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Does this literary device/technique have a name? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by EponymousBosh to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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So John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats does this thing in some of his lyrics where he'll start a sentence out with a verb as though it's an imperative, but it's from a first-person POV. There's a lot of examples but the song "Counterfeit Florida Plates" is the one that comes to mind first, for me. Is there a technical term for what he's doing here?

EDIT: changed wording to be less ambiguous

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[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 4 points 10 months ago

As you’re specifically asking for a name: it’s a form of ellipsis, specifically one in which the sentences‘ subject is dropped.