Rhetorical Terms

Parallelism

similar grammatical structure across phrases (1 came, I saw, I conquered)

Antithesis

contrasting 2 ideas through parallel structure (Hope for the best, prepare for the worst)

Anastrophe

Inversion of the natural or usual word order (The greatest teacher, failure is)

Parenthesis

insertion of material that interrupts the typical flow of a sentence

Ellipsis

(...) indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation

Asyndeton

omission of conjunctions (He ate, he drank, he slept)

Polysyndeton

use of repeated conjunctions to emphasize the thought (we lived and laughed and loved)

anaphora

repetition of word/phrase at beginning of successive clauses

Epistrophe

repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses/ sentences

Anadiplosis

repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

"Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task."

Epanalepsis

same word/s are used at the beginning and ending of a clause/ sentence (nothing is worse than doing nothing)

Climax

most important/ intense point of something/ a story

Antimetabole

repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order (I know what I like, and I like what I know)

Chiasmus

words are repeated in reverse order, similar structure (Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind)

Polyptoton

repetition of words derived from the same root (strong and strength)

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

Synecdoche

uses part of something to represent the whole (Nice wheels-->car)

Metonymy

substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it (A bunch of suits --> group of business people)

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Puns

a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite (not a bad singer)

Erotema

Rhetorical question (question not meant to be answered out loud)

Irony

the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase (Freezer Burn)

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth