Stylistic Devices Flashcards
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds.
Antithesis
Placement of two opposite ideas close together.
“And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
Balance sentences
Same syntax is used in both parts of the sentence.
“White supremacy implies black inferiority.”
Syntax
The way the sentence is written or constructed.
Direct address
Speaking directly to an audience using “you”, “your”, “yourself”.
Emotive language
Emotional connotations in texts.
Figurative language
Metaphors, similes, personifications.
First person plural.
We. Us. Our.
Create a sense of unity between author and audience.
Invective
Angry or insulting language.
Used to arose anger or outrage.
Parallel structure
Use of sentences or phrases that have a similar syntax.
Periodic sentences
Withholds it’s main idea until the end. A sense of building to the climax.
“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is the dog.”
Rhetorical questions
Imply their own answer or that authors answer themselves.
Tone
Emotional feeling of a text. Created using diction and syntax.
Tricolon
A three part phrase
“Friends, Romans, countrymen.”
Effective beaus the human brain seems more readily process ideas in groups of three.
Tetracolons
Four part phrase. More rare than tri colons.
Give a sense of drama and building to climax.
