Question

What are some examples of hyperbaton?

Answer 1

Hint: The word ‘hyperbaton’ was originally taken from a Greek phrase which said ‘hyperbatos’, this translated to ‘invert’ or ‘transpose’. Hyperbaton is a figure of speech, and a phrase is said to be in a hyperbaton if the words in the phrase are inverted from its normal order, mainly to provide emphasis.

Complete answer:
The figure of speech ‘hyperbaton’ creates a distinct effect by disrupting or inverting standard word order. The term hyperbaton may also apply to a figure in which the language abruptly changes, usually as a result of an interruption.

Normally we put adjectives before a noun to describe them but one of the most common uses of hyperbaton is to position an adjective after, rather than before, the noun it modifies. Although the inversion is common word order in languages like French, it contributes curiosity to a phrase in English. The verb may also be placed at the end of the sentence, instead of being in between the subject and the object, for Hyperbaton.

Some examples look like this;
Example 1: “Sweet, she was.”
In the above example, ‘sweet’ is given emphasis, in this way hyperbaton here has been utilized to carry out emphasis. The writer has used a unique form of hyperbatonic structure here, we say this because in a normal sentence, one would never use ‘sweet’ at the beginning. For a regular sentence the pattern is ‘subject + verb + adjective’, but here in a unique way the writer has framed the sentence to be ‘adjective + subject + verb’.

Example 2: “Change we must”
In the above example again, similar to the previous example, the first word ‘change’ is given emphasis. So here again the sentence structure has been shuffled to give emphasis to the word ‘change’, probably emphasizing that a ‘change’ is important to be done.

Example 3: “Try not.”
The above example shows us a hyperbatonic phrase that originally means ‘do not try’. Here the words are inverted to draw peoples’ attention which is why it is hyperbatonic. This also indicates the one who says this phrase is quite wise, as it is commonly used by a famous character ‘Yoda’ who himself is considered to be a master of wisdom.

Example 4: “Piece of what an interesting fellow I met and said hello.”
The sentence above is nothing but jumbled completely, this is another way of using hybaton within a sentence. It causes confusion to everyone but draws the attention of the reader at the same time. The sentence originally means that a person met another interesting person and greeted them “hello”.

Note: The plural form of the word ‘hyperbaton’ is ‘hyperbata’ and the adjective form is ‘hyperbatonic’. The grammatical name used for a hyperbaton is ‘inversion’. We can note that, if within a phrase, only a single word has been shifted to signify an emphasis, then it is called as an ‘anastrophe’. We must be clear that this ‘anastrophe’ is a variant of a ‘hyperbaton’ itself.