhower was summoned to office when American politics had become excessively
cantankerous and his above-politics proved to be the winningest of all.