An anacoluthon is a rhetorical device that can be loosely defined as a change of syntax within a sentence. More specifically, anacoluthons (or "anacoluthia") are created when a sentence abruptly changes from one structure to another.
Anacoluthon is often used in stream of consciousness writing, such as that of James Joyce, because it is characteristic of informal human thought.
- Agreements entered into when one state of facts exists -- are they to be maintained regardless of changing conditions? (John George Diefenbaker)
- Had ye been there--for what could that have done? (John Milton in Lycidas)
The word 'anacoluthon' comes from the Greek 'anakolouthon' which translates to "inconsistency in logic". This, in turn, is the result of the prefix an (not) combined with the root akolouthos (following).
Anapodoton[?] is a specific type of anacoluthon.
Anacoluthon is sometimes (wrongly) confused with anacoloutha[?].
Silva Rhetoricae reference (http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/~anacoluthon.htm)
