Paraprosdokian is a way of forming a sentence in which the end part of the speech is suprising and unexpected to the listener/reader. By this way the reader or the listener reframes the first part of the sentence. These kind of sentences cause dramatic and humorous effect. Because of this paraprosdokians are commonly use among satirists and comedians.
Paraprosdokian comes from Greek. It means beyond (“παρα-“) and expectation(“προσδοκία”) .
Some examples for paraprosdokians are;
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
The last thing I want to do is hurt you.But it’s still on the list.
A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way you will look forward to the trip.
