The English language is nice at recycling phrases. For instance, take into consideration the verb “to lose.” One can lose a pair of automotive keys, lose a recreation, or lose one’s endurance. In all three situations the verb lose takes on a barely completely different which means, relying on what was misplaced. Zeugma is a rhetorical gadget that takes benefit of those ambiguities for literary impact.
In inventive writing, zeugma can create attention-grabbing juxtapositions, sudden connections, and moments of humor.
What’s a zeugma?
A zeugma is a rhetorical gadget through which a single phrase, typically a verb, governs two or extra phrases, though it might not grammatically or logically apply to each. For instance, contemplate this sentence:
The household journey was so hectic that by the tip Lola had misplaced her endurance and her automotive keys.
The phrase “misplaced her endurance and her automotive keys” is a zeugma. Dropping one’s endurance is a determine of speech, whereas shedding one’s automotive keys is a bodily act of misplacement. Sometimes these two phrases would seem in separate sentences. By smashing them collectively in a zeugma, the author provides the reader a way of Lola’s frantic journey.
When to make use of a zeugma
Zeugma is pronounced ZOOG-muh, with the primary syllable sounding just like the place that you simply’d go to unique animals. The plural of zeugma is zeugmas.
Now that you understand how to identify it and say it, when do you have to use it in your writing?
So as to add flourish: The unconventional use of a phrase may cause a reader to pause and contemplate the sentence extra rigorously. It may also be a refined present of your writing talent, since utilizing it requires understanding the principles and the pliability of the English language.
To create emphasis: By linking two concepts with one phrase, a zeugma can stress connections between them.
To lighten a scenario: Zeugmas are sometimes used for comedic impact. Oftentimes this works by contrasting a extremely conceptual or figurative phrase with a literal one. The starker the distinction, the extra impression the zeugma can have comedically.
As a result of zeugmas depend on uncommon—or awkward—phrasing, they need to be used sparingly. Zeugmas must be used to generate a selected impact, corresponding to drama or humor. They shouldn’t be relied on to chop down phrase counts or to make a sentence extra concise, though they do each of these issues.
For instance, take into consideration this sentence:
She left the groceries on the counter and her previous life behind her.
If the scene is supposed to explain the second a girl walked out on a damaged marriage, then the groceries on the counter have the impact of exhibiting how shortly all of it occurred—she didn’t even have time to unpack the groceries.
However, if the lady has been divorced for a few years and leaves the groceries on the counter whereas she goes out to stroll her canine, the 2 concepts don’t have sufficient connective tissue to make sense as a zeugma. On this case, the brevity of zeugma doesn’t have a helpful impact on the reader; it merely creates a complicated scenario.
Learn how to create a zeugma
So long as you realize what feeling you are attempting to convey to your reader, making a zeugma is a matter of enjoying round with phrases and ideas.
1
Take into consideration the impact or sensation you wish to describe.
2
Choose a single governing phrase out of your numerous phrases that may string two completely different concepts collectively.
3
Ensure that the verb or noun grammatically suits with solely one of many phrases or clauses. There must be a slight stress as a result of the verb doesn’t fairly match logically with each nouns.
4
Resolve which order you need your phrases to look in.
Usually, zeugmas are created by inserting the extra logical or easy phrase first and the extra nontypical or figurative phrase second.
After the lengthy argument, he was nonetheless on her sofa and her nerves.
The other order, with the extra figurative utilization first and the extra literal utilization second, creates a lighter, or extra humorous, impact.
After the lengthy argument, he was nonetheless on her nerves and her sofa.
The important thing precept is to yoke collectively two transient but vivid parts utilizing a single “incorrect” verb or noun for literary impact.
Zeugma vs. syllepsis
A syllepsis is a selected type of zeugma and can be utilized as a synonym for zeugma; a syllepsis is a determine of speech the place a phrase is utilized to 2 different phrases with completely different meanings, for instance: She caught the ball and a pointy look from the coach. A syllepsis can even imply when a phrase is used for 2 issues when grammatically it solely applies to 1, for instance: Neither he nor they have been dancing.
Zeugma examples
“They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; / They pursued it with forks and hope.”
—Lewis Carroll, The Searching of the Snark
“When she arrived later within the day, she took the purpose without delay, however she additionally took the spoons.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“They lined themselves with mud and glory.”
—Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
“[H]e was alternately cudgeling his brains and his donkey, when, passing the workhouse, his eyes encountered the invoice on the gate.”
—Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
“We have been companions, not soul mates, two separate individuals who occurred to be sharing a menu and a life.”
—Amy Tan, The Hundred Secret Senses
Zeugma FAQs
What’s a zeugma?
A zeugma is a rhetorical gadget that hyperlinks two phrases or phrases utilizing a phrase that matches grammatically or logically with just one.
How is zeugma pronounced?
Zeugma is pronounced ZOOG-muh, with the stress on the primary syllable.
How does it work?
A zeugma works through the use of a single verb or noun to manipulate two different components of a sentence, though it doesn’t really make sense with each. This slight stress causes the reader to pause and may create a concise second of drama or humor.
