How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Accumulatio

Techniques > Use of language > Figures of speech > Accumulatio

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

The bringing together of a number of points into a powerful conclusion or climax.

Example

I have talked about weather patterns, the rising sea levels, and the natural patterns of high tides. Together this means that at the next full moon where there is a force ten storm, then New York is in great danger of being flooded.

Come in, sit down, get your pens out and let's make some magic! 

Discussion

The word literally means the 'accumulation' of many points. This bringing together either hammers home a repeated or previous point, or may synthesise a new meaning.

The accumulation may be through a set of sentences, phrases, words or other grammatical units. The order is not as important as the collective effect.

In storytelling, the climax is a classic point of accumulatio, where multiple tensions are resolved, meaning is created and the reader thrilled. This does not happen just at the end of the story and can happen in chapters or even individual paragraphs or sentences.

In speeches, which are often a form of storytelling, the need to create memorable points makes accumulatio a powerful device.

Accumulatio is also used to describe over-use of words and repetition of sentences or phrases that say essentially the same thing.

Accumulatio is also known as Congeries and Accumulation.

Classification: Meaning, Repetition

See also

Pleonasm