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40 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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parallelism |
a similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses
ex: - Like father, like son. - Whether in class, at work or at home, Shasta was always busy. |
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isocolon |
a series of similarly structured elements having the same length.
ex: - What the hammer? what the chain? - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... |
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antithesis |
contrasting ideas placed side by side, often using parallel structure
ex: - Speech is silver, but silence is gold. - it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair... |
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climactic |
the arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance
ex: - The man gasped, choked, and died. - ...who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. |
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anticlimactic |
an expectation is established, then something comes along which deflates the expectation
ex: - The Grand Tour has been ... picking up languages, antiques, and venereal disease. |
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juxtaposition |
placement of two items (ideas, words, phrases, etc) next to each other
ex: - ...it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness... - John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” |
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anastrophe (anna-stroh-fee) |
inversion of natural/expected word order
ex: - She looked at the sky dark and menacing. - Troubles, everybody's got. |
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apposition |
addition of an adjacent, coordinate, explanatory element within ()'s, --'s or commas.
ex: - A man such as he - a wealthy nobleman - was never intended for combat. - The turkey roasted in the oven, succulent and tender. |
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polyptoton |
repeating the same root in different forms
ex: - The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant... - No end to the withering of withered flowers... |
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ellipsis |
omission of a word(s) readily implied by context
ex: - And so he went on, and the people [were] groaning and crying and saying amen... - ...Years later... |
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asyndeton |
omission of conjunctions between a series of clauses
ex: - Are we only ants, insects, nothings for your whim? - Without looking, without making a sound, without talking. |
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polysyndeton |
excess of conjunctions
ex: - We spun and we twirled and we enjoyed. - ...it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights or windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown... |
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assonance |
repetition of similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllable of adjacent words
ex: - Men sell the wedding bells. - She felt depressed and restless. |
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anaphora |
repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
ex: - “I want my money right here, right now. - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... |
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epistrophe |
repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses
ex: - Where now? Who now? When now? - If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. |
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anadiplosis |
repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause
ex: - The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. |
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chiasmus |
repetition of grammatical structures in reverse order in successive phrases or clauses
ex: - Love as if you would one day hate, and hate as if you would one day love. - The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursues him. |
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rhetorical question |
asking a question for the purpose of asserting or denying something, not for an answer
ex: - Did you hear me? - Will no one tell me what she sings? |
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ad hominem |
attacks the person, not the issue
ex: - Well, you’re a thief and a criminal, so your argument is invalid. |
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circular reasoning |
argument that restates or rewords rather than proves
ex: - The Bible is the Word of God because God tells us it is... in the Bible. - I'm right because I'm right. |
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slippery slope |
assumes that because one thing is allowed, other, more grievous things will follow
ex: - If they're allowed to paint a mural on the wall, than you're encouraging graffiti and soon, there will be graffiti on the White House! |
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bandwagon |
well, everyone else is doing it.
ex: - Because twerking is what's hip right now, you should twerk too! |
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oversimplification |
a statement or argument that leaves out relevant considerations / evidence
ex: - We won the game because we loaded up on carbs before hand! - People end up in jail because they are lazy or have weak morals |
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appeal to tradition |
why change? it's worked so far!
ex: - People have believed in God for years, and to survive all those years of ridicule must mean that He is real. |
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concede |
to acknowledge and accept as true or valid
ex: - Every rule has exceptions, BUT the image of thousands of people snake-lining up for any task with a paycheck illustrates a lack of jobs, not laziness. |
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refute |
to prove wrong with evidence/argument
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colloquialism |
phrases used in casual conversation, often associated with particular regions of the country
ex: bamboozle, y'all |
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jargon |
specialized language of a profession or other group
ex: lawyer - tenure, defendant, statute medical - nasal, occipital, hernia |
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synecdoche |
a whole is represented by naming one of its parts
ex: - Nice wheels! (wheels represents an entire car) - His eye met hers as she sat there paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her. (represent entire people) |
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meiosis |
understatement used deliberately (opposite to hyperbole)
ex: - I fear I am not in my perfect mind... (when said by someone completely off their rocker) |
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paradox |
a seemingly contradictory statement that contains a measure of truth
ex: - I am nobody. - Truth is honey which is bitter. |
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euphemism |
nonthreatening language in place of more explicit language (*hint nudge wink* sayings)
ex: - in the family way / with child (pregnant) - making the beast with two backs |
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apostrophe |
addressing an inanimate object or abstract thing as if it were human
ex: - O Death! |
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anecdote |
a personal story or example used to make a point in a larger work
ex: teacher stories |
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satire |
using irony, derision, sarcasm, ridicule, innuendo, affectation, exaggeration or wit to expose or attack a human vice, foolishness or stupidity
ex: See The Onion magazine |
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connotation |
the implied or understood meaning, in context |
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denotation |
the dictionary definition of a word |
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metaphor |
reference to one thing as another, implying a comparison
ex: - The anxiety unleashed a herd of dancing elephants on my stomach. |
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simile |
a metaphor with like or as
ex: - The oil was black as tar. - The stars shone like glitter in the sky. |
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allusion |
a reference in a text to a person, place, story or event
ex: The Bard / 9-11 / The Bible / Gilgamesh |
