The Portuguese language is really beautiful! Our language is very rich and is certainly among the most beautiful and loudest languages in the world! In addition to being music for the ears, the Portuguese language presents several peculiarities, with elements that allow us to create an expressive language full of metaphors.
When we talk about metaphors, we soon remember the speech figures, what they mess up the meaning of words and play at giving them new interpretations. A reader less attentive to literary language can get lost amidst so many innovations, but an audacious reader joins in the fun and understands that not everything is what it seems to be. In addition to figures of speech, a resource related to semantics, there are also syntax pictures, which, as the name says, are related to the syntax of the Portuguese language.
But what are syntax figures and what are they for? Syntax figures exist to make text more expressive and are mainly found in literary texts. They promote a real "disorder" in the agreement, in the regency or in placement, but when used purposefully, they cannot be considered grammatical errors. Some writers use syntax figures masterfully because they know exactly how to subvert the grammar to give the sentences an unusual arrangement and quite different from those we are used to use.
To let you know the subject, the kids school brings you the main syntax figures that can make your reading much richer and more fun!
Syntax figures are an expressive feature of the language. They cause a real disorder in the concordance and ruling of sentences!
Examples of syntax figures:
Ellipse: The ellipse “hides” a word or expression that, despite not being expressed in the sentence, can be understood through its context.
Example: At the end of the party, glasses and plates on the table. (At the end of the party, glasses and plates stayed on the table.)
Zeugma: it is a type of ellipse that omits a term that has already been said in a sentence.
Example: Parents went to work, children to school. (Parents went to work, children were to school).
Asyndeton: it is a figure of syntax that omits coordinative conjunctions.
Example: The father tidied the room, the living room, the playroom, made lunch, played with the children. (The sentences are separated by commas, but they could be connected by the connective “and”).
Polysyndeton: Unlike the asyndeton, the polysyndeton repeats the connectives.
Example: “For two days my phone has not spoken, nor heard, nor did it ring, nor tug nor moan”. (Rubem Braga).
Pleonasm: it is the repetition of ideas to emphasize them.
Example: “Life is not worth the pain to be lived”. (Manuel Bandeira).
Silepsis: is also known as Ideological agreement. The agreement is not done according to the words that appear in the sentence, but rather with ideas or terms implied in it.
Example: Brazilians cry for the defeat of the team at the World Cup.
Hyperbate: it is responsible for changing the direct order of the terms of the clause.
Example: “The placid shores of a heroic people heard the resounding cry from Ipiranga”.
Anaphora: It is the repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of sentences or in consecutive verses.
Example: "It was such a high star! / It was such a cold star! / It was a star all alone / Shining at the end of the day." - Manuel Bandeira.
Take the opportunity to check out our video lesson related to the subject:
