Tropes and Schemes AP Lang

Scheme

A change in the usual order of words for rhetorical effect. Deals with word order, letters, syntax and sounds, whereas tropes deal with modifying the meaning of a word.

Comes from the Greek schema meaning "form" or "shape"

elipsis

the omission of one or more words, without altering the original meaning - used to cut out parts of text that can be easily understood from the context in grammar.

ex: You doing alright? (Instead of “Are you doing alright?”)

polysyndeton

Other Schemes

A rhetorical term for a sentence style that employs many conjunctions such as “and” “or” “but “nor”.

slows cadence of reading + prevents lists from blending together

ex: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers..."

Parenthesis

“()” “[]” “,,”

An explanatory or qualifying word, clause or sentence inserted into a passage with which it doesn't necessarily have any grammatical connection. Usually marked off with round brackets or dashes, or commas.

ex: "The train (which usually runs on time) was delayed today."

Asyndeton

A rhetorical term for a writing style that omits conjunctions such as “and” “or” “but” “so” between phrases, words, or clauses.

ex: I came, I saw, I conquered

Antithesis

Schemes of Structure and Order

Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.

ex: "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Chiasmus

Schemes of Structure and Order

In Rhetoric, a verbal pattern, a type of antihesis, in which the second half of the expression is balanced against the first half with the parts reversed.

Similar to antimetable but can work on the sentence level all the way up to the structure of an entire piece.

ex: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

Anastrophe

Schemes of Structure and Order

In literary style and rhetoric, the syntactic (structural) reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence, such as:

verb before subject - "Glistens the dew upon the morning grass."

noun before adjective -"She looked at the sky dark and menacing."

ex: "The greatest teacher, failure is."

Antimetabole

A verbal pattern in which the second half of the expression is balanced against the first but with the words in reverse grammatical order (A-B-C) (C-B-A).

ex: "I can write better than anyone who can write faster and I can write faster than anyone who can write better"

ex: "We didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us."

Isocolon

Schemes of Structure and Order

A rhetorical term for a succession of clauses or sentences of approximately equal length and corresponding structure.

ex: "Buy one, get one."

Apposition

Schemes of Structure and Order

Placing side by side two coordinate elements (noun phrases), the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first.

ex: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins."

ex: "My brother, a teacher, loves reading,"

Parallellism

Schemes of Structure and Order

Similarity of grammatical structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses. Also called parallel structure. Words in a series appear in parallel grammatical form; a noun is listed with other nouns, a -ing is listed with other - ing, forms and so on.

ex: "She likes running, swimming, and biking."

Climax

Schemes of Structure and Order

In rhetoric, a series of words, phrases, or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction (see auxesis), in ascending order of importance, intensity, or force, with an emphasis on the high point - completion - of an experience or series of events.

ex: "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

Polyptoton

Schemes of Repetition

A rhetorical term for the repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings.

"increasing, I will increase your sorrow."

"My own heart's heart and my ownest own farewell."

Anaphora

Schemes of Repetition

A literary or oratorical device involving the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several sentences, clauses, or lines.

ex: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up... I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia... I have a dream that my four little children..."

Ephanalepsis

Schemes of Repetition

1. A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word of phrase at regular intervals: a refrain.

2. Repetition at the beginning and end of the same clause or sentence.

ex: "The king is dead, long live the king!"

Assonance

Schemes of Repetition

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words. Used often in poetry.

ex: "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain"

ex: "Never ever"

Epistrophe

Schemes of Repetition

A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the END of successive clauses. Also known as an ephanalepsis..

ex: "Don't you ever talk about my friends! You don't know any of my friends. You don't even look at any of my friends and you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends."

Anadiplosis

Schemes of Repetition

Repetition of the words or phrase at the end of one sentence, line, or clause at the beginning of the next.

ex: "It takes an egg to make a hen, it takes a hen to make an egg"

ex: "the love of wicked men converts to fear and then that fear to hate."

Alliteration

Schemes of Repetition

The repetition of the beginning of sounds of words as in "peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" or "long lived" or "Short shrift" and " the little fickle finger of fate".

Trope

A figure of speech in which the use of a word or phrase other than in its literal meaning changes the meaning of a sentence. The word comes from Greek tropos meaning turn. That is turning the meaning of a sentence another way by the use of a word(s).

Paradox

Tropes of Contradiction

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or scenario that, upon closer investigation, reveals a hidden, deeper truth

-A statement or preposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

-A self-contradictory and false preposition.

-Any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.

-An opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion.

Ex. A rich man is no richer than a poor man.

Oxymoron

Tropes of Contradiction

a figure of speech that pairs two contradictory or opposing words together to create a unique, often thought-provoking

ex: "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly" or "she looked like the living dead".

Irony

Tropes of Contradiction

The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.

"The police officer got arrested"

Litotes

Tropes of Contradiction

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

"It's no ordinary city" (the city is amazing)

Hyperbole

Trope of Contradiction

A figure of speech (a form of irony) in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement.

"I was so hungry I ate a horse."

Onomatopoeia

Random Tropes

The formation of a words, as cuckoo, meow, honk or boom by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.

Apostrophe

Random Tropes

A rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character.

ex: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

ex: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?"

Rhetorical Question or Erotema

Random Tropes

A question asked merely for the effect with no answer expected. The answer may be obvious or immediately provided by the questioner.

"Is the pope catholic? Do bears live in woods?"

Anthimeria

Random Tropes

uses one part of speech as another, such as turning a noun into a verb (often called "verbing") or an adjective into a noun

ex: "Its time we should all have a good sing."

ex: "She turtled down the road."

Antanaclasis

Tropes of Repetition and Omission

a rhetorical device and type of pun where a word or phrase is repeated in a sentence, but each instance carries a completely different meaning.

ex: "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Periphrasis

Tropes of Repetition and Omission

In Rhetoric, a roundabout description of something, a rhetorical device where you use extra words instead of a short, direct word.

ex: "The big man upstairs (referring to God) hears your prayers."

Personification

Tropes of Comparison

A trope or figure of speech (generally considered a type of metaphor) in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities.

Prosopopoeia

Tropes of Comparison

A figure of speech in which an absent or imaginary person is represented as speaking. Similar to personification.

Metaphore

Tropes of Comparison

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.

ex: "“the classroom was a zoo”

Simile

Tropes of Comparison

A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually as a phrase introduced by like or as.

ex: “she was as beautiful as a painting”

Synecdoche

Tropes that Play With Words

a figure of speech where a part of something represents the whole, or the whole represents a part.

ex: “all hands on deck”

Syllepsis

Tropes that Play With Words

a figure of speech where a single word (usually a verb or adjective) governs or modifies two or more other words, but applies to each in a distinctly different sense—often blending literal and figurative meanings. The use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, especially to modify two or more words of which one does not agree in number, case, or gender as the use of "are" in neither he nor we are willing.

See Zeugma.

"When I address Fred, I never have to raise my voice or my hopes."

Pun

A play on words, either on different sense or on the same words or on the similar sense or sound of different words. See paranomasia.

Antonomasia or Paraphrasis

Giving a proper name to something that has qualities associated with that name. Or reverse of this, that is using an epithet or phrase for a proper noun.

Ex. A philanderer can also be called "Don Juan".

Ex. "The little corporal" instead of Napoleon.

Metonymy

Tropes that Play With Words

a figure of speech where you replace a word with a closely connected or associated thing. This can be using teh symbol fro the thing signified

ex: “the crown” for a king or queen”

antanaclasis

Repeating the same word in a sentence, but it has a different meaning each time

ex: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Paranomasia

a play on words that sound alike but mean something different

ex: I used to be a baker, but I couldn’t make enough dough