Rhetorical Devices

Front 1

Allusion

Back 1

Referencing a well-known event, place, person, or work of art

Front 2

Anadiplosis

Back 2

Taking the last word of a sentence or phrase and repeating it at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase

Front 3

Hyperbole

Back 3

Exaggeration used to make a point strongly

Front 4

Polysyndeton

Back 4

Using conjunctions between every item when writing a list or series

Front 5

Parallelism

Back 5

Using the same general structure for multiple parts of a sentence

"Live in your world, play in ours."

Front 6

Synecdoche

Back 6

Writing that uses part of something to represent the whole

Front 7

Simile

Back 7

A comparison between two somwhat related things using "like" or "as"

As brave as a lion
Large like the chargers

Front 8

Epistrophe

Back 8

Writing that repeats a word or phrase at the end of multiple clauses or sentences

Front 9

Personification

Back 9

Applying human traits to non-human things

Front 10

Metonymy

Back 10

Writing that uses something closely related to the actual object as a way of referencing the object itself
(such as "crown" for "royalty")

Front 11

Asyndeton

Back 11

Leaving out conjunctions when writing a list or series

Front 12

Understatement

Back 12

Stating something with less force than one would normally expect

Front 13

Anaphora

Back 13

Writing that repeats a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple clauses or sentences

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France

Front 14

Litote

Back 14

A form of understatement that makes its point by using a word opposite to the condition

Front 15

Rhetorical Question

Back 15

Answers are implied, actual answers are unnecessary or obvious to readers

Front 16

Metaphor

Back 16

A comparison where one thing is regarded as though it WERE ACTUALLY another

Front 17

Analogy

Back 17

A comparison between two things without employing figurative language

Front 18

Apostrophe

Back 18

A break in the writing that directly addresses a person or personified object
(Talking to moon, or future lover etc)

Front 19

Zeugma

Back 19

Two unexpected words are linked together by a shared word

He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men

Front 20

Parenthesis

Back 20

Using dashes, commas or parentheses to insert aside or additional information into the main flow of your writing

Front 21

Antithesis

Back 21

Using contrasting language to bring out contrasting thought

"You're easy on the eyes
Hard on the heart."

Front 22

Ethos

Back 22

Speaker/Writer

Front 23

Pathos

Back 23

Audience

Front 24

Logos

Back 24

Subject/Message