Schemes tropes examples

Parallelism

Example: 'To err is human; to forgive, divine.' This device enhances clarity and rhythm by using similar grammatical structures.

Antithesis

Example: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' This device juxtaposes contrasting ideas in a balanced structure.

Climax

Example: 'He came, he saw, he conquered.' This figure of speech arranges words in order of increasing importance.

Inversion

Example: 'In the night sky shimmered the stars.' This technique reverses the usual order of words for emphasis.

Parenthesis

Example: 'The car, despite its age, runs surprisingly well.' This construction interrupts the flow to provide additional information.

Apposition

Example: 'My brother, a skilled guitarist, plays in a band.' This grammatical structure places a noun next to another for clarification.

Ellipsis

Example: 'I went to the mall on Monday, and she on Tuesday.' This omission relies on context to fill in the gap.

Asyndeton

Example: 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' This device omits conjunctions to create a sense of urgency.

Polysyndeton

Example: 'We have ships and men and money and stores.' This technique uses multiple conjunctions to emphasize each element.

Anaphora

Example: 'Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better.' This repetition at the beginning of clauses creates a rhetorical effect.

Epistrophe

Example: 'Where now? Who now? When now?' This device repeats a word at the end of successive clauses.

Epanalepsis

Example: 'The king is dead; long live the king.' This figure of speech repeats the initial word at the end of a clause.

Anadiplosis

Example: 'Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.' This technique links clauses by repeating the last word of one as the first of the next.

Chiasmus

Example: 'Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.' This rhetorical figure involves reversing the order of concepts.

Antimetabole

Example: 'Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.' This device repeats a phrase in reverse order.

Pun

Example: 'Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.' This form of wordplay exploits multiple meanings for humorous effect.

Zeugma

Example: 'He stole my heart and my wallet.' This figure of speech applies a single word to multiple parts of a sentence, linking them in different contexts.

Apostrophe

Example: 'O Death, where is thy sting?' This figure of speech addresses an absent person or personified object.

Paradox

Example: 'This statement is false.' This statement appears self-contradictory but may hold a hidden truth.