Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with
Conjunctions
Omitting conjunctions: asyndeton
Multiplying conjunctions: polysyndeton
Review A
Review B
Omitting conjunctions: asyndeton
Writers put words together to create
fast action or slow motion.
In his play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
gives these words to Mark Antony, to
express Antony’s horror and grief at
the sight of Caesar’s dead body:
and
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs,
spoils,
^
Shrunk to this little measure?
Usually the conjunction and would come before the
last item in a series.
Why did Shakespeare not use a conjunction?
Omitting conjunctions: asyndeton
To find out why a great writer makes a certain
choice, we need to ask . . .
How does the writer’s choice
affect the reader?
In this case, Mark Antony’s four adjectives,
without a conjunction to separate them,
create intensity and abundance.
Intensity
Abundance
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?
Omitting conjunctions: asyndeton
The technique of omitting conjunctions in a series
is called asyndeton.
This term comes from an ancient Greek word that
means “not together.”
not
together
(noun)
a
syn
deton
The prefix a- means “not” or “without,” as in
amorphous, “without shape.”
The root -syn- means “together” or “same,” as in
synchronous, “at the same time.”
The ending -deton makes the word a noun.
Omitting Conjunctions: Asyndeton
Asyndeton speeds up the pace of the sentence and
adds emphasis, as in this example from Abraham
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
But,
But,
in in
a larger
a larger
sense,
sense,
wewe
cannot
cannot
dedicate,
dedicate,
wewe
cannot
cannot
consecrate,
consecrate,
and
wewe
cannot
cannot
hallow
hallow
this
this
ground.
ground.
Conjunction
No
conjunction
Notice how the pace would slow if we
added and. The sentence would also
sound less intense.
Multiplying conjunctions: polysyndeton
Sometimes writers create drama and add emphasis
by slowing down the pace.
Nature
Nature is
is so
so uncomfortable.
uncomfortable. Grass
Grass is
is hard
hard and
and
lumpy
lumpy and
and damp,
damp, and
andfull
fullof
ofdreadful
dreadfulblack
blackinsects.
insects.
Notice how Oscar Wilde
accomplishes these effects
by using several
conjunctions in a series.
Multiplying conjunctions: polysyndeton
Using only one conjunction
at the end would take
away the emphasis and
speed up the pace.
Nature is so uncomfortable. Grass is hard, lumpy,
damp, and full of dreadful black insects.
Multiplying conjunctions: polysyndeton
The technique of including conjunctions between
every item in a series is called polysyndeton.
This term, the opposite of asyndeton, means
“many together” in ancient Greek.
many together
poly
syn
(noun)
deton
The prefix poly- means “many,” as in polygon, a
shape having “many sides.”
The second half of the word ,–syndeton, means
“together” just as in asyndeton.
Multiplying conjunctions: polysyndeton
Polysyndeton adds emphasis by presenting
each item in a series separately.
In Shakespeare’s play Othello, Iago prods
Othello’s jealousy about his wife until
Othello says passionately:
If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,
I’ll not endure it.” (Othello, III, iii)
The repetition of or makes Othello’s suffering
stand out.
Adding conjunctions: polysyndeton
Authors from Shakespeare to Hemingway use
polysyndeton to capture the rhythm of speech
and to have the reader focus on every detail.
How many coordinating conjunctions can you
spot in this passage from Charles Dickens’
Dombey and Son?
There were frowzy fields, and
cow-houses, and
anddunghills,
dunghills,
and cow-houses,
and
dustheaps, and
andditches,
ditches,and
andgardens,
gardens,and
and
summerand dustheaps,
summerhouses, and
carpet-beating grounds,
grounds, at
at the
the very
very door
door of
of the
the
and carpet-beating
Railway.
7
Controlling Pace and Creating Drama with
Conjunctions
On Your Own
Rewrite the following sentences by either omitting or adding
conjunctions. Use each strategy at least twice, and identify
your revisions as either asyndeton (A) or polysyndeton (P).
1. Our picnic included wraps, drinks, pretzels, and fruit.
2. That sound could be an owl, a coyote, or the wind.
3. Planning, foresight, and dedication brought us here.
4. Left and right, up and down bobbed the kite.
5. The new office building is economical, spacious, and
energy-efficient but extraordinarily ugly.
[End of Section]
Review A
Describe an exciting scene in a movie. Use
asyndeton in at least one sentence to create a
sense of fast action for the reader.
Review B
Write a paragraph that describes a suspenseful scene.
Use polysyndeton in at least one sentence to allow the
reader to focus on individual items in a series.
The End