Definition and Examples of Hendiadys in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Hendiadys in Rhetoric Hendiadys (pronounced  hen-DEE-eh-dis)  is a  figure of speech in which two words joined by and express an idea that is more commonly expressed by an adjective and a noun. Adjective: hendiadic. Also known as the figure of twins and pseudo coordination. Critic Frank Kermode described hendiadys as a way of making a single idea strange by splitting an expression in two (​Shakespeares Language, 2000). William Shakespeare used hendiadys almost compulsively in several of his plays (J. Shapiro, 2005). More than 60 instances of the figure appear in Hamlet alone (e.g., a fashion and a toy in blood, the perfume and suppliance of a minute). Pronunciation   hen-DEE-eh-dis Alternate Spellings   endiadis, hendiasys Etymology From the Greek, one by means of  two Examples and Observations [Hendiadys  is the] expression of an idea by two nouns connected by and instead of a noun and its qualifier: by length of time and siege for by a long siege. Puttenham offers an example: Not you, coy dame, your lowers and your looks, for your lowering looks. Peacham, ignoring the derivation of the term, defines it as the substituting, for an adjective, of a substantive with the same meaning: a man of great wisdom for a wise man. This redefinition would make it a kind of anthimeria. (Richard Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms. University of California Press, 1991) Finally, my father said, Ill tell you what, Sharla. Just go and visit for a few hours; you dont have to spend the night, all right?†(Elizabeth Berg,  What We Keep. Random House, 1998)Penny waited until she knew her father had left the house before taking Kelly upstairs to give her a good wash and to  try and do  something to tidy her hair before taking her out.(Rosie Harris, Love or Duty. Severn House, 2014) The Hendiadic Formula We frequently join adjectives on the pattern of nice and warm, good and loud, big and fat, sick and tired, long and leggy. Each of these pairs represents a single concept in which the general idea contained in the first adjective is explained or specified or opened up by the second; and, insofar as such expressions may be continually invented, the pattern seems the closest thing to adjectival hendiadys in English. Formulaic phrases such as nice and and good and may be completed by virtually any adjective (or at least any pithy one) in the language. Being formulaic, however, they lack the elements of surprise, or improvisation, and of eccentric coordination that we find in classical hendiadys. (George T. Wright, Hendiadys and Hamlet. PMLA, March 1981) Rhetorical Effect of Hendiadys [H]endiadys has the effect of using language in order to slow down the rhythm of thought and perception, to break things down into more elementary units, and thereby to distort normative habits of thought and put them out of joint. Hendiadys is a kind of rhetorical double take, a disruptive slowing of the action so that, for example, we realize that the hatching of something is not identical with its disclosure (Hamlet 3.1.174), or that the expectation and rose of the fair state (Hamlet 3.1.152), rather than the merely expectant rose, define two distinctive aspects of Hamlets role as heir apparent. (Ned Lukacher, Time-Fetishes: The Secret History of Eternal Recurrence. Duke University Press, 1998) Pseudo-Coordination For present-day English, [Randolph] Quirk et al. [A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 1985] comment on the similarity between expressions like come and see, go to visit, try to do. They remark that the semantic relation is alternatively realized by coordinated clauses, especially in rather informal usage. Quirk et al. (1985:987-88) return to the topic of hendiadys under the heading of pseudo-coordination, noting that Ill try and come tomorrow is roughly equivalent to Ill try to come tomorrow, and that they sat and talked about the good old times is similar in meaning to they sat talking about the good old times. . . . [H]endiadic verbal expressions cover a spectrum that extends from core examples like go and, come and, come along and, come up and, stand there and, sit around and, try and to a plethora of occasional types such as take a chance and, plunge in and, wake up and, go to work and, roll up ones sleeves and, and very many others that could be characterized as hendiadic in a broader sense. (Paul Hopper, Hendiadys and Auxiliation in English. Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse, ed. by Joan L. Bybee and Michael Noonan. John Benjamins, 2002) The Lighter Side of Hendiadys Elwood: What kind of music do you usually have here? Claire: Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western. (Dan Aykroyd and Sheilah Wells in The Blues Brothers, 1980)

Using Se with Spanish Verbs To Express the English Passive Voice

Using 'Se' with Spanish Verbs To Express the English Passive Voice If youre new to learning Spanish, you might easily be confused by some of the signs you see in a Spanish-speaking area: SE VENDEN ORO Y PLATASE SIRVE DESAYUNOSE ALQUILA Translate the words the best you can, or type them into a portable translating device, and you very well could end up with translations such as these: Gold and silver sell themselves. Breakfast serves itself. It rents itself. Se Used for Type of Passive Voice Obviously, those literal translations dont make much sense. But once you become familiar with the language, you realize that such usages of se and verbs are quite common and are used to indicate objects being acted upon without stating who or what is doing the action. That explanation might be a mouthful, but we do the same thing in English, only in a different way. For example, take a sentence such as The car was sold. Who did the selling? Out of context, we dont know. Or consider a sentence such as The key was lost. Who lost the key? Well, we probably know, but not from that sentence! In English, we call such verb usages the passive voice. It is the opposite of the active voice, which would be used in sentences such as John sold the car or I lost the shoe. In those sentences we are told who is performing the action. But in the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted upon by someone (or something) rather than being the one performing the action. Spanish does have a true passive voice corresponding to the English one: El coche fue vendido (The car was sold) and el zapato fue perdido (the shoe was lost) are two examples, but it isnt used nearly as much as in English. Much more common is use of the third-person reflexive verb form, which uses the pronoun se. (Dont confuse se with sà ©, which means I know or sometimes you be as a command.) Rather than saying that something is done to something, Spanish speakers have the object doing it to itself. Se Passive Shouldn't Be Translated Literally Thus, se venden oro y plata, although translated literally would mean gold and silver sell themselves, can be understood to mean gold and silver are sold or even gold and silver for sale, neither of which specify who is doing the selling. Se sirve desayuno means breakfast is served. And se alquila, which might be seen as a sign on a building or object, means simply for rent. Keep in mind that the grammatical function of such reflexive verb forms is to avoid stating who or what is performing the action, or simply to recognize that the performer of the action isnt important. And there are ways of doing that in English other than using the passive voice. As an example, look at the following sentence in Spanish: Se dice que never. Literally, such a sentence would mean it says itself that it will snow, which doesnt make sense. Using a passive construction, we might translate this sentence as it is said that it will snow, which is perfectly understandable. But a more natural way of translating this sentence, at least in informal usage, would be they say it will snow. They here doesnt refer to specific people. Other sentences can be translated similarly. Se venden zapatos en el mercado, they sell shoes in the market (or, shoes are sold in the market).  ¿Se comen mariscos en Uruguay? Do they eat seafood in Uruguay? Or, is seafood eaten in Uruguay? Sometimes in English we also use one or an impersonal you where a Spanish speaker might use a se construction. For example, se puede encontrar zapatos en el marcado. A translation in passive form would be shoes can be found in the market. But we could also say one can find shoes in the market or even you can find shoes in the market. Or, se tiene que beber mucha agua en el desierto could be translated as one has to drink a lot of water in the desert or you have to drink a lot of water in the desert. The you in such cases doesnt mean the person being spoken to, but rather it refers to people in general. It is important to keep such meanings of English sentences in mind when translating to Spanish. You might be misunderstood if you were to use the Spanish pronoun usted to translate you in the above sentences. (It is possible to use usted or tà º to mean a kind of impersonal you as in the English sentence, but such usage is less common in Spanish than English.) Key Takeaways Reflexive verbs using se are often used to form a type of passive voice, which avoids saying directly who or what is performing the verbs action.This usage should not be translated literally to English, as that would result in phrases such as it sells itself or it lost itself.Spanish has a true passive voice that uses the form ser past participle, but it is used much less often than the English equivalent.