What is the name of the rhetoric device for the use of a one word sentence?

Question

I'm doing a study of the collector, how would I describe the use of this quote...

"Power. Its become so real."

The use of power as a one-word sentence for emphasis, what technique or device is that?

I was going to say diction or syntax? I'm not sure that is right.

Thank you

Does this answer your question? Verbless sentence A fragment that (as here) 'works' because of licensing verbal context is called a 'sentence fragment' or 'crot'. — Edwin Ashworth, Jun 24 '20 at 11:36
I would describe it as incorrectly punctuated. "its" is wrong in this context. "It's"" is an abbreviation of "It is" or "It has", therefore it requires an apostrophe. You must say, "Power. It has become so real." or "Power. It's become so real." — chasly - supports Monica, Jun 24 '20 at 11:58

chasly - supports Monica · Answer 1 · 2020-06-24T12:44:40.777

As you indicate, It is a rhetorical device (did you edit your title or am I going slightly mad? ;-)

In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, using language designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device

The ancient Greeks were very fond of these and there is a whole catalog of formally-defined ones.

At a quick glance I couldn't find the one you use but (as the saying goes) "The Greeks had a word for it". I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

P.S. Despite getting an upvote, I think I'll have to delete this answer because it doesn't fully answer the question.

@Phil M Jones. I think in some sense it is a holophrase. However, I'm not sure if that counts as a rhetorical device. — chasly - supports Monica, Jun 24 '20 at 12:48

Mitch · Answer 2 · 2020-06-24T13:19:14.197

0

Ecphonesis

is the rhetorical trope of using a single word as a complete sentence, usually in as an exclamation.

It is a form of ellipsis omission of a word or words readily implied by context.

edited Jun 24 '20 at 13:19

answered Jun 24 '20 at 12:54

Mitch

71,423

This may well be inappropriate for your situation as ecphonesis is more inherently about exclamation than the length of the exclamation. And you are primarily looking for something about the length (with no exclamation at all). But this is all I could find. The lack of exclamation in the OP seems incidental. – Mitch Jun 24 '20 at 12:59

What is the name of the rhetoric device for the use of a one word sentence?

2 Answers2