AP Lang - Schemes of Construction and Schemes of Inversion, Omission, and Deviation

Anaphora

An anaphora is used when neighboring sentences begin with the same words or phrases, creating an emphasis on the importance of those words, and allowing it to flow throughout the piece.

Example: “Motionless, the tall buzzards hang in soaring circles, the clouds giving them an illusion of retrograde. Motionless, wooden-backed, wooden-faced, he shapes the horse in a rigid stoop like a hawk, hook-winged.” (Darl p. 95)

Epistrophe

A figure of speech that repeats the same word or phrase at the end of multiple consecutive sentences.

Example: "It’s because I am alone. If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I would not be alone.” (Dewey Dell p. 59)

Epanalepsis

Epanalepsis is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and the end of the same clause.

Example: “He is a big tub of guts and I am a little tub of guts and if there is not any room for anything else important in a big tub of guts, how can it be room in a little tub of guts.” (Dewey Dell p. 58)

Anadiplosis

In which the last word or words of a sentence are the beginning of the next sentence.

Example: “Because if I had one, it is was. And if it is was, it cant be is.” (Darl p. 101)

Antimetabole / Chiasmus

The words or phrase is said, then flipped and said again which change its meaning.

Example: "I believe in God, God. God, I believe in God.” (Dewey Dell p.122)

Asyndeton

A tight sequence of words or sentences connected without the use of conjunctions.

Example: “…I hollering catch her darl catch her head her into the bank darl…” (Vardaman, p.151)

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton is the use of repeated conjunctions between words or clauses in a sentence to emphasize what's being said.

Example: “…sin and love and fear are just sounds that people who never sinned nor loved nor feared have for what they never had and cannot have until they forget the words.” (Addie p. 173-174)

Parataxis 

Parataxis is the use of multiple separate phrases in one sentence; the stringing together of multiple independent clauses with only commas instead of periods.

Example:

Parallelism

A parallel sentence uses sentence structure to keep each portion of the sentence equal to one another. This is used to create an equal amount of stress to each separate idea in the sentence. This can also be used to repeat important information in a piece.

Example: “I dont know whether I am worrying or not. Whether I can or not. I dont know whether I can cry or not. I dont know whether I have tried or not.” (Dewey Dell p. 64)

Antithesis

A device that contrasts opposite ideas, words, and qualities in parallel structures.

Example:

Anastrophe/Hyperbaton

Hyperbaton functions by switching the order of words in a sentence. Anastrophe is a type of hyperbaton that only changes a single word in a sentence.

Example: “He had a word too. Love, he called it.” (Addie, p.172)

Zeugma

Using one word, oftentimes a verb, and applying it to two different other words/phrases in order to form a connection between two ideas.

Example: “It was like he knowed, like he could see through the walls and into the next ten minutes.” (Darl p. 236)

Parenthetical elements

Words or descriptors that aren’t necessary for the information in the sentence.

Example:

Anapodoton

A rhetorical device where the subordinate clause is used to imply a main clause in a popular phrase without mentioning the entire thing.

Example: “‘The Lord giveth,’ we say. ‘The Lord giveth.’” (Anse, Tull, etc. pg. 86)

Aporia

A phrase implemented by the writer that raises uncertainty. A writer will utilize this word when he/she wants to guide the audience to come to a set conclusion on their own.

Example:

Occulatio/occupatio/paralipsis

Bringing attention or highlighting the fact that you aren’t discussing or mentioning something.

Example: “I saw something that Dewey Dell told me not to tell nobody.” (Vardaman p. 217)

Ellipsis/Elliptical Construction

An ellipses or elliptical construction is a sentence where one or more words are removed so that the sentence is short and concise.

Example: “. . . . . . .cow. . . . . . . stall. . . . . . “ (Gillespie p. 219)

Circumlocution

Circumlocution is the use of more words than necessary to explain a thought or idea causing an indirect way of speaking. Circumlocution revolves around utilizing an immense amount of words in order to share your idea.

Example: “My mother is a fish.” (Vardaman, 84)

Euphemism

A euphemism is a way to rephrase a despairing sentence to transform it into a more light-hearted phrase. Euphemisms fabricate a sentence that alleviates the phrase's harsh meaning.

Example: “In an empty room you must empty yourself for sleep.” (Darl pg. 80)

Litotes

An understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary (as in "not a bad singer" or "not unhappy")

Example:

Vague or Undefined Antecedent

An antecedent is vague or undefined when a pronoun has the ability to refer to multiple nouns

Example: “And tomorrow it will be cooked and et and she will be him…” (Vardaman p. 67)