From the viewpoint of structure an epithet can be

· word: "an angry sky"

· compound: " curly-headed, good-for-nothing"

· phrasal (holophrasis): "His features were mouldered into Dane Clark's odds-are-against-us-but-we-can-do-it expression"(B. Greene). Holophrasis is a phrase or a sentence expressed in one word, which is shown graphically by hyphens and syntactically through one function in the sentence. Holophrasis is an occasionalism likenned to the word.

· Inverted: " A brute of a boy". Such a epithet is itreated as inverted, as hierarchical relations in it are redistributed. Semantic centre is not the nucleus, i.e. the first word of the word-combination, but that, which formally is an attribute to it. Such structures are expressive and colloquial.

From the viewpoints of location epithets can be situated in preposition to the word which is common in English, or in postposition

EXAMPLE

There is no interrogation in his eyes

Or in the hands, quiet over the horse's neck,

And the eyes watchful, waiting, perceiving, indifferent. (Eliot)

In the sentence we meet

· Single epithets

·Pairs of epithets: "a wonderful and happy summer"

· Chains of epithets: "And then in a nice, old-fashioned, lady-like, maiden-lady way, she blushed" (A.Christie)

Semantic categorization of epithets includes

· tautological - semantically coordinated, emphasizing some main characteristic of the definied object, i.e. containing in its composition a seme, which is already an integral characteristic of the described object. EXAMPLE: Soft pillow, green wood, wide sea, fair sun.

· Explanatory epithets point to some important feature, which is not inherent to the whole class of objects, to which it belongs, i.e. really characterizing exactly the very thing mentioned. EXAMPLE: A grand style, heart-burning smile…

· Metaphoric epithets, for which double vision is obligatory, that of resemblance and unlikeness, semantic unbalance, violation of valency. There are animistic metaphoric epithets, when inanimate objects are given the characteristics of living beings.

EXAMPLE: The wind was thin and searching or human-like metaphoric epithets, giving human characteristics and describing human actions in connection with animals or inanimate objects.

EXAMPLE: laughing valleys, surly sullen bells.

· Transferred epithets, i.e. epithets, syntax relationships of which do not comply with semantic relationships, so in the meaning they are connected not with the word they are tied syntactically. Expressiveness of such structures depends on the combinations unusual and unexpected character.

EXAMPLE:

I will make palace fit for you and me

Of green days in forest and blue days at sea. (R.L.Stevenson)

So the epithet is an expressive evaluative characteristic of some phenomena, person or object, sometimes, but not necessarily, figurative. Epithets are studied in connection with their semantics and structure and from the standpoint of their functioning in different genres. Much attention was given to folklore epithet. The structure of the epithet can be very varied, and supposition that the epithet is expressed only by adverb or adjective is far from being true.

Expressivity of the epithet increases due to the interaction with other stylistic devices, usage of a chain of epithets, placing epithets in postposition, transferred, holophrastic and inverted.