Rhetorical Tropes And Devices

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If you test yourself, only use the first type of question because some of the answers are the same for the other ones.

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Syllogism: from the Greek for "reckoning together" it is a deductive system of formal logic that presents 2 premises, the first one called "major" and the second one called ",ompr" that inevitably lead to a sound concluion
Paradox: In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. --Oscar Wilde
Metaphor: The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhaused and will produced no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter. --Joshua Reynolds
Synecdoche: Get in here this instant or I'll spank your body.
Hyperbole: This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love.
Analogy: compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one
Diction: an author's choice of words
Apostrophe: "O Rose, thou art sick!" --William Blake
Metonymy: Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. --Psalm 100:1-2 (KJV)
Synecdoche: It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.
Climax: At 6:20 a.m. the ground began to heave. Windows rattled; then they broke. Objects started falling from shelves. Water heaters fell from their pedestals, tearing out plumbing. Outside, the road began to break up. Water mains and gas lines were wrenched apart, causing flooding and the danger of explosion. Office buildings began crackling; soon twenty, thirty, forty stories of concrete were diving at the helpless pedestrians panicking below.
Synecdoche: a form of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short any portion, section or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa)
Egotism: When speaking about one's own accomplishments, understatement can avoid charge of ________.
Epistrophe: ___________ is a good technique to use to stress a concept heavily.
Denotation: a word's dictionary definition
Anaphora: Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to what he has learned?
Metonymy: Boy, I'm dying from the heat. Just look how the mercury is rising.
Allusion: Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noa build the ark. --Richard Cushing
Anaphora: Slowly and grimly they advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.
Anaphora: They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money. --Richard de Bury
Epistrophe: You will find washing breakers helpful in passing this course, using the gas chromatograph desirable for passing this course, and studying hours on end essential to passing this course.
Metaphor: The furnace of the affliction had softened his heart and purified his soul.
Simile: The grass bends with every wind; so does Harvey.
Literature, History, Greek Myth, and Bible: The best sources of allusions are _______________________________.
Simile: And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. --Francis Bacon
Metonymy: You can't fight city hall.
1: Which number is better? 1. The second law of thermodynamics pretty much works against the possibility of such an event. 2. The second law of thermodynamics proves conclusively that the theory is utterly false and ridiculous.
Syllogism: Major Premise: All men are mortal Minor Premise: Socrates is a man Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Personification: I can't get the fuel pump back on because this bold is being uncooperative.
Litotes: He who examines his own self will not long remain ignorant of his failings.
Apostrophe: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! --Luke 13:34 (NASB)
Chiasmus: For the lord is a Great God...in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are his also. --Psalm 95:4
Chiasmus: If you come to them, they are not asleep; if you ask and inquire of them, they do not withdraw themselves; they do not chide if you make mistakes; they do not laugh at you if you are ignorant. --Richard de Bury
Chiasmus: reverse parallelism, instead of an A,B structure (learned unwillingly) being followed by A,B structure (gladly forgotten), A,B structure (learned unwillingly) is followed by B,A structure (forgotten gladly)
Parenthesis: Every time I try to think of a good hetorical example, I rack my brains but--you guessed--nothing happens.
Litotes: Overall the flavors of the mushrooms, herbs, and spices combine to make the dish not at all disagreeable to the palate.
Simile: As wax melts before the fire,/may the wicked perish before God. --Psalm 68:2b
Litotes: a particular form of understatement that is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used
Parallelism: recurrent systematical similarity
Connotation: refers to the personal and emotional meaning evoked by a word that goes beyond dictionary definitions
Personification: We bought this house instead of the one on Maple because this one is more friendly.
Simile: Fortune is like glass--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. --Publilius Syrus
Hyperbole: If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. --Luke 14:26 (NASB)
Imagery: When the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table.
Synecdoche: Put Beethoven on the turntable and turn up the volume.
Valid: A syllogism's conclusion is only _______ if each of its 2 premises are _______.
Metaphor: Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." --John 6:35
Understatement: intentionally represents something as less than it is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact, usually used when the audience is expected to know the true nature of a fact that is difficult to describe in a brief space
Parallelism (Verbs and Adverbs): I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
Antithesis: Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.
Simile: After such long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the houseplant looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.
Allusion: casual and brief reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event
Simile: I see men, but they look like trees, walking. --Mark 8:24
Metonymy: This land belongs to the crown.
Chiasmus: He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
Parallelism: These critics--who point out the beauties of style and ideas, who discover the faults of false constructions, and who discuss the application of the rules--usually help a lot in engendering an understanding of the writer's essay.
Antithesis: That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's outlook.
Climax: gradatio, consist of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis, usually involves parallelism but parallelism is not necessary
Understatement: Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you were to be hit by a drunk driver at two a.m., so I hope you will be home early.
Understatement: The 1906 San Fransisco earthquake interrupted business somewhat in the downtown area.
Paradox: To be popular one must be a mediocrity. --Oscar Wilde
Parenthesis: As the earthy portion has its origin from earth, the watery from a different element, my breath from one source and my hot and fiery parts from another of their own elsewhere (fro nothing comes from nothing, or can return to nothing), so too there must be an origin for the mind. -- Marcus Aurelius
Antithesis: That's one small step for man, on giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong
Chiasmus: Polished in courts and hardened in the field, renowned for conquest, and in council skilled. --Joseph Addison
Antithesis: establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure
Analogy: ...for answers successfully arrived at are solutions to difficulties previously discussed, and one cannot untie a knot if he is ignorant of it. --Aristotle
Hyperbole: There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy.
Parenthesis: consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence
Analogy: The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (And so forth, to the end of the chapter.) --Cor. 12:12 (NIV)
Epistrophe: Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is subdued, good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever are subdued. --Wilson
Climax: To have faults is not good, but faults are human. Worse is to have the and not see them. Yet beyond that is to have faults, to see them, and to do nothing about them. But even tat seems mild compared to him who knows his faults, and who parades them about and encourages them as though they were virtues.
Metaphor: The fountain of knowledge will dry up unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new learning.
Litotes: We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery.
Parenthesis: But the new calculations--and here we see the value of relying upon up-to-date information--showed that man-powered flight was possible with this design.
Metaphor: I wonder when motor mouth is going to run out of gas.
Personification: Wisdom cries aloud in the streets; in the markets she raises her voice... --Psalm 1:20 (RSV; and cf. 1:21-33)
Epistrophe: or antistrophe, conterpart to anaphora, repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences
Analogy: You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables. -- Samuel Johnson
Parallelism (Subjects and Modifiers): Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.
2: Which number is better? 1. Anyone who says this water is safe to drink is either stupid or foolish. The stuff is poisoned with coliform bacteria. Don't those idiots know that? 2. My opponents think this water is drinkable, but I'm not sure I would drink it. Perhaps they are not aware of the dangerous bacterial count...[and so on, explaining the basis of your opinion].
Metonymy: The orders came directly from the White House.
Metonymy: a form of metaphor, similar to synecdoche, a closely associated object is substituted for the object or idea in mind
Synecdoche: The army included two hundred horse and three hundred foot.
Hyperbole: I said "rare," not "raw." I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get well.
Antithesis: To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope
Litotes: Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car any good.
Paradox: a situation or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not
Variety and Energy: Allusion can introduce __________________ to a limited discussion.
Climax: The concerto was applauded at the house of Baron von Schnooty, it was praised highly at court, it was voted best concerto of the year by the Academy, it was considered by Mozart the highlight of his career, and it has become known today as the best concerto in the world.
Anaphora: If we can get the lantern lit, if we can find the main cave, and if we can see the stalagmites, I'll show you the one with the bat skeleton in it.
Personification: The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea.
Anaphora: the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and parallelism
Understatement: Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled...to begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well... --Jane Austen
Epistrophe: And all the night he did nothing but weep Philoclea, sigh Philoclea, and cry out Philoclea. --Philip Sidney
Synecdoche: If I had some wheels, I'd put on my best threads and ask for Jane's hand in marriage.
Litotes: If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say it is more than she herself can do. --Alexander Pope
Simile: The seas are quiet when the winds give o're;/So calm are we when passions are no more. --Edmund Waller
Metaphor: a comparison which imaginatively identifies one thing with another, dissimilar thing and transfers or ascribes to the first thing some of the qualities of the second, saying that one is the other
2: Which number uses litotes? 1. Heat waves are common in the summer. 2. Heat waves are not rare in the summer.
Parenthisis: But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself, --2 Cor. 11:21b (NASB)
Antithesis: Success makes men proud; failure makes them wise.
Paradox: That I am rise, and stand, o'erthrow me,
Understatement: ________________ is useful in dealing with a hostile audience or in disagreeing with someone, because the statement, while carrying the same point, is much less offensive.
Hyperbole: overstatement, the counterpart of understatement, deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect
Simile: direct, expressed comparison between two things essentially unlike but resembling each other in at least one aspect (often has like or as like or as)
Anaphora: They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressins; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fance; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account. --Samuel Johnson
Paradox: Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. --Oscar Wilde
Synecdoche: Farmer Jones has 200 head of cattle and three hired hands.
Anaphora: To think on death it is a misery,/To think on life it is a vanity;/To think on the world verily it is,/To think that here ban hat no perfect bliss. --Peacham
Un: When using litotes, try not to use not and then a word beginning in ___ (Not ____-).
Personification: metaphorically represents an animal, idea, abstraction, or inanimate object as having human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on
Anaphora: Not time, not money, not laws, but willing diligence will get this done.
Antithesis: If we try, we might succeed; if we do not try, we cannot succeed.
Simile: Here is your pencil and paper. I want you to compete as the greatest hero would in the race of is life.
Invective: an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack that uses strong, abusive language
Personification: This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.
Imagery: a word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, smell
Parallelism: To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
Litotes: A figure lean or corpulent, tall or short, through deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of the various parts, which may contribute to make them on the whole not unpleasing. --Sir Joshua Renyolds
Allusion: If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again.
Ironic: Sometimes litotes causes an ________ meaning.
Simile: THey remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.
Apostrophe: interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent
Metonymy: The checkered flag waved and victory crossed the finish line.
Parallelism: He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
Simile: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun... --Shakespeare

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