Rhetorical Terms

Question 1

Tropes

Answer 1

figures of speech with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words

Question 2

Analogy

Answer 2

a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

Question 3

Simile

Answer 3

a comparison using “like” or “as”

Question 4

Metaphor

Answer 4

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable

Question 5

Litotes

Answer 5

a form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite

Question 6

Apostrophe

Answer 6

a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person

Question 7

Synecdoche

Answer 7

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa

Question 8

Metonymy

Answer 8

the use of a word or phrase, when you refer to something using the name of something else that it is closely related to

Question 9

Euphemism

Answer 9

an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Question 10

Understatement

Answer 10

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

Question 11

Antonomasia

Answer 11

a substitution trope where a descriptive phrase is substituted for a proper name

Question 12

Schemes

Answer 12

word order is altered from the usual or expected

Question 13

Chiasmus

Answer 13

a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed (ABBA pattern)

Question 14

Analepsis

Answer 14

flashback; depiction of earlier story points after later events have been revealed

Question 15

Parallelism

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Antithesis

Answer 16

the direct opposite, a sharp contrast

Question 17

Anadiplosis

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Polyptoton

Answer 18

repetition of words derived from the same root

Question 19

Anaphora

Answer 19

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Question 20

Assonance

Answer 20

repetition of vowel sounds (AEIOU)

Question 21

Consonance

Answer 21

repetition of consonant sounds

Question 22

Anastrophe

Answer 22

inversion of the natural or usual word order

Question 23

Apposition

Answer 23

a word or phrase placed next to another word in order to define or identify it

Question 24

Zeugma

Answer 24

use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different meanings

Question 25

Asyndeton

Answer 25

omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Question 26

Polysyndeton

Answer 26

the deliberate use of a series of conjunctions

Question 27

Aphorism

Answer 27

a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life

Question 28

Ambiguity

Answer 28

an event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way

Question 29

Connotation

Answer 29

all the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

Question 30

Denotation

Answer 30

the dictionary definition of a word

Question 31

Diction

Answer 31

a writer or speaker’s choice of words

Question 32

Mood

Answer 32

feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Question 33

Tone

Answer 33

attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Question 34

Parable

Answer 34

a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson

Question 35

Oxymoron

Answer 35

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase

Question 36

Paradox

Answer 36

a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

Question 37

Syntax

Answer 37

the sentence structure