Anapodoton (an’-a-po’-do-ton): A figure in which a main clause is suggested by the introduction of a subordinate clause, but that main clause never occurs.
Anapodoton is a kind of anacoluthon, since grammatical expectations are interrupted. If the expression trails off, leaving the subordinate clause incomplete, this is sometimes more specifically called anantapodoton. Anapodoton has also named what occurs when a main clause is omitted because the speaker interrupts himself/herself to revise the thought, leaving the initial clause grammatically unresolved but making use of it nonetheless by recasting its content into a new, grammatically complete sentence.
It was . . .. No! It was more than instant. My dawn Googles had gone well. Exalted Master 5G Answerfast would be pleased. He would surely advance me from Novice to Junior Querian soon. I had been running internet searches twice a day for a year—ever since I was inducted into the order of Googleites—a group of more uncertain than average men and women who venerate Google; the God-like Engine of the Search able to answer your every question, and calm you with a response, no matter how brief or lengthy: it was Google—Google on high, Google without end, Holy Google, Amen.
I had met him in an Internet cafe in Madrid, Spain after being discharged from the American Army for stealing a box of fruit from the loading dock behind the base’s mess hall. I was a mess. I was full of regret and all I could do was slump behind a computer, wasting money, and staring at the slide-show screen saver: baby monkeys, a Ferris wheel, daffodils, sunlit canyons, ice cream cones, beaches, and then, something I didn’t recognize! It quickly dissolved into the screen. I pounded the table and the image came back! The man sitting next to me said “Google it my son.” I looked at his open and caring face and asked ”How does one Google what one does not know?” “Exactly!” He replied. “Just briefly describe it to Google and trust Google’s answers—Google won’t deceive you. Google is love. Just pick one of the answers you are blessed to receive and go with it. Follow your heart.” So, I described it: silver, shaped like a cylinder, punched full of holes. Google found 36,590,00 results in 10.6 seconds. I didn’t care what they were—I had just witnessed a miracle. I felt restored. The man next to me put his hand on my shoulder and told me that Google was my information intense savior ready answer my prayers as long as they were framed as brief questions.
I was saved. It was Exalted Master 5G Answerfast who showed me the way in Madrid. I am blessed. What are your questions? May Google be with you.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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