So John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats does this thing in some of his lyrics where he'll start a sentence out with a verb as though it's an imperative, but it's from a first-person POV. There's a lot of examples but the song "Counterfeit Florida Plates" is the one that comes to mind first, for me. Is there a technical term for what he's doing here?
EDIT: changed wording to be less ambiguous
If I understand it correctly, it may be a garden path sentence. The usual construction of a garden path sentence is where a sentence, when read, the part of speech for a word is different than immediately considered.
The old man the boats.
Here it seems when considered a word at a time that the old man.... Oh wait "man" is not the subject of the sentence, "Old" is not an adjective.
Not exactly, but I don't blame you for being confused. I didn't realize my own wording was ambiguous! "Counterfeit Florida Plates" is the name of the song where the type of lyrics I'm referring to are used. An example:
Normally a sentence starting with a verb like that is an imperative or a command, with "you" being the understood subject. But here, the narrator is talking about himself in first person ("mask or hide my scent"). So I was wondering if that usage had a name.
He's dropping the I, eg.
As you’re specifically asking for a name: it’s a form of ellipsis, specifically one in which the sentences‘ subject is dropped.
Thanks for not blaming me.
According to Google, a garden path sentence is one that misleads or tricks. Part of speech doesn't seem to be a definitional feature. Unless someone comes up with a better answer, I think I might be right.
Huh, TIL... these are really cool!