allegory
an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances
ex: Inside Out: the characters represent emotions
alliteration
use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse
Ex: Sly snakes slithered in the sand
Allusion
passing reference or indirect mention
Ex: Chocolate was her kryptonite (allusion to superman)
Anadiplosis
repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next
Ex: The poor wish to be rich, and the rich wish to be happy
Analogy
an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others
Ex: What is a name? A rose by any other name would still smell sweet. (comparing rose to name)
Anaphora
using a pronoun or similar word instead of repeating a word used earlier
Ex: We shall not falter, we shall not fail
Anastrophe
the reversal of the normal order of words
Ex: Yoda: the path to the dark side, fear is.
Anecdote
short account of an incident
Antimetabole
pattern where the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with words in reverse grammatical order
Ex: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going
Antithesis
exact opposite
Ex: To be or not to be
Aphorism
a short pithy instructive saying
Ex: Honesty is the best policy
Apostrophe
address to an absent or imaginary person
Ex: Hello, darkness, my old friend
Asyndeton
the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used
Ex: He crossed the road without looking, without listening, without caution
Chiasmus
inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
Ex: What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten
Colloquial
characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation
Ex: Fixing to leave: preparing to leave
Diction
A speaker's distinctive vocab choice and style of expression
Elegy
a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
Ex: O Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman
Ellipses
omitting a part of the sequence of events, allowing the reader to fill in the narrative gaps
Ex: I know he deserved it but...
Epistrophe
The repetition of words at the end of successive clauses
Ex: See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil
Epizeuxis
Repetition of the same word or phrase in immediate succession
Ex: Deny, Deny, Deny
Ethos
An appeal to credibility or ethic
Foreboding Diction
Indicating an omen, especially of coming evil
Ex: The darkest evening of the year
Foreboding imagery
Imagery provoking negative pretenses
Ex: dark and stormy night
Homily
a sermon on a moral or religious topic
Ex: "I have a dream" speech
Hyperbole
extravagant exaggeration
Ex: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse
Inference
the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation
Imagery
Visually descriptive or figurative language
Irony
a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
Ex: A pilot has a fear of heights
Juxtaposition
a side-by-side position of opposing topics
Ex: Better late than never
Litotes
understatement for rhetorical effect
Ex: It's not my first rodeo
Logos
Appeal to logic or reasoning
Metaphor
a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
Ex: Time is money
metonymy
substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself
Ex: referring to the presidential cabinet as "The White House"
Onomatopoeia
using words that imitate the sound they denote
Ex: bang, crash
Paradox
a statement that contradicts itself
Ex: Less is more
Paralellism
grammatical term for creating a sense of linguistic balance by repeating elements within a sentence
Ex: he swims and dances
Pathos
Appeal to emotion
Personification
an object described using human qualities
Ex: The sun smiled down on us
Polysyndeton
using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted
Ex: My mother and my father and my sister and my brother
Sarcasm
witty language used to convey insults or scorn
Rhetorical shift
Speakers or writers alter their style or tone in a piece
rhetorical question
a statement that is formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered
Ex: Is rain wet?
Satire
Artful ridicule or criticism of a folly through humor to expose or correct it
Ex: Saturday Night Live making fun of politicians, etc.
Simile
a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds, using like or as
Ex: Cold as ice
syllogism
deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
Ex: A mammals are animals, all elephants are mammals; therefore, all elephants are animals
Symbolism
expressing abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images
Ex: A rainbow symbolizes hope
Synecdoche
substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa
Ex: Offer your hand in marriage (hand refers to whole person)
Synesthesia
a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated
Ex: Color hearing (associating a color with a song or sound)
Telegraphic sentence
Taking away the grammar of a phrase and only leaving context, typically five words or less
Ex: A child saying, "I hungry"
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