Rhetorical Devices

Front 1

Parallelism

Back 1

Similarity of structure in a pair of series of related words, phrases, and clauses

Front 2

Isocolon

Back 2

Scheme of parallel structure which occurs when the parallel elements are similar in grammatical structure and length

Front 3

Antithesis

Back 3

Juxtaposition of opposing ideas, often used in parallel structure

Front 4

Anastrophe

Back 4

Inversion of natural word order

Front 5

Parenthesis

Back 5

Insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentences

Front 6

Apposition

Back 6

Placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first

Front 7

Ellipsis

Back 7

Deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by the context

Front 8

Asyndeton

Back 8

Deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses

Front 9

Brachylogia

Back 9

Subcategory of asyndeton used in the Tudor period. Omits conjunctions between single words or phrases

Front 10

Polysyndeton

Back 10

Deliberate use of many conjunctions

Front 11

Alliteration

Back 11

Repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words

Front 12

Assonance

Back 12

Repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words

Front 13

Anaphora

Back 13

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses

Front 14

Epistrophe

Back 14

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses

Front 15

Epanalepsis

Back 15

Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause

Front 16

Anadiplosis

Back 16

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of following clause

Front 17

Antimetabole

Back 17

Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order

Front 18

Chiasmus

Back 18

Reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses. Does not involve repetition of words, unlike antimetabole

Front 19

Polyptoton

Back 19

Repetition of words derived from the same root

Front 20

Climax

Back 20

Arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses un a order of increasing importance

Front 21

Apostrophe

Back 21

Figure of speech in which someone, some abstract quality, or non-existent personage is directly addressed as though present

Front 22

Antanaclasis

Back 22

Repetition of a word in two different senses

Front 23

Anthimeria

Back 23

Substitution of one part of speech for another

Front 24

Hyperbole

Back 24

Use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect

Front 25

Irony

Back 25

Use if a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word

Front 26

Litotes

Back 26

Deliberate use of understatement

Front 27

Metaphor

Back 27

Implied comparison between two things of an unlike nature

Front 28

Metonomy

Back 28

Substitution of some attribute or suggestive word for what is actually meant

Front 29

Onomatopoeia

Back 29

Use of words whose sound echoes the sense

Front 30

Oxymoron

Back 30

The yoking of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory

Front 31

Paradox

Back 31

An apparantly contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a essence of truth

Front 32

Paronomasia

Back 32

Use of words alike in sound but different in meaning (homonyms and homo-phones)

Front 33

Periphrasis

Back 33

Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase quality associated with the name

Front 34

Personification

Back 34

Investing abstractions for inanimate objects - a heightened effect (giving life to inanimate objects)

Front 35

Simile

Back 35

Explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature (use like or as)

Front 36

Syllepsis

Back 36

Use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs

Front 37

Synecdoche

Back 37

Figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole

Front 38

Synesthesia

Back 38

Word usage that stretches across senses (cross sensory metaphor)