Anakolouthon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rhetorical figure in which a sentence shifts abruptly partway through into a different grammatical construction than the one it began with
2. A break in syntax within a single sentence, where the second half does not follow the grammar the opening half set up
3. An incomplete or inconsistent sentence structure in which the grammar changes midway, leaving the sentence logically unfinished

Etymology: Anakoluthon is a Greek-derived term for a sentence that abandons its own grammar partway through, leaving one half without a proper follow-through. The Greek "anakolouthos" combines "an-", meaning "not", with "akolouthos", meaning "following" or "companion", so the literal sense is "not following along." The same root gives English "acolyte," a word for someone who follows and assists. Rhetoricians borrowed the term from Greek to name a deliberate or accidental break in syntax, where a speaker starts one construction and finishes with another. Classical grammarians discussed the figure, and it has long been treated both as a flaw and as a stylistic device, especially in speech that imitates the way people actually talk. The English word is a learned borrowing from Greek, adopted for a technical grammatical and rhetorical concept, so its formation is a plain transfer rather than a folk coinage. Its plural is "anakolutha," following the Greek pattern.