Lexical and Gramatical Pecularities of O. Henry’s Short Stories From the Collection “Waifs and Strays”

William Porter, better known as O. Henry, appeared in the American literary arena like a meteor. He also disappeared suddenly, but his legacy endured and became international. The article deals with the collection “Waifs and Strays”, published after the death of the author.Short stories from this collection were analyzed from lexical and grammatical perspective in order to identify some peculiarities of the writer’s style. From a lexical perspective, O Henry uses a large variety of lexical units, but his writing in general tends to be brief and laconic. In the text, a large number of slang and dialect words, along with the usage of foreign languages, were used by the author in order to make his stories more emotional and appealing to the reader. Other lexical devices, such as epithets and connotative words, are used mostly to emphasize some aspects of the story. From a grammatical perspective, O. Henry often uses complex sentences to make his writing more eloquent. The author often uses the passive voice as an indicator of the formal style. He also uses such devices as rhetorical questions, linking words, repetition to express his character’s opinion, but he avoids these grammatical devices during the narrator’s speech. In general, grammatical devices are rather diverse, and O. Henry tries to avoid the repetitive use of the same means. Thus, “Waifs and Strays” demonstrates O. Henry’s writing at its highest point. It shows a large variety of lexical and grammatical devices that created his unique writing style.