Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
SYLLEPSIS
is a syntactic fault wherein either one word or a longer locution has two syntactic functions, only one of which fits or agrees grammatically: My family, as well as I, am happy (am goes only with I, not with family). A syllepsis is also a rhetorical figure, wherein a single word is used in both a literal and a figurative sense, one of which is unconventionally paired with the other: He was driving his car carelessly and his wife crazy. He ate with gusto and his penknife. It can sometimes be a rather contrived form of wit. The plural is syllepses. See also FOREIGN PLURALS.
