Hyperbaton Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.2

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

This is a rhetorical device where the words are ordered in an usual arrangement, within a sentence, in order to place emphasis on certain words or concepts. The clauses, phrases, and words are shuffled around a bit not causing any change in meaning or context. One of the most well-known fictional characters that spoke in this manner was Yoda from the Star Wars Saga. If you look back in the dialogue of that work, you will see that every major thought or concept he was trying to teach others was highlighted by the way the character arranged his words. These worksheets will help students understand how this technique can be used with their own writing.

Hyperbaton Worksheets To Print:

Direct Examples - The passage we present is from the poem "Anyone lived in a pretty how town" by E.E. Cummings. Read the passage. Answer the questions.

True or False - See what you understand about this concept and what you do not.

Word Fills - See what is missing in these extended length sentences.

Ambiguity - How do these concept relate and where do they part?

The Tell Tale Heart - There are several example in this poem by Poe. Let's explore them.

Find It - This literary device in which the natural and expected order of words in a sentence is changed by moving some words out of order.

To the Video - Watch some video clips that get you thinking down this path.

Ths Basics - Evaluate the most fundamental data about this concept.

Poetry - Write a short free verse poem that uses this technique. You can write about anything you would like.

Why - Explain why this technique is used and when it can be effective.

Just the Facts - This is an organizer that can really help you introduce this topic to students.

Comic Maker - Make a comic and use this technique in the dialogue.

Picture That - This is more of an intermediate skill that requires you to have a good handle on the use of this strategy.

Julius Caeser - Evaluate this work to see how Shakespeare used this tactic to heighten his work.

Writing Styles - Use this exercise to help you become a better writer.

What is the Effect of Hyperbaton in Poetry?


A hyperbaton is unusual because it allows authors to circumvent traditional grammatical expectations and standards in order to generate sentences and phrases that are more complicated, engaging, and demanding for the reader. This might be as complex as rewriting and jumbling an entire phrase or as simple as moving one adjective or word.


It's a figure of speech in which specific words are moved out of order, disrupting the regular, natural arrangement of words. Hyperbaton (pronounced hahy-pur-buh-ton) comes from the Greek term hyperbatos, which means "inverted" or "transposed."


A hyperbaton is used to stress a certain point. By reversing the normal way clauses and complete sentences are created, the writer employs it on purpose. Due to the rearranging, the statement should still be comparable to the original but with a new emphasis.


Depending on how a writer uses hyperbaton, it can be more or less perplexing. It may need a reader to pause to analyze a line more carefully before proceeding. E.E. Cummings' poetry is full of fantastic instances of how hyperbaton can make a poem more complicated while also making it more engaging.


Writers use hyperbaton because it allows them to modify phrases to meet their stylistic requirements. The reader is frequently intrigued and challenged by the phrases that result. They should be interesting to read and fulfilling once their message is revealed. This isn't to say that all hyperbaton examples are complicated. Depending on what the writer intends to achieve, some are shorter and more direct than others.


Origin of Hyperbaton


As mentioned before, "hyperbaton" originates from the Greek word "hyperbatos," which means "inverted" or "transposed." It can be used to make a sentence sound more lyrical, weird, or dramatic. Writers meticulously rearrange words in a sentence in the hopes that the reader would notice the difference and stop reading.


This permits them to stress something that might not have looked as essential if they had followed the standard grammatical form. A writer can rearrange a phrase fully, changing all or most of the words, or they can only change one word, depending on how they wish to employ the approach.


Because it is feasible to restructure the sentence to incorporate the extra segment, hyperbaton might be regarded as a consequence of inversion. Hyperbaton's impact, on the other hand, stems from the type of spontaneity that forces the addition of some truth, whether evident or hidden, to a syntactic arrangement that appears to be closed.


The verb can alternatively be placed towards the conclusion of the phrase rather than between the subject and the object, as in Hyperbaton. So, rather than marrying that smelly, filthy, unlikable man for any reason, she chose to be single. You may write, "She wouldn't marry that stinking, foul, unlikable man for any reason whatsoever."


One of the most typical uses of hyperbaton is by placing the adjective after a noun it modifies rather than before. While this is a common order in the French language, it lends a sense of mystery to a statement in English: "The forest was engulfed in flames that were unquenchable—unquenchable, that is, until the helicopter came.