Rhetorical Devices

Question 1

Antithesis

Answer 1

Opposing ideas expressed in parallel form.

Ex: Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for a man but a giant step for mankind.”

Question 2

Anadiplosis

Answer 2

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the end of one phrase or clause and the beginning of the next phrase or clause.
Ex: When I give, I give myself.

Question 3

Simile

Answer 3

Compares 2 different thing that resemble each other in at least one way.
>Noun-noun=like
> Verb-Verb=as

Question 4

Syllepsis

Answer 4

Use of one term one time but in two ways; one literal, the other figurative.
Ex: Ms. Pippin lost her grade book and her sanity.

Question 5

Apostrophe

Answer 5

To directly address a person or personified thing, either present or absent.
Ex: Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Question 6

Personification

Answer 6

Metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes.
Ex: The painting spoke to me.

Question 7

Chiasmus

Answer 7

An inversion of a grammatical structure, idea, or sound.
Ex: “Do I love you because you’re beautiful?
Or are you beautiful because I love you?

Question 8

Ellipsis

Answer 8

The omission of a word easily supplied.

Question 9

Epistrophe

Answer 9

Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the end of a sentence.
Ex: Where now? Who now? When now?”

Question 10

Metonymy

Answer 10

A type of metaphor that uses something closely associated with (but not actually part of) a subject in order to represent that subject.
Ex:“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Question 11

Parallelism

Answer 11

The repetition of grammatical structures.

Ex: to be or not to be.

Question 12

Anaphora

Answer 12

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of a sentence.
Ex: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

Question 13

Allusion

Answer 13

A short, informal reference to a famous person or event for comparison.
Ex: He was as smart as Einstein.

Question 14

Climax

Answer 14

A list that increases by degree of importance.

Ex: I got an A on a test, a house, and the world.

Question 15

Dramatic Irony

Answer 15

When the readers know something that the character doesn’t know.

Question 16

Procatalepsis

Answer 16

anticipates an objection that might be raised by an audience and responds to it.

Question 17

Metabasis

Answer 17

A brief statement of what has been said and what will follow; a transitional summary.

Question 18

Verbal Irony

Answer 18

Saying one thing, but meaning something else.

Ex: Of course it is safe to jump of a cliff.

Question 19

Hypophora

Answer 19

Asks one or more questions and then proceeds to answer those questions .
Ex: Do you think soda should be allowed at school? I think…

Question 20

Polysyndeton

Answer 20

Use of conjunctions between each part of a list.

Ex: I ate and slept and played and sang.

Question 21

Tricolon

Answer 21

A sentence with 3 clearly defined parts of equal length.

Ex: Students, peers, friends…

Question 22

Situation Irony

Answer 22

Expecting one thing to happen but getting something else or having something else happen.

Question 23

Understatement

Answer 23

The deliberate expression of an idea as less important than it actually is.

Question 24

Hyperbole

Answer 24

Deliberate exaggeration of conditions for emphasis or effect.

Question 25

Asyndeton

Answer 25

The strategy of no conjunctions between words, phrases or clauses for the purpose of order to create a spontaneous or unpremeditated tone.

Question 26

Metaphor

Answer 26

Compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other asserting that one thing is the other thing.