Rhetorical Choices: Syntax (Definitions)

Aporia

When a speaker expresses doubt or perplexity (often feigned) about his or her position or asks the audience rhetorically how he or she should proceed

Anastrophe

Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction

Chiasmus

Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a) grammatically

Antimetabole

Repetition of exact words in reverse order, but with a change in the meaning of one of the words which alters the meaning of the phrase

Anadiplosis

Figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used near the end of a clause and then again at the beginning of the next clause

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of several consecutive sentences or verses to underline an image or a concept

Epistrophe

Repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences (opposite of anaphora)

Zeugma

Use of a single word in relation to two other parts of a sentence although the word grammatically or logically applies to only one

Antanaclasis

Repetition of a single word or phrase but in two different senses

Polyptoton

Technique in which two or more words derived from the same root are repeated in close succession

Asyndeton

Deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series

Polysyndeton

Use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted

Epimone

Frequent repetition of a phrase or question / dwelling on a point