Expletive ???

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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daveyh
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Expletive ???

Post by daveyh »

Hi everyone!

I'm rather new to English Club, but I look forward to taking part in some interesting discussions regarding grammar. I certainly wont profess to be an expect when in comes to English grammar which is why I'll be asking a lot of questions. I do have a question though regarding a specific sentence.

"It is our tendency to fixate on positive information, to notice only what we can see and hear."

Although this sentence sounds natural, I'm not exactly sure why there's no conjunction between the infinite phrase "to fixate on positive information" and the remaining clause (?) "to notice only what we can see and hear."

I hope there's someone who can deconstruct this sentence and provide a clear explanation.

Thanks for your help! :prof:
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Alan
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Re: Expletive ???

Post by Alan »

This is a stylistic choice technically termed 'asyndeton', used to achieve a somewhat literary/poetic effect.

However, for normal daily purposes, 'and' would be inserted here.
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