Rhetorical Devices (1) Flashcards
(11 cards)
Allusion
a brief, usually indirect, reference to a person, place, or event
“Chocolate is her Achilles’ heel.”
Alliteration
a repetition of an initial sound
“Bob’s baby bit the bouncy ball.”
Ambiguity
the presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage
“Do not hit a person with glasses.”
Anaphora
the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Antithesis
the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases
“My backpack, so light, my soul, so heavy.”
Aphorisms
(1) tersely phrased statement of truth or opinion
(2) brief statement of principle
“Critical thinking is consciousness.”
Apostrophe
a rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing
“Oh, the places you will go!”
Assonance
identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words
“Men sell wedding bells.”
Asyndeton
the omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses
“It’s a northern country; they have cold weather, they have cold hearts.”
Chiasmus
verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reverse
“Don’t sweat the petty things; don’t pet the sweaty things.”
Colloquialism
characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English
“I mean, we are kind of friends, are we not?”
