How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Anacoloutha

Techniques > Use of language > Figures of speech > Anacoloutha

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Substitution of nonreciprocal words, where one word may be substituted for another, but the second word could not be substituted back in the original context.

Example

1: She opened her thoughts to him.
2: She opened her heart to him.

Heart is used as a substitute for thoughts. You could not substitute thoughts for heart, though.

Discussion

This often works when one word is a higher form of another word. Thus 'human' is higher level than 'John', so where John is used 'human' could be used, but not vice versa. As in the example above, metaphor is often used.

Anacolutha is the opposite of Acoloutha, which is the substitution of reciprocal words.

Acolutha comes from the Greek word 'acolouthos', meaning 'following, attending upon'. 'Ana' reverses this form.

Category: Substitution