Rhetorical devices

Personification

Applying human characteristics, feelings and behaviors to something non human

Organizational / Structural pattern of the text

How information is organized in writing. Text structures may change frequently from paragraph to paragraph.

Ethos

Appeals to authority or credibility

Pathos

Appeals to emotion

Logos

appeals to facts and reason

Allusion

A short, informal, or passing reference to a famous person or event

Author / Speaker Bias

Any opinion or prejudice that affects that author's writing and prevents the author from being completely neutral about the topic or issue about which s/he is writing.

Interesting Punctuation

Breaking punctuation rules are only effective if you’re breaking the rules on purpose

Diction

A writer / speaker's word choice that helps define the written or spoken word and expresses personal style

Tone

The author or speaker’s attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using like, as, or such as

Rhetorical Question

A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer

Hypophora

A writer or speaker raises a question, and then immediately provides an answer to that question.

Imagery

Expression appealing to physical senses. Can you see it, touch it, feel it, smell it, hear it?

Metaphor

Compares two different things, asserting that one thing IS another, not just like it.

Hyperbole

A deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect

Alliteration

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Anecdote

A brief personal story, sometimes funny, that focuses on a particular incident or event

Dialogue

Conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie.

Flashback

The insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a story to help the viewer better understand the present situation

Foreshadowing

The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature

Verbal Irony

When what is said is different than what is meant

Dramatic Irony

When readers/audience knows something characters do not know

Situational Irony

What actually happens is different than what readers are led to believe will happen

Dialect

A particular form of a language that is particular to a specific region or social group

Symbolism

The use of an object, person, event, or idea to represent a larger idea

Parallelism

A device in which parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction. 

Repetition

repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Onomatopoeia

The use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the words describes

Juxtaposition

Two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

Main Idea

The central point or thought the author wants to communicate to readers – key ideas, big picture

Claim

The author’s position, assertion, or main argument. The author/writer believes it to be true, but it is not a universal truth