Rhetorical Devices

Question 1

Anaphora

Answer 1

the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses

Question 2

Apostrophe

Answer 2

a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate

Question 3

Asyndeton

Answer 3

the conjunctions that typically connect a series of words, phrases or clauses are omitted and instead, only commas are used. This continuous flow of thought speeds up the rhythm of the passage and a single idea becomes more memorable

Question 4

Chiasmus

Answer 4

in rhetoric, a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed

Question 5

Epiphora

Answer 5

a rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses

Question 6

Euphemism

Answer 6

the substitution of an inoffensive term, such as “passed away,” for one considered offensively explicit, such as “dead”

Question 7

Litotes

Answer 7

an understatement in which something is explained by negating its opposite

Question 8

Paradox

Answer 8

a statement that is seemingly contradictory. Although the statement may appear illogical, impossible, or absurd, it has a coherent meaning that reveals a hidden truth

Question 9

Polysyndeton

Answer 9

uses repetitive coordinating conjunctions to link words, phrases, or clauses together

Question 10

Synecdoche

Answer 10

a form of metaphor where part of something is used to signify the whole. The reverse, whereby the whole can represent a part, is also synecdoche. Other forms of synecdoche include when the general class name is used to denote a specific member of the class, or a specific name refers to something general. In one last form of synecdoche, the material form which an object is made stands for the object itself