Rhetorical Terms 1-25

Question 1

Parallelism

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Isocolon

Answer 2

A scheme of parallel structure that occurs when the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical
structure but also in length

Question 3

Antithesis

Answer 3

— the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure.

Question 4

Anastrophe

Answer 4

the inversion of natural word order

Question 5

Parenthesis

Answer 5

— insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the
sentence

Question 6

Ellipsis

Answer 6

• deliberate omission of a word or of words

Question 7

Asyndeton

Answer 7

• deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of words, phrases, or clauses.

Question 8

Polysyndeton

Answer 8

— deliberate use of many conjunctions

Question 9

Alliteration

Answer 9

• repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.

Question 10

Assonance

Answer 10

• the repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the
  stressed syllables of adjacent words.

Question 11

Anaphora

Answer 11

— repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginnings of successive phrases.

Question 12

Epistrophe

Answer 12

— repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive phrases.

Question 13

Epanalepsis

Answer 13

— repetition of the same word or words at both beginning and ending of a
phrase, clause, or sentence.

Question 14

Anadiplosis

Answer 14

— repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following
clause.

Question 15

Climax

Answer 15

— arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance.

Question 16

Antimetabole

Answer 16

— repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order.

Question 17

Chiasmus

Answer 17

— reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses.

Question 18

Polyptoton

Answer 18

— repetition of words derived from the same root.

Question 19

Metaphor

Answer 19

• implied comparison between two things of unlike nature

Question 20

Simile

Answer 20

• comparison between two things usually using “like” or “as”

Question 21

Synecdoche

Answer 21

— figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole

Question 22

Metonymy

Answer 22

– substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant.

Question 23

Antanaclasis

Answer 23

– repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance.

Question 24

Personification

Answer 24

— investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities

Question 25

Hyperbole

Answer 25

— the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.