Figures Of Rhetoric

Front 1

prosthesis

Back 1

The addition of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word

Hint 1

embolden, ensky, enring, enwheel, assubjugate, embattle

Front 2

epenthesis

Back 2

the interposition of a letter or syllable in the midst of a word

Hint 2

meeterly (for meetly), visitating, cursorary

Front 3

proparalepsis (paragogue)

Back 3

the addition of a letter or syllable at the end of a word

Hint 3

spoken, hasten, climature

Front 4

aphaeresis

Back 4

The taking away or suppression of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word

Hint 4

twixt, 'gainst, lated, 'cerns, 'larum

Front 5

syncope

Back 5

The contraction of a word by omission of one or more syllables or letters in the middle

Hint 5

prosprous, ignomy, heartly, o'ermaster't, med'cines

Front 6

synaloepha

Back 6

The coalescence or contraction of two syllables into one; esp. the coalescence (in verse) of two vowels at the end of one word and the beginning of the next, by obscuration of the former

Hint 6

“Take't; 'tis yours. What is't?”, t'illume

Front 7

apocope

Back 7

The cutting off or omission of the last letter or syllable of a word

Hint 7

bet (better), haught (haughty), attent (attentive)

Front 8

diastole (eciasis)

Back 8

The lengthening of a syllable naturally short

Hint 8

commendable

Front 9

systole

Back 9

The shortening of a vowel or syllable long by nature or position

Front 10

metasthesis

Back 10

The exchange of letters in a word

Hint 10

frevent (fervent), cestron (cistern)

Front 11

antisthecon

Back 11

The substitution of one sound, syllable, or letter for another within a word, usu. for the sake of rhyme

Hint 11

wrang (wrong), cesse (cease), togither (together)

Front 12

anastrophe

Back 12

Inversion, or unusual arrangement, of the words or clauses of a sentence

Hint 12

“Yet I'll not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow”

Front 13

tmesis

Back 13

The separation of the elements of a compound word by the interposition of another word or words

Hint 13

“that man—how dearly ever parted”

Front 14

hysteron proteron

Back 14

A figure of speech in which the word or phrase that should properly come last is put first

Hint 14

“Th' Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral, With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder.”

Front 15

hypallage

Back 15

A figure of speech in which there is an interchange of two elements of a proposition, the natural relations of these being reversed

Hint 15

“I see a voice. Now will I to the chink, To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.” “Forgive my fearful sails.”

Front 16

parenthesis

Back 16

A word, clause, or sentence inserted as an explanation, aside, or afterthought into a passage with which it has not necessarily any grammatical connection, in writing usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas

Hint 16

“If you'll betstow a small (of what you have little) Patience awhile...” “Yea, my gravity, Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride...”

Front 17

apposition (epergesis)

Back 17

The placing of a word beside, or in syntactic parallelism with, another; spec. the addition of one substantive to another, or to a noun clause, as an attribute or complement

Hint 17

“The ratifiers and props of every word” “the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ pipe”

Front 18

ellipsis (eclipsis)

Back 18

The omission of one or more words in a sentence, which would be needed to complete the grammatical construction or fully to express the sense

Hint 18

“And he to England shall along with you” “For what, alas, can these my single arms?”

Front 19

zeugma

Back 19

A figure by which a single word is made to refer to two or more words in the sentence; esp. when properly applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in different senses

Hint 19

“But passion lends them power, time means to meet.” “As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!”

Front 20

syllepsis

Back 20

A figure by which a word, or a particular form or inflexion of a word, is made to refer to two or more other words in the same sentence, while properly applying to or agreeing with only one of them, or applying to them in different senses

Hint 20

“She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee.” “Nor God nor I delights in perjur'd men.” “Love loving not itself, none other can.”

Front 21

hypozeuxis

Back 21

the use of several parallel clauses, each having its own subject and verb

Hint 21

“Madam, the guests are come, supper serv'd up, you call'd, my young lady ask'd for, the nurse curs'd in the pantry, and everything in extremity.”

Front 22

iteration

Back 22

The repetition of something said; repeated utterance or assertion

Hint 22

“Blessed are clouds, to do as such clouds do.” “What, I? I love? I sue? I seek a wife?”

Front 23

diazeugma

Back 23

The figure by which a single subject governs several verbs or verbal constructions; the opposite of zeugma

Hint 23

“He bites his lip and starts, Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, Then lays his finger on his temple; straight springs out into fast gait, athen stops again...”

Front 24

brachylogia

Back 24

The absence of conjunctions between single words

Hint 24

“Hoo! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number—hoo!--His love to Anthony.”

Front 25

asyndeton

Back 25

A rhetorical figure which omits the conjunction

Hint 25

“be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds.”

Front 26

polysyndeton

Back 26

A figure consisting in the use of several conjunctions in close succession

Hint 26

“'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves, Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm, Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit To your person.”

Front 27

parison (isocolon)

Back 27

An even balance of clauses, syllables, or other elements in a sentence

Hint 27

“Your reasons at dinner have been sharp and sententious, pleasant without scurrility, witty without affection, audicious without impudency, learned without opinion, and strange without heresy.”

Front 28

homoioteleuton

Back 28

Similarity of endings of adjacent or parallel words

Hint 28

“How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence When willingly I would have had her here! How angerly I taught my brow to frown.”

Front 29

hirmus (period)

Back 29

The periodic sentence, characterized by the suspension of the completion of sense until its end

Hint 29

“Tell my friends, Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree From high to low throughout, that whoso please To stop affliction, let him take his haste, Come hither ere my tree hath felt the axe, And hang himself.”

Front 30

metabasis

Back 30

A transition from one subject or point to another

Hint 30

(long passage from Hamlet telling what has happened and what is to come)

Front 31

enallage

Back 31

The substitution of one grammatical form for another, e.g. of sing. for pl., of present for past tense, etc

Hint 31

“Is she as tall as me?”#””Is there not wars? Is there not employment?”

Front 32

hendiadys

Back 32

A figure of speech in which a single complex idea is expressed by two words connected by a conjunction; e.g. by two substantives with and instead of an adjective and substantive

Hint 32

“The heaviness and the guilt within my bosom takes off my manhood.”

Front 33

anthimeria

Back 33

Substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used as a verb)

Hint 33

“give us the bones Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them.” “Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear.” “his complexion is perfect gallows”

Front 34

solecism

Back 34

An impropriety or irregularity in speech or diction; a violation of the rules of grammar or syntax; properly, a faulty concord

Hint 34

“And didst thou not...desire me to be no more so familiarity with such poor people...?

Front 35

barbarism

Back 35

The use of words or expressions not in accordance with the classical standard of a language, especially such as are of foreign origin

Hint 35

“I pray you bear vitness dat me have stay six or seven, two tree hours for him, and he is no-come.”

Front 36

soriasm

Back 36

the ignorant or affected mingling of sundry languages

Hint 36

“But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra.”

Front 37

heterogenium

Back 37

answering something utterly irrelevant to what is asked

Hint 37

“When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold. ''Tis dinner time,' quoth I. 'My gold!' quoth he....

Front 38

amphibologia

Back 38

Ambiguity arising from the uncertain construction of a sentence or clause, of which the individual words are unequivocal

Hint 38

“If we offend, it is with our good will. That you should think, we come no to offend, But with good will....We do not come, as minding to content you, Our true intent is.

Front 39

tapinosis

Back 39

the use of a base word to diminish the dignity of a person or thing

Hint 39

“Achilles? A drayman, a porter, a very camel!” “I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's sale-work.”

Front 40

chiasmus

Back 40

1. Repetition of ideas in inverted order
2. Repetition of grammatical structures in inverted order (not to be mistaken with antimetabole, in which identical words are repeated and inverted).

Hint 40

But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strong loves.

It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling

Front 41

antimetabole

Back 41

1.Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order.
2.This figure is sometimes known as chiasmus.

Hint 41

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. —John F. Kennedy

God does not call the qualified;
He qualifies the called.

The last shall be first,
and the first shall be last.