Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Questions

Questions that don't require an answer

Repetition

Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis

Parallelism

Phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other. Used for effect and to create rhythm.

Humor

Make the audience or reader laugh

Anecdote

a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person

Figures of speech/figurative language

a primarily imagery-based rhetorical strategy

that uses imaginative language to suggest a special meaning or create a special effect

(figures of speech are devices used to produce figurative language, such as allusions,

metaphor, personification, simile, etc.).

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

Analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. This is usually more extended than a simile.

Verbal Irony

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant

Hyperbole

extreme exaggeration

Understatement

A statement that says less than what is meant

Ethos

1. Credibility of the author or speaker.

2. Appealing to an audience's morals to persuade.

Pathos

Appeal to emotion--fear, sadness, anger, etc.

Logos

Appeal to logic

Paradox

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

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Antithesis

a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other, such as "hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins":