Tropes/Schemes Ms. Kurland 2024

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence. Ex. The awesome alligator ascended around the air.

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or a work of art. Ex. His anger was his Achilles heel.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines. Ex. “I have a dream … I have a dream … I have a dream”.

antimetabole

Opposite, or contrast, of ideas or words in balance or parallel construction. Ex. “I know what I like and I like what I know”.

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balance or parallel construction. Ex. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

Archaic diction

Old fashioned or outdated choice of words. Ex. Ludicrous tomfoolery.

asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. Ex. “Reduce, reuse, recycle.”

cumulative sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on. Ex. Usain Bolt is fast- he hold the world record for the fastest 100 meter dash.

hortative sentence

Sentence that exhorts, advises, calls to action. Ex. You might not want to park there.

Imperative sentece

sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat Ex. Open that door. Walk that way.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order) Ex. I have never met a person so interesting.

Juxaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts. Ex. Night and day. Good and Evil.

Metaphor

Figure of speech that says one thing is another to explain by comparison. Ex. His was a vast ocean of hate.

metonymy

Using a single feature to represent the whole. Ex. (Instead of saying “the president” one might say “the white house”).

Oxymoron

Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another. Ex. American history is painfully beautiful.

Parallelism

Similarity to structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. Ex. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Periodic sentence

Sentence who’s main clause is withheld until the end. Ex. When the pizza store line is too long, I go to the burger store.

Personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or idea. Ex. His words cut into her back with haste.

Zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way but producing different, often incongruous, meanings. Ex. I left my patience, and my wallet at home.