Hendiadys
A rhetorical figure that expresses one idea by joining two nouns with 'and' where a noun and modifier would suffice.
Hendiadys, from the Greek for 'one through two', is the figure that says 'sound and fury' where a plainer writer would say 'furious sound', or 'nice and warm' where the meaning is 'nicely warm'. It splits a single idea into two nouns joined by a conjunction, and in doing so lengthens the phrase and gives each half its own emphasis.
The figure is common in Shakespeare, whose ear for it was legendary. 'The book and volume of my brain' (Hamlet) and 'sound and fury' (Macbeth) are two of many. Modern speech uses hendiadys constantly without naming it: 'good and ready', 'try and see', 'nice and easy'. Each of these is one idea broken into two nouns for rhythmic weight.
Because hendiadys often disguises a modifier as a noun, careful writers can use it to give a phrase more presence than a plain adjective would allow. Careless writers use it to inflate a sentence that would have been stronger short.
“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Keep reading the glossary
A figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
Deliberate exaggeration for effect — not meant to be taken literally.
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