I know that the use of a word such as 'afterwards' or 'later' can be described as a time transition, but what, if anything, is the term that describes their use when they imply what has gone on since the event that the transition follows on from?

Examples:

The doubts of a few hours before had disappeared. They rushed to the bedroom not even bothering to lock the door. Afterwards, they sat quietly on the balcony...

or

'His response to the opening question from the Chairman was met with a stony silence from the meeting. Later, as he left the building for the last time, he wondered whether a different approach might have saved the day...

It's where the function of 'afterwards' or 'later' is to force the reader to imagine what happened in the meantime, rather than simply to indicate that time has moved on. Apophasis doesn't seem to quite fit the bill. It seems to require the writer to actually mention that he is not mentioning the implied thing. Any ideas? I've got a wordy character who needs to refer to it rather pretentiously.

Chris

Yes, apophasis isn't right is it, because this use of 'later' doesn't involve denial...

I think it it just an adverb of time, and I can't with a quick dip into a normal grammar book find a specific term for it. A huge grammar book or one on rhetoric might have one, I suppose. I agree that I can't help feeling there is some deeply obscure Greek term...

Emma

is the term that describes their use when they imply what has gone on since the event that the transition follows on from?

That's is like a cause and effect thing -maybe you need to be rooting around consequence in the synonyms. Bet there's something in physics that they borrow from language to describe this kind of sequenced and interrelated causality.

Good luck matey.

Firethorne

That's like a cause and effect thing

Yes, it's what happens when. Using a term from physics unfortunately would not work with the character is question. I would need to think up some wording that substitutes 'earlier' in some phrase that usually implies 'later', like 'prior gratification' instead of 'deferred gratification'.

Emma

I can't help feeling there is some deeply obscure Greek term...

I'm sure you're right, and I think that's the problem! It will be some impossibly arcane Greek term which is why I'm beginning to conclude that the process of having the character make this pretentious statement will itself probably be too pretentious for the reader to swallow. I think I'll can it.

Thanks to both.

Chris

"A Priori yet not quite a posteriori knowledge eh ?",

What you want is maybe somewhere between those two?

That's like pretentious talking if you don't know what they mean.