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

Epanorthosis

Techniques > Use of language > Figures of speech > Epanorthosis

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Epanorthosis is emphatic correction, mid-sentence, of what has just been said.

Example

I have had two...no, that's three...heart attacks.

Let me give you a gland--sorry--a hand.

The time is coming--actually it has already arrived!

Discussion

When a correction is made, it draws attention to the words, although it may also cause confusion and lose meaning.

A key part of epanorthosis is immediate correction, within the same sentence. Of course you can also use the correction to move off onto another topic.

Epanorthosis can also include the 'Freudian slip' where a person accidentally says what they are really thinking. Of course this may be deliberate even though it should always appear as accidental.

The immediate, in-sentence corrective form means that epanorthosis is very largely used in speech and is unlikely to be found in written text.

'Epanorthosis' comes from Greek meaning to 'set right again'.

Classification: Distortion, Attention