Rhetorical Devices and Techniques: Alliteration, Anadiplosis, and More

Alliteration

The repetition of a phonetic sound at the beginning of several words in a sentence.

Anadiplosis

The last word of the clause begins the next clause, creating a connection of ideas important to the author's purpose.

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive poetic lines, prose sentences, clauses, or paragraphs.

Antithesis

An observation or claim that is in opposition to your claim or an author's claim.

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions from a series of related independent clauses.

Epistrophe

The ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.

Imperative sentence

A command, for example, you will rescue the maiden or surrender your sword to the roundtable.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which what is unknown is compared to something that is known in order to better gauge its importance.

Oxymoron

Two words that together create a sense of opposition.

Paradox

A truth or a group of sentences that defy intuition.

Parallel syntax (or parallelism)

A pattern of language that creates a rhythm of repetition, often combined with some other language of repetition.

Parentheticals

Phrases, sentences and words inside parentheses.

Polysyndeton

The use of consecutive coordinating conjunctions, even when they are not needed.

Tricolon

A sentence with three equally distinct and equally long parts, separated by commas.

Exigence

Event or occurrence that prompts rhetorical discourse.

Micro-macro shift

Smaller examples lead to a broader message.