Schemes And Tropes Flashcards
Inversions of the natural or usual word order.
Like Yoda talk.
Examples:
“Chocolate does not a diet make.”
“He spoke of times past and future, and dreamt of things to be.”
Anastrophe
A single word or phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the expletive.
Examples:
“This is, I might add, a rough schedule.”
Parentheses
The substitution of less pigment words for harsh ones, with ironic effects.
Examples:
“The schoolmaster corrected the slightest fault with his birch reminder.”
“I’m not short. I’m vertically challenged.”
Euphemism
The use of exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
Examples:
“His eloquence could split rocks”
“I had to wait in the station for 10 days—an eternity—.”
Hyperbole
The use of deliberate understatement for emphasis or effect.
Examples:
“Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn’t do the car any good.”
Litotes
Implied comparison between two things of unlike nature, yet which have something in common.
Examples:
“The question of federal aid is a bramble patch.”
Metaphor
Using a closely related object as a substitute for the object or idea in mind.
Examples:
“Those orders came directly from the crown.”
Metonymy
Investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or abilities.
Examples:
“The ground thirst for rain.”
Personification
And explicit comparison, usually using “like”, “as”, or “than” between two things of unlike nature yet that have something in common.
Examples:
“Silence settled over the audience like a block of granite.”
Simile
Using a part to represent a whole.
Examples:
“I asked for her hand in mairrage.”
Synecdoche
Figure by which a word conveys a meaning opposite of its literal meaning.
Examples:
“For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, honorable men”
Verbal Irony
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas.
Examples:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Antithesis
Balanced elements are presented in reverse order rather than in the same order.
Examples:
“The code breakers worked constantly but rarely succeeded.”
Chiasmus
Similarity of structure in a pair of series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Examples:
“Over the river and through the woods.”
“He slept quietly and ate politely.”
Parallelism
Repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginning of successful clauses.
Examples:
“In books, I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth…”
Anaphora
Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.
Examples:
“The crime was common; common be the pain.”
Anadiplosis
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses.
Examples:
“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.”
Epistrophe
Deliberate use of many conjunctions.
Examples:
“This semester I am taking history, and math, and English, and science.”
Polysyndeton
Deliberate omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.
Examples:
“We came, we saw, we conquered.”
Asyndeton
Deliberate omission of a word or words, which are readily implied by the context.
Examples:
“The masters degrees awarded by thirty-two departments, and the PhD by thirty-three.”
Ellipsis
