Rhetorical Devices
What is a metaphor?
Direct poetic expression of 2 unlike things or ideas.
What is a simile?
Indirect poetic comparison that uses like or as to compare.
What is an allusion?
Reference to someone/something from literature or history.
What is personification?
Assigning human characteristics to non-human objects.
What is an anecdote?
Short account of an incident related to the main point.
What is a rhetorical question?
Question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
What is imagery?
Language that is particularly descriptive and vivid, often using figurative language or sensory details.
What is understatement?
Deliberate representation of something as much smaller, worse, or less important than it is in reality.
What is parallel structure?
Using the same pattern of words to create 2 or more ideas that have the same level of importance.
What is alliteration?
The repetition of the same sound at the start of several words.
What is parallelism?
The use of identical or near identical syntax in corresponding phrases.
What is ambiguity?
Having 2 or more possible meanings/interpretations.
What is an oxymoron?
Figure of speech that combines 2 normally contradictory terms.
What is juxtaposition?
Literary technique in which 2 or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.
What is onomatopoeia?
Word that sounds like the sound it represents.
What is hyperbole?
Also called overstatement: Deliberate representation of something as bigger, better, or more important than it is in reality.
What is analogy?
Logical comparison between 2 things allowing for knowledge of familiar concepts to an unfamiliar concept.
What is euphemism?
Substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one that is considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.
What is colloquial?
Words or expressions better suited for informal conversations than formal writing.
What is antithesis?
Putting 2 opposite ideas in the same sentence to highlight direct contrast or opposition.
What is anaphora?
The same word or phrase is repeated in successive lines, clauses, or sentences.
What is aposiopesis?
Suddenly breaking off in speech.
What are the 3 rhetorical appeals?
Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.
What is chiasmus?
Inverting the grammatical structure or concepts in 2 matching phrases.
What is zeugma?
Using one word to modify 2 other words in different, often surprising ways.