Rhetorical Devices

Alliteration

• Repeating beginning sounds of words.
• Example: "Sally sells seashells by the seashore."

Allusion

• A reference to a famous work, person, or event.
• Example: "He's a real Romeo" references Shakespeare.

Amplification

• Repeating a point with increasing detail.
• Example: "The storm came, the storm raged, the storm destroyed everything."

Anacoluthon

• Changing the ending of a sentence mid-way.
• Example: "I went to the store, then I saw a friend, and we decided to get coffee."

Anadiplosis

• Using the last word of a sentence to begin the next.
• Example: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Analogy

• Comparing two things to show similarity.
• Example: "Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you're gonna get."

Anaphora

• Repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of lines.
• Example: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields..."

Anecdote

• A short, true, and interesting story.
• Example: "When I was a kid, we used to..." followed by a story.

Antanaclasis

• Repeating a word with a different meaning each time.
• Example: "Put out the light, then put out the light."

Apophasis

• Talking about something by saying you won't mention it.
• Example: "I won't mention the fact that you were late."

Asyndeton

• Omitting conjunctions to speed up a sentence.
• Example: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Cacophony

• Using harsh, clashing sounds.
• Example: "The rusty spigot sputtered, twisted, and coughed."

Chiasmus

• Flipping the order of words in two parts of a sentence.
• Example: "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."

Conduplicatio

• Repeating a word throughout a paragraph.
• Example: "This is the age of anxiety. Anxiety is the rust of life."

Denotation

• The dictionary definition of a word.
• Example: The denotation of "blue" is the color blue.

Connotation

• The feelings or ideas associated with a word.
• Example: The word "blue" can connote sadness.

Epistrophe

• Repeating a word at the end of lines or sentences.
• Example: "...government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Euphemism

• Using a nicer word for something unpleasant.
• Example: "Passed away" instead of "died."

Euphony

• Using soft, pleasing sounds.
• Example: "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness..."

Figurative Language

• Language not meant to be taken literally.
• Example: "He's as strong as an ox" is a simile.

Hypophora

• Asking a question and then answering it.
• Example: "What should we do about climate change? We need to reduce emissions."

Litotes

• Understating something to make a point.
• Example: "It's not rocket science."

Metonymy

• Replacing a word with a related word.
• Example: "The White House issued a statement" refers to the U.S. President.

Parallelism

• Using the same sentence structure for related ideas.
• Example: "I like running, swimming, and biking."

Rhetorical Question

• A question asked for effect, not for an answer.
• Example: "Isn't it obvious?"

Satire

• Using humor to criticize something.
• Example: Political cartoons that exaggerate politicians' flaws.

Synecdoche

• Using part of something to represent the whole thing.
• Example: "Wheels" to refer to a car.