Why is hyperbaton used?

1 Answer
Sep 30, 2016

hyperbaton is used (mainly) as a method of emphasis

Explanation:

Hyperbaton is the inversion of the normal syntactical word order in a sentence. For an example:
#color(white)("XXX")color(red)("Waldo"),color(blue)( " the detective") color(green)(" decided"),color(red)(" was an unlikely victim of suicide").#
or
#color(white)("XXX")color(red)("Waldo was an unlikely victim of suicide"), color(blue)(" the detective") color(green)(" decided")#.

Compare this to the "normal" syntactic order:
#color(white)("XXX")color(blue)("The detective")color(green)(" decided")color(red)(" Waldo was an unlikely victim of suicide")#.

and see how the focus of the sentence changes.

Warning: While hyperbaton can be an effective tool, it is effective because it is jarring and quickly become tiresome if overused.