Rhetorical Devices

Question 1

Anaphora

Answer 1

Repeating a word/phrase at the start of a sentence/clause. Ex. “It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place.”

Question 2

Symploce

Answer 2

Using both anaphora and epistrophe.

Question 3

Balance

Answer 3

A sentence is made up of two parts that are roughly equal in length, importance, and grammatical structure.

Question 4

Rhetorical Question

Answer 4

Question where the answer is obvious

Question 5

Antithesis

Answer 5

When the balanced part of the writer’s sentence contains contrasting ideas.

Question 6

Parallelism

Answer 6

When an author creates a balance in a sentence by re-using the same word structure in parts of the sentence. The elements in the sentence must have the same grammatical form or structure.

Question 7

Climax

Answer 7

Arranging words, phrases, or clauses in ascending order of importance or emotional force. ex. “A word from his lips might influence their passions, might change their opinion, might affect their destiny.”

Question 8

Chiasmus

Answer 8

A cross arrangement or reverse parallelism of two groups of words. Pattern AB then BA.

Question 9

Epistrophe

Answer 9

Repeating a word/phrase at the end of a sentence/clause. Ex. “I’m gonna cum. He’s gonna cum. We’re all gonna cum!”