Apokoinu, aposiopesis

Apokoinu construction is the construction in which the omission of a connective word results in blending of the main and subordinate clauses, so that the predicative or the object of the first one is simultaneously used as the subject of the second one. Ex.: “What has happened to that swell-looking babe in the fur coat used to come over?” There is one thing bothers me. There is no law forbids it.

"There was a door led into the kitchen." (Sh. Anderson) "He was the man killed that deer." (R.P. Warren) The double syntactical function played by one word produces the general impression of clumsiness of speech and is used as a means of speech characteristics in dialogue, in reported speech and the type of narrative known as "entrusted" in which the author entrusts the telling of the story to an imaginary narrator who is either an observer or participant of the described events.

In poetry it helps meet the requirements of the rhythm: I bring him news will raise his drooping spirits.

Aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative) is a feature of spontaneous speech. The written variety of language is characterized by logical coherence. A break is treated as a deliberate device the aim of which is to focus the attention on what is said. The only key to decoding aposiopesis is the context. It is used mainly in the dialogue or in other forms of narrative imitating spontaneous oral speech. The sentence is broken and left unfinished either because a pause is sometimes more eloquent than spoken words, or the speaker is overwhelmed with emotions and doesn’t want to shape in words what might be unpleasant or harsh. The missing part of the sentence can be easily restored. Ex.: I don’t want to blame you, but ….

Another cause of the break is the desire to cut short the information with which the sentence began. In such cases there are usually special remarks by the author, indicating the intentional abruptness of the end. Ex: "People liked to be with her. And —" She paused again, " - and she was crazy about you." (R. Warren)

In many cases break is the result of the speaker's uncertainty as to what exactly he is to promise (to threaten, to beg). To mark the break, dashes and dots are used. It is only in cast-iron structures that full stops may also appear, as in the well-known phrases "Good intentions, but", or "It depends".