0

After searching for "English phrase where you list a lot of things" I came upon Polysyndeton which is defined as:

Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that is connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction. The most common conjunctions used with polysyndeton are and and or.

Does the term polysyndeton cover going on for an extended period of time without using a conjunction or is that another term? Is it just a long running sentence?

For example I'm drafting this piece of writing explaining my career history in which I'm specifically trying to show the breadth of things I've done with an extended list of things:

I've done it all from shitty geocities websites, newsletters, ACH Clearing, AS-400 stystems, building apps on iOS and Android, helpdesk support, deploying an installation of X piece of software, installing new network switching, building on the cloud, doing terrible things in MS Access and VBA, wordpress, django,fighting with javascript library of the week, managing teams, telling my parents to reboot the phone/router/laptop, and kindly asking wait staff to remove creative arrangement of the water display from around the wifi access point because it's causing a headache at 5AM across timezones that's been impossible to debug for the last half hour and the show starts in 15 minutes.

Would the above be an example of polysyndeton or am I looking for another term?

KillingTime
  • 6,206
BOMEz
  • 101
  • This sentence doesn't make any sense. Compare: "I've done it all, from buying, selling, and investing." – alphabet May 31 '23 at 03:08
  • Mostly, this displays asyndeton. Polysyndeton would be something like: I've done it all: shitty geocities websites and newsletters and ACH Clearing and ACH Clearing and... — ands instead of commas. Asyndeton is like commas instead of ands. (I like your style, though.) – Tinfoil Hat May 31 '23 at 03:34
  • The definition says "connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction", so why would you ask: "Does the term polysyndeton cover going on for an extended period of time without using a conjunction"? (Also, you should cite the source of that definition.) – MarcInManhattan May 31 '23 at 04:01
  • I think you've 16 terms in your list, with the usual 'and' before the last (plus a couple in terms like 'doing terrible things in MS Access and VBA'. There's no grammatical term that applies to your very long sentence. But 'from A' needs an accompanying 'to Z'. – Edwin Ashworth May 31 '23 at 11:15
  • @alphabet I wanted to go for an exhausting list in an attempt to really show the list of things I've touched on to give it more "punch". Not sure if it works in the long run but that's why it's a draft.

    @ MarcInManhattan I was just trying to confirm. I'm new to literary devices, was kinda stoked that I kinda even knew there might be a literary device I was using. Wasn't sure how strict the rules are in what counts as what.

    Thanks @ TinfoilHat.

     – BOMEz May 31 '23 at 19:21

0 Answers0