Stylistic Devices in Rhetoric: Definitions, Effects, and Examples Listen as a podcast Add to calendar

Use of personal pronouns/ 'inclusive language'

Addressing the audience ('You')

intimacy; persuasion.

Use of personal pronouns/ 'inclusive language'

Inclusive 'We'/ 'Us'

Includes the speaker and audience together, fostering solidarity, shared responsibility, a sense of welcome.

Use of personal pronouns/ 'inclusive language'

Exclusive 'We'

Refers to the speaker and their group (e.g., government, nation) without including the audience, creating a sense of separation.

Symbol

Something concrete (like a person, object, image, word or event) that stands for something abstract or invisible.

Simile

An explicit comparison between two things which are basically quite different using words such as like or as.

Metaphor

A comparison between two things which are basically quite different without using like or as.

Contrast

Opposing ideas.

Comparison

Highlighting similarities and differences: clarify complex ideas, help audience understand concepts and ideas.

Personification

A kind of metaphor in which animals, plants, inanimate objects or abstract ideas are represented as if they were human beings and possessed human qualities.

Repetition

The repetition of expressions: effect is amplification.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of neighbouring words.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or several words at the beginning of successive lines, clauses or sentences.

Enumeration

The listing of words or phrases. It can stress a certain aspect e.g. by giving a number of similar or synonymous adjectives to describe something.

Irony

Saying the opposite of what you actually mean.

Allusion

A reference to a person, work of art, (historical) event etc.

Climax

Words, phrases, or sentences are arranged in ascending order of importance or intensity, building to a powerful concluding point.

Rhetorical question

A question to which the answer is obvious and therefore not expected.