Figures Of Speech Flashcards
Repetitio
-a word/phrase is repeated almost verbatim a number of times, hammering it home to the audience
Anaphora
-a repetitio at the start of a number of sentences or lines of verse
The rule of three
- a discourse (rede) has three phases
- use of three arguments
Chiasmus
-two related sentences or phrases are each other’s syntactical mirror image
Rhetorical question
- question which is a definite statement in the shape of a question
- sometimes an exclamation mark rather than a question mark is used
- is not meant to be answered
Metaphor
-you call something by another name directly, comparing that which you really mean with that which you call it
Tautology
- concept is repeated using a different word that has (roughly)the same meaning
- both words belong to the same lexical category
Pleonasm
- an obvious quality of an object or a concept is repeated
- two words or concepts used in a pleonasm belong to two different lexical categories
- carelessly used Pleonasms are also considered to be stylistic errors
Hyperbole
- more or less appropriate exaggeration
- often has a comical effect
Enumeration
- a number of names, facts, arguments follow each other up
- giving each element of the enumeration an emphatic and convincing ring
Paradox
- an apparent contradiction
- something appears not to be right, but upon closer reading the phrasing turns out to be correct after all
Understatement
- opposite of hyperbole
- intentional trivialization
Euphemism
- a term which sounds too harsh or unkind is replaced with another, less direct term
- euphemisms are mostly used for fear of calling something by its real name
- often used ironically
Oxymoron
-combination of two contradiction terms
Litotes
- special kind of understatement
- something is strongly emphasized by denying the opposite
