Style Elements by Definition
Style Elements by Example
The Definition
100
Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.
What is alliteration?
100
"not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need-- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are"
What is anaphora?
100
Metaphor
What is a figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as?
200
Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)
What is inversion?
200
"But this peaceful revolution"
What is oxymoron?
300
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
What is parallelism?
300
"In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course."
What is synedoche?
400
Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for the rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.
What is rhetorical question?
400
"with history the final judge of our deeds"
What is personification?
500
Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings.
What is zeugma?
500
"Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us."
What is hortative sentence?
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