Rhetorical Choices and Devices

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A piece of writing that can be interpreted as having a hidden meaning that is usually a moral or political issue.

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

A reference to a different source, person, event, or thing based on the assumption the reader will know the reference and understand it.

Question 4

Apposition

Answer 4

When words or phrases that are meant to be the same thing are placed beside each other in writing.

Question 5

Anachronism

Answer 5

An element of a story that conflicts with the time period it was written in.

Question 6

Anadiplosis

Answer 6

Repetition where the last word/words used in the previous clause or phrase repeats as the first word/words in the next clause or phrase.

Question 7

Anaphora

Answer 7

The repetition of the same word/words.

Question 8

Anecdote

Answer 8

A short and interesting narrative about a real incident or person that adds to the story.

Question 9

Antanaclasis

Answer 9

A literary device using puns—using words or phrases that sound the same but have different meanings the second time it is used.

Question 10

Antithesis

Answer 10

Two contrasting words, phrases, clauses, or ideas with parallel structure.

Question 11

Assonance

Answer 11

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Question 12

Asyndeton

Answer 12

When conjunctions are intentionally omitted to set a specific tone in a sentence.

Question 13

Chiasmus

Answer 13

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed.

Question 14

Cliche

Answer 14

A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.

Question 15

Connotation

Answer 15

Implied or secondary meaning of a word beyond its literal definition.

Question 16

Epistrophe

Answer 16

Repetition at the end of successive clauses/sentence.

Question 17

Hyperbole

Answer 17

Exaggeration.

Question 18

Hypophora

Answer 18

A figure of speech where the speaker asks a question then proceeds to answer it.

Question 19

Irony

Answer 19

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Question 20

Isocolon

Answer 20

A succession of sentences, phrases, and clauses of grammatically equal length.

Question 21

Juxtaposition

Answer 21

Placing things side by side for the purpose of comparison.

Question 22

Litote

Answer 22

A phrase that uses negation to create an affirmative understatement.

Question 23

Metaphor

Answer 23

An implied comparison not using “like” or “as”.

Question 24

Oxymoron

Answer 24

When contradictory terms are grouped together.

Question 25

Paradox

Answer 25

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Question 26

Personification

Answer 26

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

Question 27

Polyptoton

Answer 27

The rhetorical repetition of a word in a different case, inflection, or voice in the same sentence.

Question 28

Polysyndeton

Answer 28

Creating a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.)

Question 29

Repetition

Answer 29

Using the same word or phrase over and over again in a piece of writing or speech.

Question 30

Rhetorical Question

Answer 30

A question asked only for effect.

Question 31

Simile

Answer 31

Comparing using “like” or “as”.

Question 32

Syllogism

Answer 32

A deductive scheme of a formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion.

Question 33

Zeugma

Answer 33

When a word applies to two others in a different sense.