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Rhetorical Devices
More RD'S
And yet more RD'S
Still more RD'S
RHETORICAL DEVICES
100
Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object. It involves all the five senses.
What is imagery?
100
To hint at or present events to come in a story or play.
What is foreshadow?
100
Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human qualities.
What is personification?
100
What is implied by a word. For example, the words sweet and awesome have socially accepted meanings very different from their actual definitions.
What is connotation?
100
A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.
What is an anecdote?
200
This rhetorical device involves two unlike things being compared using like or as. ex: Her hair was as red as fire.
What is a simile?
200
An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.
What is a hyperbole?
200
An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect.
What is diction?
200
A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. Commonly, these words or phrases are set off by commas. Examples: In fact, of course, after all, certainly.
What is an expletive?
200
A figure of speech in the form of a question in order to make a point rather than to elicit an answer.
What is rhetorical question?
300
A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical.
What is sarcasm?
300
Deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way is done on purpose by the author. When it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work.
What is ambiguity?
300
The four modes of discourse are . . .
What are exposition, description, narration, argumentation
300
This rhetorical device involves the usage of one subject with two or more verbs or one verb with two or more direct objects. The linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly. ex: To wage war and peace....
What is zeugma?
300
This rhetorical device involves a direct or indirect reference to something which is commonly known. ex: Christy didn't like to spend money. She was no Scrooge, but she seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities...
What is an allusion?
400
The placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude or accomplish some other purpose.
What is juxtaposition?
400
This rhetorical device involves the direct omission of conjunctions often producing a rapid tempo. ex: He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing.
What is asyndeton?
400
Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance.
What is parallelism?
400
The use of historically inaccurate details in a text; for example depicting a 19th century character using a computer.
What is anachronism?
400
A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.
What is a paradox?
500
This rhetorical device involves an understatement in the negative to achieve emphasis and intensity. ex. She is not a bad cook. Or, "No man ever followed his genius until it misled him." Thoreau
What is litote?
500
This rhetorical device involves the use of a name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated. ex: "Detroit is still hard at work on an SUV that runs on rain forest trees and panda blood." (Conan O'Brien)
What is metonymy?
500
The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses. For example, "We shall fight in the trenches. We shall fight on the oceans. We shall fight in the sky."
What is anaphora?
500
A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. The writings of Benjamin Franklin contain many such as "Early to bed and early to rise/make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
What is aphorism?
500
Repetition of a phrase at the end of successive sentences.
What is epistrophe?