It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window. (R. Chandler)

It is used:

· to attract the reader’s attention to the key-word of the utterance;

· to give rhythm to the utterance.

Anticlimax consists in adding one weaker element to one or several strong ones, mentioned before.

e.g. In twenty minutes you can sink a battleship, down three or four planes, hold a double execution. You can die, get married, get fired and find a new job, have a tooth pulled, have your tonsils out. In twenty minutes you can even get up in the morning. (R. Chandler)

The weakest element added to one or several strong ones receives prominence due to an interruption inthe pattern of predictability. The effect produced is called “defeated expectancy”.

Anticlimax is used:

· to attract the reader’s attention;

· to produce humorous or satirical effect, e.g. I cannot take another minute of it! The Army is brutal, dehumanized and full of morons. It’s time something was done. When I get back to the barracks, I’ll write my mother about it;

· to decline from a noble, impressive tone to a less exalted one, e.g. I’ll read you a chapter of the Bible or buy you a drink.

Paradoxes can also be built on anticlimax. Paradox is an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense but that may have some truth in it yet, e.g. Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious (O. Wilde)

Antithesis [ æn′tІθІsІs ] consists in putting together two ideas that are quite opposite.

e.g. Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not, and a sense of humour to console him for what he is. (anonymous)