alliteration

AlliterationAlliterationreferstotherepetitionofasoundat

thebeginningofseveralwordsincloseproximitytoeachother.Forexample:"Iseealsothedull,drilled,docile,brutishmassesoftheHunsoldieryploddingonlikeaswarmofcrawlinglocusts"(WinstonChurchillonthe

GermaninvasionofRussia).

allusion

AllusionAllusionisanexpressionorphraseinonetextthatcallstomindanexpressionorphrasefrom

anothertextwithoutdirectreference.Forexample:"Ihaveadreamthatonedayevery

valleyshallbeexalted..."(MartinLutherKinginIHaveaDream,1963,alludingtotheBible,Isaiah

40:4-5).

amplification

AmplificationAfigureofspeechthatrepeatsawordor

expressionwhileaddingmoredetailtoit,inordertoemphasizesomething.Forexample:"IknowIhavebutthebodyofaweakandfeeblewoman;butIhavetheheartofaking,andofakingofEngland,too"(QueenElizabethI,1533-

1603)

analogy

AnalogyAnanalogyisacomparisonoftwothingsorabstractideas.Asimileisaanexpressedanalogy.Ametaphorisanimpliedone.For

example:"Never,neverandneveragainshallitbethatthisbeautifullandwillagainexperiencetheoppressionofonebyanotherandsufferthe

indignityofbeingtheskunkoftheworld."(Inauguraladdress,NelsonMandela,1994).

anaphora

AnaphoraAnaphorareferstotherepetitionofwordsorphrasesasarhetoricalorstylisticdevice.Forexample:"Weshallfightonthebeaches,we

shallfightonthelandinggrounds,weshallfightinthefieldsandinthestreets,weshallfightinthehills;weshallneversurrender..."(Winston

Churchill,1940).

anadiplosis

AnadiplosisTherepetitionofthelastwordofaclauseorsentenceatthebeginningofthenext.For

example:Forexample:"Meningreatplacearethriceservants:servantsofthesovereignorstate;servantsoffame;andservantsofbusiness."(FrancisBacon1561-1626).

anastrophe

AnastropheArhetoricaldeviceinwhichthereisadeparture

fromnormalwordorderforthesakeofemphasis.Forexample:"Thepathtothedark

side,fearis”(Yoda,StarWars).

anecdote

AnecdoteAnanecdoteisasmallstoryortalethatisinteresting,humorousorbiographical.

Anecdotesoftencontainalessonforlife.Forexample:"Iamhonoredtobewithyoutodayatyourcommencementfromoneofthefinestuniversitiesintheworld.Inevergraduatedfromcollege.Truthbetold,thisistheclosest

I'veevergottentoacollegegraduation"(StanfordCommencement,SteveJobs,2005).

antithesis

AntithesisAntithesisisarhetoricaldeviceinwhichtwoideasarecontrasted,usingparallelsyntacticalstructures.Forexample:"Onesmallstepfor

man,onegiantleapformankind"(NeilArmstrong,1969).

asyndeton

AsyndetonAlackofconjunctions(e.g.'and')between

successivephrasesorwords.Forexample:"Weshallpayanyprice,bearanyburden,meetanyhardships,supportanyfriend,opposeanyfoeto

assurethesurvivalandthesuccessofliberty"(InauguralAddress,JohnF.Kennedy,

1961).

chiasmus

ChiasmusArhetoricaldevicewherethephraseisone

sentenceisreversedinthenextsentences.Forexample:"Asknotwhatyourcountrycandoforyou;askwhatyoucandoforyourcountry."(Inauguraladdress,JohnF.Kennedy,1961).

diacope

DiacopeThisrhetoricaldeviceinvolvestherepetitionofaphrase,withtheinterruptionbyanotherwordorphrase.Forexample:"Freeatlast,freeat

last;thankGodalmighty,freeatlast!"(IHaveaDream,MartinLutherKing,1963).

distinctio

DistinctioArhetoricaldeviceinwhichoneelaborateonaparticularwordtopreventmisunderstandingorambiguity.Forexample:"Thetaskcouldbe

describedasdifficult,ifbydifficultwemeanthatitwillentailhardship"(WinstonChurchill,1940).

eponym

EponymTheactofusingafamousperson'snameto

conveyanidea.Forexample:"Youdon'thavetobeEinsteintofigurethisout."

ethos

EthosEthos,intheartofrhetoric,referstoaspeaker'sappealtoethicsandcredibility.Forexample,yourdoctormaysaytoyou:"Forthesakeofyourownhealth,Iforbidyoufromdrinking

alcohol."

expletive

ExpletiveAnexpletiveisashortphrasethatisinsertedintoasentence,asaninterruption,toclarifyapoint.Forexample:"Andthiscity–thisGoldenCitywhichisbothancientandyouthful–standsasalivingmonumenttoyourunconquerable

spirit"(BarackObama,2009).

hyperbole

HyperboleHyperboleisformoffigurativelanguagethatissodramaticandexaggerated,onecouldhardlybelieveittrue.Forexample;“I’msohungry,I

couldeatahorse.”

hypophora

HypophoraHypophoraisarhetoricaldevice,oftenfoundinspeeches,wherethespeakerasksaquestionandthenproceedstoanswerit.Forexample:“Youask,whatisourpolicy?Iwillsay:Itistowagewar,bysea,land,andair,withallourmightandwithallthestrengththatGodcangiveus;towagewaragainstamonstroustyrannyneversurpassedinthedark,lamentablecatalogueofhumancrime.Thatisourpolicy.”(WinstonChurchill,1940)

litotes

LitotesLitotesareafigureofspeechinwhich

understatementisusedto'soften'themeaningofaword.Forexample:saying'notunattractive'

torefertosomethingthat'sugly.

logos

LogosLogosisanappealtologicinrhetoric.Itiswhen

aspeakeraimstoconvinceanaudiencebypresentinglogicalarguments.

meiosis

MeiosisMeiosisistheoppositeofhyperbole;itisa

formofunderstatement.Itissimilartolitotesandeuphemism,inthatit

softenstheimpactofaphraseorword.'TheTroubles'isanexampleofmeiosis,referringtotheviolenceinNorthern

Ireland.'Thepond'isalsoanexampleofmeiosis,referringtotheAtlanticOcean.

mesodiplosis

Mesodiplosis The repetition of a phrase in the middle of

successive sentence. For example: "Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a

student who needed it, and did her part to lift America’s graduation rate to its highest level in

more than three decades. An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup, and did her part to add to the more than eight million new jobs.” (Barack Oabama, 2014)

parallelism

Parallelism

Theuseofsuccessiveverbalconstructionsinpoetryorprosewhichcorrespondingrammaticalstructure,sound,metre,ormeaning.Forexample:"Myfellowcitizens:Istandheretodayhumbledbythetaskbeforeus,gratefulforthetrustyouhavebestowed,mindfulofthesacrificesbornebyour

ancestors"(BarackObama,2008).

pathos

PathosPathosisanappealtoemotioninrhetoric.

Itiswhenaspeakerconnectstotheaudienceemotionally.Forexample:“thetimeforthehealingofthewoundshascome.Themomenttobridgethechasmsthatdivideushascome.Thetimetobuild

isuponis”(NelsonMandela,1994).

polysyndeton

PolysyndetonPolysyndetonistherepetitionofaconjunction

betweeneachwordorphraseinalist.Forexample:"Timeandagainthesemenand

womenstruggledandsacrificedandworkedtilltheirhandswererawsothatwemightliveabetter

life"(BarackObama,2008).

symploce

SymploceSymploceistherepetitionofboththefirstandlastpartofasentenceoversuccessivesentences.Forexample:"MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundbitter,butit'sthetruth.MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundlikeit'sstirringuptrouble,butit'sthetruth.MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundlikeitishate,butit'sthe

truth”(MalcolmX).

tricolon

TricolonTricolonisarhetoricaldeviceinwhichthreeideasarelisted,usingsimilarsyntactical

structures.Inthissenseitisaformofparallelism.Itisalsorelatedtothe'ruleofthree',whichstatesthatideasareoftenbestpresentedinlistsofthree."Veni,vidi,vici"(Icame,Isaw,Iconquered)isoftencitedasan

exampleoftricolon.

variedsentencelength

VariedsentencelengthSpeechesoftencontrastlongsentenceswithveryshortones.Forexample:"Wededicatethisdaytoalltheheroesandheroinesinthiscountryandtherestoftheworldwhosacrificedinmanywaysand

surrenderedtheirlivessothatwecouldbefree.Theirdreamshavebecomereality"(Nelson

Mandela,1994).