Rhetorical Devices

parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure but also in length

the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

inversion of the natural or usual word order

insertion of some veral unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence

placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first

deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context

deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses

deliberate use of many conjuctions

repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words

repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words

repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginnings of successive clauses

repetition of the same word or groups of words at the ends of successive clauses

repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause

repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

arrangement of words, phrases or clauses in an order of increasing importance

repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order

reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases of clause

repetition of words derived from the same root

implied comparison between two things of unlike nature

explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature

figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole

substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant

repetition of a word in two different senses

use of words alike in sound but different in meaning

use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs

the substitution of one part of speech for another

substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name

investing abstraction for inanimate objects

the use of exaggeration terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect

deliberate use of understatement

asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely

use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word

use of words whose sounds echoes the sense

the yoking of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory

an apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth