AP Lang Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical Schemes and Syntactic Devices
Anadiplosis: Repetition of the final word or phrase of a clause at the immediate start of the following clause.
Example: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or verses.
Example: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields…"
Anapodoton: Deliberate omission of a main clause, creating an incomplete sentence whose meaning remains implied by context.
Example: "When in Rome…" (omitting "do as the Romans do").
Anastrophe: Inversion of standard grammatical word order for rhetorical emphasis or rhythm.
Example: "Told you I did, but listen you would not."
Antanaclasis: Repetition of a single word within a sentence while shifting its meaning in each occurrence.
Example: "If we don't hang together, we shall most assuredly hang separately."
Anthimeria: Rhetorical conversion of a word from one grammatical category or part of speech to another.
Example: "Let's Google the answer before leaving" (converting a noun into a verb).
Antimetabole: Exact repetition of words in reverse grammatical order across successive clauses (A-B, B-AA−B,B−A).
Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Antithesis: Juxtaposition of sharply contrasting concepts using balanced parallel structures.
Example: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Aposiopesis: Sudden, deliberate halt in speech mid-sentence, leaving an idea incomplete.
Example: "If you ever touch my belongings again, I swear I'll—"
Asyndeton: Intentional elimination of coordinating conjunctions between related clauses or phrases.
Example: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
Chiasmus: Inversion of grammatical structures or semantic concepts across parallel phrases without requiring identical word repetition.
Example: "He knowingly led we who were blindly following."
Climax: Arrangement of words, clauses, or concepts in ascending order of importance, force, or intensity.
Example: "Look up at the sky: it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!"
Ellipsis: Deliberate omission of words that are grammatically required but easily understood from the context.
Example: "John ordered tea; Mary, coffee."
Enallage: Intentional substitution of a grammatically nonstandard form (such as case, tense, or gender) for a standard one.
Example: "Think different" (using an adjective in place of an adverb).
Epanalepsis: Repetition of the opening word or phrase of a sentence or clause at its very end.
Example: "The king is dead, long live the king!"
Epistrophe: Repetition of a word or phrase at the conclusion of successive clauses or sentences.
Example: "…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Isocolon: Sequence of phrases, clauses, or sentences of equal syllable count, length, and corresponding grammatical structure.
Example: "American by birth, rebel by choice."
Paralepsis:
Emphasizing an issue by feigning to pass over, ignore, or suppress it.
Example: "I will not bring up my opponent's questionable business deals, which speaks for itself."
Parallelism: Structural repetition of corresponding syntactic elements across neighboring clauses or sentences.
Example: "She enjoys reading novels, writing essays, and painting landscapes."
Paronomasia: Rhetorical wordplay or punning that exploits words similar in sound but distinct in meaning.
Example: "A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it is two-tired."
Polyptoton: Repetition of words stemming from the identical etymological root in varying morphological forms.
Example: "With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder."
Polysyndeton: Deliberate use of multiple coordinating conjunctions in close succession.
Example: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers."
Zeugma: Construction in which a single governing word modifies or links two or more distinct parts of a sentence in differing senses.
Example: "She broke his car and his heart."
Tropes and Figurative Language
Allusion: Brief, implicit reference to an external historical person, event, place, or literary work.
Example: "He showed heroic strength, but pride proved to be his Achilles' heel."
Analogy: Extended comparison establishing a parallel relationship to explain an unfamiliar concept.
Example: "Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog: you understand it better, but the frog dies in the process."
Aphorism: Terse, memorable statement formulating a universal truth, principle, or insight.
Example: "Actions speak louder than words."
Apostrophe: Direct rhetorical address to an absent individual, an abstract concept, or an inanimate entity.
Example: "O Death, where is thy sting?"
Euphemism: Mild or indirect expression substituted for a harsh, blunt, or unpleasant reality.
Example: Using "passed away" instead of "died," or "let go" instead of "fired."
Hyperbole: Intentional and obvious exaggeration used to heighten impact or create dramatic effect.
Example: "I have told you a thousand times to clean your room."
Irony: Expression in which the intended meaning is diametrically opposed to the literal phrasing.
Example: Saying "What wonderful weather we're having!" during a heavy hailstorm.
Kairos: Recognition and seizure of the opportune, decisive moment and context for persuasive delivery.
Example: Delivering the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the centennial year of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Litotes: Deliberate understatement asserting an affirmative truth by negating its contrary.
Example: "Running a marathon is no small feat."
Meiosis: Dismissive or belittling understatement intentionally diminishing the size, status, or importance of a subject.
Example: Referring to the Atlantic Ocean as "the pond," or a severe laceration as "a mere scratch."
Metaphor: Direct figurative equation asserting that one entity is another without comparative terms.
Example: "Time is a thief that steals our memories away."
Metonymy: Substitution of the name of an object or concept with a closely associated attribute or entity.
Example: "The pen is mightier than the sword" (written words vs. military warfare).
Onomatopoeia: Words whose phonetic pronunciation imitates or suggests the sound they describe.
Example: "The bacon sizzled and hissed in the hot pan."
Oxymoron: Compact combination of two contradictory or incongruous words placed side by side.
Example: "Deafening silence" or "bittersweet memories."
Paradox: Statement that appears self-contradictory on the surface yet discloses an underlying truth.
Example: "The only constant in life is change."
Personification: Attribution of human qualities, traits, or consciousness to non-human entities or abstract ideas.
Example: "The relentless wind battered the door and howled through the hall."
Prosopopoeia: Rhetorical technique presenting an absent, deceased, or non-human entity as an active, speaking persona.
Example: Portraying Lady Justice speaking directly to lawmakers to demand fairness in sentencing.
Simile: Explicit comparison between two distinct entities using connective terms such as "like" or "as".
Example: "His determination was as solid as bedrock."
Synecdoche: Trope wherein a part of an entity signifies the whole, or the whole designates a part.
Example: "All hands on deck" (where "hands" represents the entire crew of sailors).
Understatement: Deliberate representation of an event, trait, or fact as less significant or intense than it truly is.
Example: "It is slightly damp outside," spoken while standing in waist-deep floodwater.
Logical Fallacies
Ad Hominem: Dismissing or attacking an opponent's personal traits, character, or background rather than refuting their argument.
Example: "Her economic proposal should be dismissed because she has an arrogant demeanor."
Appeal to ignorance: Asserting that a proposition is true simply because it has not been disproven, or false because it has not been proven true.
Example: "Since scientists have never definitively disproven extraterrestrial visits, aliens must be visiting Earth."
Bandwagon: Arguing that a position must be valid or true purely because it is popular or widely accepted.
Example: "Everyone is buying this brand of smartwatch, so it has to be the finest one on the market."
Circular reasoning: Presupposing the validity of the conclusion within the foundational premise of the argument.
Example: "The handbook rules are fair because the committee wrote them fairly, and we know the committee is fair because they follow the rules."
False analogy: Assuming two things that share minor similarities must also share other unrelated characteristics.
Example: "A national government's treasury should be managed exactly like a household checking account."
False dilemma: Artificially restricting complex circumstances to two mutually exclusive binary alternatives.
Example: "Either you invest entirely in public transport today, or you support total gridlock."
Genetic fallacy: Judging an argument's validity or truth strictly on the basis of its origin or source.
Example: "This dietary advice originated in a promotional flyer, so none of the biological data in it can be trusted."
Guilt by association: Discrediting an argument or individual based exclusively on their connection to a disfavored party.
Example: "He attended a conference organized by that disgraced executive, so his research conclusions are invalid."
Hasty generalization: Reaching an expansive conclusion based on an unrepresentative or insufficient evidence sample.
Example: "The first two people I met in that town were impolite, so the entire population must be rude."
Red Herring: Introducing an extraneous or tangential topic to divert focus away from the core argument.
Example: When asked about factory emission violations, a corporate representative pivots to discuss the company's local charity donations.
Slippery slope: Claiming without justification that an initial action will inevitably trigger a disastrous sequence of subsequent events.
Example: "If we permit students to use calculators on this test, they will stop learning basic math, fail university, and face unemployment."
Straw man: Mischaracterizing, exaggerating, or oversimplifying an opponent's position to make it easier to defeat.
Example: "My opponent wants to install bike lanes, which means they want to eliminate all motor vehicle traffic from our streets."