Rhetorical Devices (4) Flashcards
(11 cards)
Repetition
instance of using a word, phrase or clause more than once in a short passage, dwelling on a point.
“And she cried, and cried, and cried.”
Personification
figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities
“The stars dance playfully in the moonlit sky.”
Rhetorical question
question asked merely for effect with no answer expected
“Can I ask a rhetorical question? Can I?”
Running style
sentence style that appears to follow the mind as it worries a problem through
“It had rained in the night, and the lane was awash with thin red mud, and puddles stood in the ruts and potholes. It was steep, wet, slippery walking. And cold.”
Sarcasm
mocking, often satirical and ironic remark
“This isn’t an office, it’s hell with fluorescent lighting.”
Simile
figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, introduced by “as” or “like”
“Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.”
Synecdoche
figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or the whole for a part.
“Lend me your ears.”
Tone
writer’s attitude toward the subject and audience
“If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late? Nobody.”
Understatement
figure of speech in which writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is
“I have to have this operation. It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.”
Voice
(1) quality of the verb that indicates whether its subject acts (active) or is acted upon (passive)
(2) distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or narrator
“America will never be destroyed from the outside.”
Zeugma
use of a word to modify two or more words although its use may be logically correct with only one
“John lost his coat and his temper.”
