Here, the repetition of "fool" and "heard" is employed for stylistic purposes of emphasis and rhythm, which both confer the dialect usage its distinctive and poetic character. Moreover, the author's recurrent use of inversions such as "surprise there was on him" and elisions such as "ha' " (to denote have) further operate as Reid's loose adaptations of Jamaican speech. Reid's reworking of Jamaican spoken word also manifests itself in the use of Jamaican adverbs such as "quick" in lieu of the standard English adverb "quickly".