Rhetorical Devices

Ethos

appeal to authority and credibility

Pathos

appeals to the audience’s emotions

Logos

Logic, rational, and reasoning to persuade on audience.

Loose Sentence

main idea stated at the beginning of the sentence followed by additional information; will make sense if brough to a close before the end

Periodic Sentence

Main idea is withheld until the end of the sentence and will only make sense in the end

Diction

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing that must always have an adjective to describe them with.

Syntax

Sentence structure

Juxtaposition

two things being seen are placed together to show contrast

Rhetorical questions

a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer

Repetition

the intentional use of repeated words, phrases, or structures to emphasize a point, create rhythm, or enhance meaning

Chiasmus

a rhetorical device in which grammatical structures or concepts are repeated in reverse order, creating an A-B-B-A pattern

Asyndeton

omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses

• ex. “we have ships, men, money”

Polysyndeton

Repetition of conjunctions in close succession

• ex. “we have ships, and men, and money”

Anaphora

use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence to avoid repetition

Epistrophe

repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.

Epanalepsis

beginning of a clause/sentence repeated at the end

Parallelism

similar grammatical structure or patterns in clauses, sentences, and phrases

• “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Antithesis

Employ contrasting ideas in parallel grammatical structure.

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

Allegory

References the expression of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence

Alliteration

references the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words

Allusion

a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history

Analogy

references an extended comparison between two things/instances/people etc. that share some similarity to make a point

Anecdote

references a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident

Assonance

repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds

Irony

stating the opposite of what is said or meant

Zeugma

Modifies multiple words; use of a word to govern/yoke several words/phrases

Syllepsis

sense of words changes; verb with two meanings; a single word that modifies two or more words that causes a different meaning