Rhetorical Devices

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence.

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

A short, informal reference to a famous person or event.

Question 3

Anaphora

Answer 3

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Question 4

Antimetabole

Answer 4

Reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, to show contrast.

Question 5

Antithesis

Answer 5

Opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.

Question 6

Archaic Diction

Answer 6

Use of an older or obsolete form.

Question 7

Asyndeton

Answer 7

lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

Question 8

Cumulative Sentence

Answer 8

A sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on.

Question 9

Hortative Sentence

Answer 9

A sentence to encourage and spur people on.

Question 10

Imperative Sentence

Answer 10

Sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat.

Question 11

Inversion

Answer 11

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).

Question 12

Metaphor

Answer 12

Implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.

Question 13

Metonymy

Answer 13

Using a single feature to represent the whole.

Question 14

Oxymoron

Answer 14

Apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.

Question 15

Parallelism

Answer 15

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Question 16

Periodic Sentence

Answer 16

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

Question 17

Personification

Answer 17

A trope or figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities.

Question 18

Polysyndeton

Answer 18

Deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

Question 19

Rhetorical Question (Erotisis)

Answer 19

Differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no. It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.

Question 20

Synechdoche

Answer 20

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in “nice wheels!” referring to one’s car.