aplang - schemes & tropes

Ellipsis

deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context

(EX: To be or not to be, that is the question)

Anastrophe

the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses

(EX: Ask not what your country can do for you.)

Parenthesis

insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence

(EX: our whole culture (an important distinction, I've heard))

Assonance

the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words

(EX: Refresh your zest for living.)

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

(EX: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets.)

Epistrophe

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

(EX: and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth)

Anadiplosis

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

(EX: The crime was common, common be the pain.)

Climax

arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance

(EX: let a man acknowledge obligation to his family, his country, and his God)

Antimetabole

repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order

(EX: One should eat to live, not live to eat.)

Chiasmus

reversal of syntactic structures in successive phrases or clauses

(EX: Exalt his enemies, his friends destroys)

Polyptoton

repetition of words derived from the same root

(EX: We would like to contain the uncontainable)

Metaphor

implied comparison between two things of unlike nature

Simile

an explicit comparison between two things using "like" or "as"

Parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

(EX: For the support)(of this declaration)(with a firm reliance)

Isocolon

a scheme of parallel structure that occurs when the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure but also in length

(EX: impress the ignorant, perplex the dubious, and confound the scrupulous.

Antithesis

the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

(EX: I am rich, and another is poor;
strong, and he is weak;
intelligent, and he is depraved;

Apposition

involves placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first

(EX: the mountain was the earth, her home)

Asyndeton

deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses

(EX: I came, I saw, I conquered)

Polysyndeton

Deliberate use of many conjunctions

(EX: with the fringes and the laces and the feather boas.)

Alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds in two or more adjacent words

(EX: It was the meanest moment of eternity.)

Synedoche

figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole

(EX: The Crown has been plagued by scandal)

Metonymy

substituting some attribute or suggestive word for what is actually meant

(EX: We gave the could shoulder, and he gives the warm hand)

Antanaclasis

repetition of a word in two different senses

(EX: That company is terrible company)

Personification

applying human qualities to inanimate objects for a heightened effect

(EX: The night comes crawling in)

Hyperbole

exaggeration for the purpose of heightened effect

(EX: I could eat a cow)

Litotes

deliberate use of understatement

(EX: I have this tiny little tumor on the brain)

Onomatopoeia

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense

(EX: From the clamor and clangor of the bells)

Oxymoron

the yoking of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory

(EX: Still waking sleep)

Paradox

contradictory statement that contains some truth

(EX: Art is a form of lying to tell the truth)

Rhetorical Question

when a question is asked to assert or deny something

(EX: What do you think you're doing)