Rhetorical Devices Ap English

Front 1

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

Back 1

parallelism

Front 2

parallel elements are similar in grammatical structure and in length (number of words/syllables)

Back 2

isocolon

Front 3

juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

Back 3

antithesis

Front 4

inversion of the natural or usual word order

Back 4

anastrophe

Front 5

insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence

Back 5

parenthesis

Front 6

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

Back 6

apposition

Front 7

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

Back 7

ellipsis

Front 8

deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses

Back 8

asyndeton

Front 9

deliberate use of many conjunctions

Back 9

polysyndeton

Front 10

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

Back 10

alliteration

Front 11

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

Back 11

assonance

Front 12

repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginnings of successive clauses

Back 12

anaphora

Front 13

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

Back 13

epistrophe

Front 14

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

Back 14

epanalepsis

Front 15

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

Back 15

anadiplosis

Front 16

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

Back 16

antimetabole

Front 17

reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses

Back 17

chiasmus

Front 18

repetition of words derived from the same root

Back 18

polyptoton

Front 19

figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole

Back 19

synecdoche

Front 20

substitution of some attributive or suggestive words for what is actually meant

Back 20

metonymy

Front 21

substitution of one part of speech for another

Back 21

anthimeria

Front 22

substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name

Back 22

periphrasis (autonomasia)

Front 23

deliberate use of understatement

Back 23

litotes

Front 24

same in sound, different in meaning

Back 24

paronomasia