Rhetorical Devices PDF

## Rhetorical Devices - **Metaphor** - an implied comparison between two things (does not use "like" or "as") - ex. On the final examination, many students went down in flames. - **Simile** - an explicit comparison between two things (uses "like" or "as") - ex. He had a posture like a question...

## Rhetorical Devices - **Metaphor** - an implied comparison between two things (does not use "like" or "as") - ex. On the final examination, many students went down in flames. - **Simile** - an explicit comparison between two things (uses "like" or "as") - ex. He had a posture like a question mark. - **Personification** - giving objects or themes human qualities - ex. The ground thirsts for rain. / Peace is waiting to greet us at the door. - **Hyperbole** - the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis - ex. I'm so full I feel like I weigh three thousand pounds. - **Liotes** - a deliberate understatement for comic effect or emphasis - ex. Kids would occasionally like to be anywhere else but school. - **Irony** - the use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite the literal meaning of the word. - ex. I was simply overjoyed at having to return to school after the summer. - **Oxymoron** - the joining of two contradictory words in a single phrase - ex. sweet pain, cruel kindness - **Paradox** - an apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains an element of truth - ex. He is really only guilty of being innocent. - **Alliteration** - consecutive words all beginning with the same consonant letter or sound - ex. The setting sun seemed so serene. - **Anaphora** - repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences - ex. Let us march to the realization of the American dream. Let us march on segregated housing. Let us march on segregate schools. - **Parallel Structure** - the repetition of a grammatical structure in a sentence - ex. Many people use drugs as a socializing tool, as a way of meeting new people, and as a way of becoming popular. - **Rhetorical Question** - a question whose answer is already known or implied - ex. Wasn't James Dean a symbol of Hollywood? - **Metonymy** - a figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole - ex. Give us this day our daily bread. / Too many hands in the pot ruins the broth. - **Chiasmus** - the crisscrossing of successive phrases or clauses - ex. Fair is foul, foul is fair. - **Allusion** - an indirect or direct reference to something you assume your audience will understand or appreciate. - ex. Her role in E.T. made Drew Barrymore the Shirley Temple of the 1980's. - **Pun** - a play on words - ex. If we don't hang together, we'll all certainly hang separately. - **Onomatopoeia** - a word whose sound echoes the meaning of the word - ex. crash, slam, hush, click - **Enumeration** - the listing in numerical order of points or ideas - ex. Firstly, I would like to say that... Secondly, it should be stated that...And thirdly, I would like to point out that... - **Colloquialism** - a commonly used word in place of the more formal word - ex. "cop" instead of “police officer” - **Euphemism** - the substitution of a more delicate word or phrase for another—both of which mean the same thing - ex. I'm so sorry to hear that your pet passed away (instead of “died”).