one word a
Antithesis:
opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.
*Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
Archaic Diction:
use of an older or obsolete form.
*Pipit sate upright in her chair
Some distance from where I was sitting; (T. S. Eliot, "A Cooking Egg")
Inversion:
Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).
*Rarely have I eaten better food.
Periodic Sentence:
Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.
*"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mofuntains, and have not charity, I am nothing."
(The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13)
Alliteration:
repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence.
*Veni, vidi, vici. (Julius Caesar)
Asyndeton:
lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.
*But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. (Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)
Cumulative Sentence: A sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on.
*He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them--a quick shake, fingers down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys. (Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith, 1925)
Hortative Sentence: A sentence to encourage and spur people on.
*Carry on, you are doing well!
Imperative Sentence: Sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat.
*Abandon all hope, ye who enter here! (Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy)
Metaphor:
implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.
*Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage (Shakespeare, Macbeth)
Personification:
A trope or figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities.
*”The wind stood up and gave a shout.” (James Stephens “The Wind”)
Allusion:
a short, informal reference to a famous person or event.
*Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. (Richard Cushing)
Cumulative Sentence:
A sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on.
*He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them--a quick shake, fingers down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys. (Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith, 1925)
Metonymy:
using a single feature to represent the whole.
*The pen is mightier than the sword. (Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu)
(In this case, the pen represents the words we choose and the sword represents violent acts)
Polysyndeton:
deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.
*They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
Anaphora:
the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.
*We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. (Churchill)
Hortative Sentence:
A sentence to encourage and spur people on.
*Carry on, you are doing well!
Oxymoron:
apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.
*I must be cruel only to be kind.( Shakespeare, Hamlet)
Rhetorical question:
(erotesis) differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no. It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.
*But how can we expect to enjoy the scenery when the scenery consists entirely of garish billboards?
Antimetabole:
reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show contrast.
*All work and no play is as harmful to mental health as all play and no work.
Imperative Sentence:
Sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat.
*Abandon all hope, ye who enter here! (Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy)
Parallelism:
similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses
*When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Synecdoche:
a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team” or Nice wheels! when referring to one’s car.