Devices Flashcards
Anacoluthon
A sudden break in a sentence’s grammatical structure: “So, then I pulled up to her house /— are you still with me here?/”
Amplification
An expansion of detail to clarify a point: “We few, /we happy few/, we band of brothers.”
Anadiplosis
Repetition of words, especially located at the end of one phrase or clause and the beginning of the next: “I was at a loss for \words\, /words/ that perhaps would have gotten me into even more trouble.”
Anaphora
Repetition of one or more words at the head of consecutive clauses, phrases, or sentences: “/I/ came, /I/ saw, /I/ conquered.”
Anastrophe
Inversion of word order to mark emphasis: “Enter the \forest\ /primeval/.”
Antanaclasis
Repetition of a word in a sentence in which a different meaning is applied each time: “If you aren’t fired with \enthusiasm\, you will be fired, with /enthusiasm/.”
Antanagoge
The contradiction of a negative comment with a positive one: “\The car wouldn’t start this time\, but /at least it didn’t catch on fire/.”
Antimetabole
Reversal of repeated phrases or words for effect: “Ask not \what your country can do for you\, but /what you can do for your country/.”
Antiphrasis
Ironic use of a single word: “It was a cool /100 degrees/ in the shade.”
Antistrophe
Repetition of a word or phrase at the close of successive clauses: “You said he was late /— true enough/. You said he was not prepared /— true enough/. You said he did not defend his statements /— true enough/.”
Antithesis
Contrast within parallel phrases [not to be confused with the ordinary use of word to mean “extreme opposite”]: “\Many are called\, /but few are chosen/.”
Can also refer to literary characters who, though not necessarily antagonists, represent opposite personal characteristics or moral views.
Apophasis
Calling attention to something by dismissing it: “No one would suggest that those who are homeless /elected to live on the streets willingly/.”
Aporia
A statement of hesitation, also known as dubitatio, in which characters express to themselves an actual or feigned doubt or dilemma: “\Should I strike now\, /or bide my time/?”
Aposiopesis
Abrupt discontinuation of a statement: “If you say that one more time, I’m gonna /—/”
Apostrophe
Interruption of thought to directly address a person or a personification: “/So, I ask you, dear reader, what would you have me do/?”
Asyndeton
Absence of conjunctions: “We cannot dedicate/,/ we cannot consecrate/,/ we cannot hallow this ground.”
Auxesis
Exaggeration, often with sequential enhancement: “You found my purse? You are /a hero/, /a prince/, /a god/!”
Bdelygmia
A rant of abusive language: “Calling you an idiot would be /an insult to stupid people/. /Are you always this stupid, or are you just making a special effort today/?”
Bomphiologia
Excessive braggadocio: “I am the very model of a modern major-general. I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral.” Also known as verborum bombus.
Brachyology
An abbreviated expression or telegrammatic statement: “‘Morning,’ he mumbled as he stumbled out of bed”; “I have three words for you, buddy: /pot, kettle, black/.”
Cacophony
Deliberate use of harsh letter sounds: “The /clash/ and /clang/ of steel /jarred/ him awake.”
Catachresis
A hyperbolic metaphor, as in “Each word was /lightning bolt/ to his heart.”
Chiasmus
This is the reversal of grammatical order from one phrase to the next, exemplified in these two well-known quotes about evaluation: “Judge not, lest ye be judged” and “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
Commoratio
Repetition of a point with different wording: “He’s /passed on/! This parrot /is no more/! He has /ceased to be/! He’s /expired and gone to meet his maker/! [etc., ad absurdum]
Dehortatio
Imperative advice about how not to act: “/Do not/ look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Diacope
Repetition of one or more words after the interval of one or more other words: “People who /like this sort of thing/ will find /this sort of thing they like/.”
Diatyposis
Advice: “/Do unto others as you would have others do unto you/.”
Distinctio
A definition or clarification of a term: “What we will be seeking… will be large, stable communities of like-minded people, /which is to say relatives/.”
Epanelepsis
Starting and ending a phrase, clause, or sentence, or passage, with the same word or phrase: “/Nothing/ is worse than doing /nothing/.”
Epistrophe
The repetition of a word at the end of each clause or phrase: “I swear to tell the /truth/, the whole /truth/, and nothing but the /truth/.”
Epizeuxis
Also called palilogia, refers to nothing more than the repetition of words: “To my fifteen year old daughter, everything is ‘/boring, boring, boring/!’”
Hendiadys
A conjunctive rather than a coordinative phrase: “I made it nice and hot, /just/ the way you like it.”
Hyperbaton
Excursion from natural word order in various ways: “Theirs was a glory unsurpassed”; “It is a sad story but true.”
Hysteron-proteron
A reversal of logical order of elements in a phrase: “\Sudden thunder and lightning\ /drove them to shelter/.”
Litotes
This is the strategy of understatement often employed to provide subtle emphasis, frequently for ironic effect or to underline a passionate opinion: “The assassin was /not acquainted/ with danger.”
Meiosis
A dismissive epithet, such as treehugger, or a humourously dismissive understatement [also known as tapinosis], such as: “It’s /just a flesh wound/!”
Metanoia
The qualification of a statement to either diminish or strengthen its tone, as in “She was disturbed — /make that appalled/ — by the spectacle.” Traditionally, /nay/ is often a keyword that sets up the shift, but no replaces it in modern usage except in facetious or whimsical writing: “You are the fairest flower in the garden — /nay, in the entire meadow/.”
Paronomasia
Punning wordplay, including any of many types, including homophonic or homographic puns, both of which are included in this example: “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t /tuna fish/. Unless of course, you play /bass/.”
Pleonasm
Redundancy for emphasis: “We /heard/ it with out own /ears/.”
Polyptoton
Repetition of two or more formes of a word; also known as paregmenon: “You try to /forget/ and in the /forgetting/, you are yourself /forgotten/.”
Polysyndeton
Insertion of conjunctions before each word in a list: “My fellow students read /and/ studied /and/ wrote /and/ passed. I laughed /and/ played /and/ talked /and/ failed.”
Scesis Onomaton
Repetition of an idea using synonymous words or phrases: “We /succeeded/, /won/, and walked away /victorious/.”
Sententia
The punctuation of a point with an aphorism such as “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Sentential Adverbs
These single words or brief phrases emphasise the thought they precede, interrupt, of — rarely — follow. Examples include however, naturally, no doubt, and of course — and, in informal writing, phrases such as “you see”.
Syllepsis
Divergent use of a word in two phrases: “We must all /hang together/ or assuredly we will all /hang separate/.”
Symploce
A combination of anaphora and epistrophe: “To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man.”
Synathroesmus
A series of adjectives, also known as accumulatio, compiled often in the service of criticism: “You’re the most /arrogant, selfish, self-absorbed, insufferable narcissist/ I’ve ever met!”
Synecdoche
Substitution of a part or a substance for a whole, one thing for another, or a specific name used for a generic: “A hundred /head/ of cattle were scattered throughout the field”; “A /regiment/ of horse paraded by”; “The swordsmen unsheathed their /steel/”; “Do you have a /Kleenex/?”
Tapinosis
Invective: “Get out of my way, you /mouth-breathing cretin/.”
Tricolon
A series of three parallel words, phrases, clauses, or statements: “Tell me and /I forget/. Teach me and /I remember/. Involve me and /I learn/.”
