English Rhetoric Devices

allegory

an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances ex: Inside Out: the characters represent emotions

alliteration

use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse Ex: Sly snakes slithered in the sand

Allusion

passing reference or indirect mention Ex: Chocolate was her kryptonite (allusion to superman)

Anadiplosis

repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next Ex: The poor wish to be rich, and the rich wish to be happy

Analogy

an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others Ex: What is a name? A rose by any other name would still smell sweet. (comparing rose to name)

Anaphora

using a pronoun or similar word instead of repeating a word used earlier Ex: We shall not falter, we shall not fail

Anastrophe

the reversal of the normal order of words Ex: Yoda: the path to the dark side, fear is.

Anecdote

short account of an incident

Antimetabole

pattern where the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with words in reverse grammatical order Ex: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

Antithesis

exact opposite Ex: To be or not to be

Aphorism

a short pithy instructive saying Ex: Honesty is the best policy

Apostrophe

address to an absent or imaginary person Ex: Hello, darkness, my old friend

Asyndeton

the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used Ex: He crossed the road without looking, without listening, without caution

Chiasmus

inversion in the second of two parallel phrases Ex: What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten

Colloquial

characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation Ex: Fixing to leave: preparing to leave

Diction

A speaker's distinctive vocab choice and style of expression

Elegy

a mournful poem; a lament for the dead Ex: O Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman

Ellipses

omitting a part of the sequence of events, allowing the reader to fill in the narrative gaps Ex: I know he deserved it but...

Epistrophe

The repetition of words at the end of successive clauses Ex: See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil

Epizeuxis

Repetition of the same word or phrase in immediate succession Ex: Deny, Deny, Deny

Ethos

An appeal to credibility or ethic

Foreboding Diction

Indicating an omen, especially of coming evil Ex: The darkest evening of the year

Foreboding imagery

Imagery provoking negative pretenses Ex: dark and stormy night

Homily

a sermon on a moral or religious topic Ex: "I have a dream" speech

Hyperbole

extravagant exaggeration Ex: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse

Inference

the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language

Irony

a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs Ex: A pilot has a fear of heights

Juxtaposition

a side-by-side position of opposing topics Ex: Better late than never

Litotes

understatement for rhetorical effect Ex: It's not my first rodeo

Logos

Appeal to logic or reasoning

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity Ex: Time is money

metonymy

substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself Ex: referring to the presidential cabinet as "The White House"

Onomatopoeia

using words that imitate the sound they denote Ex: bang, crash

Paradox

a statement that contradicts itself Ex: Less is more

Paralellism

grammatical term for creating a sense of linguistic balance by repeating elements within a sentence Ex: he swims and dances

Pathos

Appeal to emotion

Personification

an object described using human qualities Ex: The sun smiled down on us

Polysyndeton

using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted Ex: My mother and my father and my sister and my brother

Sarcasm

witty language used to convey insults or scorn

Rhetorical shift

Speakers or writers alter their style or tone in a piece

rhetorical question

a statement that is formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered Ex: Is rain wet?

Satire

Artful ridicule or criticism of a folly through humor to expose or correct it Ex: Saturday Night Live making fun of politicians, etc.

Simile

a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds, using like or as Ex: Cold as ice

syllogism

deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises Ex: A mammals are animals, all elephants are mammals; therefore, all elephants are animals

Symbolism

expressing abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images Ex: A rainbow symbolizes hope

Synecdoche

substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa Ex: Offer your hand in marriage (hand refers to whole person)

Synesthesia

a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated Ex: Color hearing (associating a color with a song or sound)

Telegraphic sentence

Taking away the grammar of a phrase and only leaving context, typically five words or less Ex: A child saying, "I hungry"