Rhetorical Devices

Aporia - Expressing doubt or uncertainty (often insincere) to make a point

Parallelism - Creates balance by using similar grammatical structures

Allusion - A brief reference to a well-known person, event, place, or work

Antithesis - Puts opposite ideas in a parallel structure

Her smile was as bright as the sun - Example of a simile

Time is a thief - example of a metaphor

Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer - example of an analogy

How can we truly know what the future holds? - example of an aporia

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - example of repetition

Sally sells seashells by the seashore - example of alliteration

Like father, like son - example of parallelism

He's a real Romeo when it comes to love - example of an allusion

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse - example of a hyperbole

Do you think money grows on trees? - example of a rhetorical question

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields - example of an anaphora

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to say - example of an anecdote

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times - example of an antithesis

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - example of an epistrophe

Simile - A comparison between two unlike things using like or as

Metaphor - A direct comparison between two unlike things without using like or as

Analogy - A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them

Repetition - The reuse of words or phrases for emphasis

Alliteration - The repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in multiple words

Hyperbole - Extreme exaggeration for emphasis

Rhetorical question - A question asked for effect, not meant to be answered

Anaphora - The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Anecdote - A short, personal story used to illustrate a point

Epistrophe - The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses