What language technique is this (1 Viewer)

[Scyther]

What language technique is this.. if it there is any

"I was going to sail around the world, that much i knew"

and "So i had to beat David"

I looked at some language techniques and for the first quote i thought i would be a sentential adverb.. but not sure since this is like the first time i ever heard of sentential adverb :S

 

[Lolsmith]

Context??

What are these quotes taken from? Is the second quote a reference to the biblical David? If so, its an allusion to the Bible which can reflect upon the context your composer was living in as well as their personal context, etc. It also demonstrates the pure weight of the task this narrator is speaking of. David had an almighty being on his side when he fought Goliath.

If it's an inconsequential character in a book/poem/movie you've studied, then I can't help you.

 

[student6625]

I don't really know what a 'sentencial verb' actually is, but I think the first one could have incorporated the technique of 'inversion' in "That much I knew", since you would normally say "I knew that much", wouldn't you?

The second one, if not a biblical allusion like Lolsmith said, it's embued with an emphatic and decisive tone and uses high modality language - "had to" to achieve this effect.

I don't know, these are pretty cheap techniques which you wouldn't normally use. I feel like I'm trying to make something out of nothing, but after all, that's probably what English is all about anyway...