Rhetorical Devices

Front 1

alliteration

Back 1

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllablesin sequence.

Front 2

allusion

Back 2

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to awork of art.

Front 3

anaphora

Back 3

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases,clauses, or lines.

Front 4

antimetabole

Back 4

Repetition of words in reverse order.

Front 5

antithesis

Back 5

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

Front 6

archaic diction

Back 6

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

Front 7

asyndeton

Back 7

Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, orwords.

Front 8

cumulative sentence

Back 8

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning ofthe sentence and then builds and adds on.

Front 9

hortative sentence

Back 9

Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls toaction.

Front 10

imperative sentence

Back 10

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

Front 11

inversion

Back 11

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).

Front 12

juxtaposition

Back 12

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similaritiesor differences.

Front 13

metaphor

Back 13

Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as.

Front 14

oxymoron

Back 14

Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict oneanother.

Front 15

parallelism

Back 15

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

Front 16

periodic sentence

Back 16

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

Front 17

personification

Back 17

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea.

Front 18

rhetorical question

Back 18

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.

Front 19

synedoche

Back 19

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

Front 20

zeugma

Back 20

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that pro-duces different, often incongruous, meanings.