English

Alternative forms

• anacolouthon

Noun

anacoluthon ‎(plural anacolutha or anacoluthons)

1. (grammar) A sentence or clause that is grammatically inconsistent, especially with respect to the type of clausal or phrasal complement for the initial clause.
   • 1835, Moses Stuart, A Treatise on the Syntax of the New Testament Dialect: With an Appendix, Containing a Dissertation on the Greek Article, Edinburgh: T. Clarke, OCLC 747776407, page 249:

     Another species of anacoluthon is when, after the sentence is begun with a participle, the construction passes over into a finite verb, where we should naturally expect the participial construction to be continued.

2. (rhetoric) Intentional use of such a structure.
   • 1874, James Boyd, Elements of English Composition, Grammatical, Rhetorical, Logical, and Practical; Prepared for Academies and Schools, New York: A.S. Barnes, OCLC 18937532, page 281:

     Anacoluthon, though a grammatical defect, is a rhetorical beauty, if naturally produced or imitated; as, "If thou art he—but oh! how fallen!"

Translations

Hyponyms

• anapodoton
• nominativus pendens

See also

• anacoluthon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• “anacoluthon” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.
• Silva Rhetoricae

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀνακόλουθον ‎(anakólouthon, “without sequence, anomalous [of inflections or grammatical constructions]”), from ἀ- ‎(a-, “not”) + ἀκόλουθος ‎(akólouthos, “following”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /a.na.koˈluː.tʰon/, [a.na.kɔˈɫuː.tʰõ]

Noun

anacolūthon n ‎(genitive anacolūthī); second declension

1. anacoluthon

Inflection

Second declension, Greek type.

References

• “anacoluthon” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.