Rhetorical Term Examples

• Time is a thief

• All hands on deck

• The pen is mightier than the sword

• What a pleasant day! (said during a thunderstorm)

Trope

“Reading without understanding is like eating without digesting".”

Analogy and simile

• He's not unfamiliar with hardship.

• That wasn’t the worst idea

Litotes

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee. Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so”

Apostrophe

(Death is addressed as a person)

• Hands on deck

• Check out my new wheels!

Synecdoche

•  hands = part of body to refer to entire person/worker

• wheels = component of car as stand in for car

• Hollywood

• “The pen is mightier than the sword”

Metonymy

• Hollywood = film

• pen = writing/diplomacy, sword = military

• died —> passed away

• fire —> let go

Euphemism

It is a little chilly outside (when it’s actually really cold)

Understatement

“The boy who lived” -Harry Potter

Antonomasia

Chiasmus, Parallelism, Analepsis, Antithesis

Schemes

"Do I love you because you’re beautiful? Or are you beautiful because I love you?"

Chiasmus

Walking into the courtroom, she suddenly remembered the first day of Law school…

Analepsis

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Antithesis

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

Anadiplosis

• “Choosy mothers choose Jif."

• No end to the withering of withered flowers.

Polyptoton (choosy & choose, withering & withered)

Anaphora