Aug 8, 2012

A Break in the Narration (Aposiopesis) + Represented Speech

A Break in the Narration (Aposiopesis) This device consists in a sudden stop in the middle of a sentence when the continuation is quite clear: 'Don't you do this, or... '(a threat); 'These are certainly good intentions, but...' (the continuation is clear from the well-known proverb that good intentions pave the way to Hell); Keith: My God! If the police come —find me here — (Galsworthy) Represented Speech
This is the case when the speech of a character in the work of fiction is represented without quotation marks, as if it were the author's speech: To horse! To horse! He quits, for ever quits A scene of peace, though soothing to his soul. (Byron) Old Jolion was on the alert at once. Wasn 't the "man of property "going to live in his new house, then ? (Galsworthy) Note that although represented speech resembles direct speech, it still preserves some features of indirect (reported) speech, such as the phenomenon of Sequence of Tenses, which is observed in the last example.