rhetorical terms
Terms
undefined, object
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- a play on the meaning of words
- pun
- an implied comparison between two unlike things
- metaphor
- an explicit comparison between two unlike things signaled by the use of like or as
- simile
- attributing human qualities to an inanimate object
- personification
- the writer takes another voice or role that states the opposite of what is expressed
- irony
- exaggeration; deliberate exaggeration for emphasis
- hyperbole
- opposite of hyperbole, intensifies an idea by understatement
- litotes
- related to classification and division-a part is substituted for the whole, or the species for the genus
- synecdoche
- designation of one thing with something closely associated
- metonymy
- contradiction; two contradictory terms or ideas used together
- oxymoron
- a statement that appears to be contradictory but, in fact, has some truth
- paradox
- refers to the use of words whose sound reinforces their meaning
- onomatopoeia
- commonly defined as those questions that do not require an answer
- rhetorical question
- a turn away from the audience to address someone or something new
- apostrophe
- substitue less pungent words for harsh ones, with excellent ironic effect
- euphemism
- expresses similar or related ideas in similar grammatical structures
- parallelism
- grammatical structure of the first clause or phrase is reversed in the second, sometimes repeating the same words
- chiasmus
- writer arranges ideas in order of importance
- climax
- the juxaposition of contrasting ideas
- antithesis
- "yoking" the verb, when an object has two or more objects on different levels, such as concrete and abstract
- zeugma
- word order is reversed or rearranged
- anastrophe
- placing next to a noun another noun or phrase that explains it.
- apposition
- the insertion of words, phrases, or a sentence that is not syntactically realted to the rest of the sentence.
- parenthesis
- conjuctions are omitted, producing a fast-paced and rapid prose
- asyndenton
- repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occured at the beginning
- epanalepsis
- the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses
- anaphora
- repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses (opposite of anaphora)
- epistrophe
- the use of many conjunctions to slow the pace
- polysyndenton
- the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words
- alliteration
- involves the repetition of sounds within words
- assonance
- words at the ends of verse in which the final consonants in the stressed syllables agree but the words that precede them differ; sometimes called "half rhyme"
- consonance
- the main idea is at the end of the sentence
- periodic sentence
- the main idea and then the rest of the sentence
- loose sentence