ANADIPLOSIS: A form of repetition that can help add structure to your writing. Takes the last word of a sentence or phrase and repeats it near the beginning of the next sentence or phrase. Words used this way end up near on another, so their repetition becomes very apparent. "In education we find the measure of our own ignorance; in ignorance we find the beginning of wisdom."
ANAPHORA The intentional repetition of beginning clauses in order to create an artistic effect. For instance, Churchill declared, "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be." The repetition of "We shall. . ." creates a rhetorical effect of solidarity and determination. It serves to lend weight and emphasis. Anaphora is an example of a rhetorical scheme.
ANASTROPHE: An inversion of the usual syntactical order of words for rhetorical effect. "arms that wrap about a shawl" - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
ANTANAGOGE: A way of ordering points to downplay negative points so that the reader feels less strongly about them. This is done by placing a negative point net to a positive one. The statement should be phrased in a such a way that it becomes apparent that the benefits more than outweigh the costs of the subject you're discussing. "She may be quick to anger, but when you're in need, she'll always be there."
APOSTROPHE: Where a writer breaks out of the flow of writing to directly address a person or personified object. A forceful, emotional device. The Bible uses apostrophe frequently, "O Death, where is thy sting?"
ASYNDETON/POLYSYNDETON: Two forms that add stylistic force to your writing by handling conjunctions in non-standard ways. Asyndeton - "It was a great prize, a reward for years of service." OR "They sat under one roof, princes, dukes, barons, earls, kings." Polysyndeton - opposite of asyndeton. Adds increased urgency and power with an almost hypnotic rhythm forming quite quickly, "The runner passed the ten-mile mark and the fifteen and the twenty, and the finish line loomed in front of him."
CATACHRESIS: Catachresis is "misapplication of a word, especially in a mixed metaphor." Another meaning is to use an existing word to denote something that has no name in the current language. Using a word out of context, using a word paradoxically or in contradiction (ex. blind mouths) (T.S. Eliot, MLK)
CONDUPLICATIO: A form of repetition. It takes an important word from anywhere in one sentence or phrase and repeats it at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase. Conduplicatio helps the writer avoid this inadequacy by introducing the point right at the beginning. This will help your reader follow you more easily and will ultimately result in a stronger paper.
CHIASMUS: Chiasmus is a special form of parallelism that flips the original form around. While parallelism might be simply, "He smiled happily and laughed joyfully," a chiasmus of that same sentence could be, "He smiled happily and joyfully laughed." Chiasmus is more ornate and can add some extra impact to your statement. When in doubt try both chiasmus and parallelism and see which works best.
DISTINCTIO: A rhetorical form in which the writer elaborates on the definition of a word, to make sure there is no misunderstanding. "Before we can discuss immigration, we need to agree on the fact that there are huge differences between legal and illegal immigration." Words can have lots of meaning, distinct clarifies exactly what you mean.
DOGMATIC: Rigid in beliefs and principles
ENUMERATIO: The act of supplying a list of details about something. To expand a central idea. It can simply be, "I went to the store, the park, the river, the salon, and, finally, home." Or, it can go into greater detail in a point b point analysis, "There are three main reasons we should pay attention to this: first, the impact on our home town could be substantial; second, as voting citizens, we have a responsibility to keep abreast of changes in the political structure; and third, if no one......"
EPONYM: Similar to an allusion, specifically referring to a famous person to link his or her attributes with someone else. Balancing act between someone famous enough and not enough famous. Ex. Gary was a real Abe Lincoln in yesterday's debate. and Agnivesha would have been proud of the patients recovery. Eponyms should be used sparingly, but with the right touch they can give a perfect finish to a piece.
EUPHEMISM: Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one. For instance, saying "Grandfather has gone to a better place" is a euphemism for "Grandfather has died." The idea is to put something bad, disturbing, or embarrassing in an inoffensive or neutral light. Frequently, words referring directly to death, unpopular politics, blasphemy, crime, and sexual or excremental activities are replaced by euphemisms.
EVOCATIVE/EVOCATION: A calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.
EXEMPLUM: Providing an example to illustrate your point. Used in research papers frequently. "America should never intervene in foreign affairs; after all, we lost over 100,000 soldiers during WWII."
HYPOPHORA: A technique of asking a question, then proceeding to answer it. Very common in writing to inform or persuade. "Why am I for putting more police officers on the streets? Their presence prevents crime." It can also be unwed to anticipate questions and concerns the reader may raise. But addressing these concerns directly, the writer/speaker helps to strengthen their case.
DOGMATIC: Rigid in beliefs and principles
ENUMERATIO: The act of supplying a list of details about something. To expand a central idea. It can simply be, "I went to the store, the park, the river, the salon, and, finally, home." Or, it can go into greater detail in a point b point analysis, "There are three main reasons we should pay attention to this: first, the impact on our home town could be substantial; second, as voting citizens, we have a responsibility to keep abreast of changes in the political structure; and third, if no one......"
EPONYM: Similar to an allusion, specifically referring to a famous person to link his or her attributes with someone else. Balancing act between someone famous enough and not enough famous. Ex. Gary was a real Abe Lincoln in yesterday's debate. and Agnivesha would have been proud of the patients recovery. Eponyms should be used sparingly, but with the right touch they can give a perfect finish to a piece.
EUPHEMISM: Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one. For instance, saying "Grandfather has gone to a better place" is a euphemism for "Grandfather has died." The idea is to put something bad, disturbing, or embarrassing in an inoffensive or neutral light. Frequently, words referring directly to death, unpopular politics, blasphemy, crime, and sexual or excremental activities are replaced by euphemisms.
EVOCATIVE/EVOCATION: A calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.
EXEMPLUM: Providing an example to illustrate your point. Used in research papers frequently. "America should never intervene in foreign affairs; after all, we lost over 100,000 soldiers during WWII."
HYPOPHORA: A technique of asking a question, then proceeding to answer it. Very common in writing to inform or persuade. "Why am I for putting more police officers on the streets? Their presence prevents crime." It can also be unwed to anticipate questions and concerns the reader may raise. But addressing these concerns directly, the writer/speaker helps to strengthen their case.
MALAPROPISM: An act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound. (I have no delusions to the past. (allusions); Having one wife is called monotony. (monogamy)
MEME: An idea or pattern of thought that "replicates" like a virus by being passed along from one thinker to another. A meme might be a song or advertising jingle that gets stuck in one's head, a particularly amusing joke or entertaining story one feels compelled to pass on, a memorable phrase that gets quoted repeatedly in public speeches or in published books, a political ideology, an invention, a teacher's lesson plan, or even a religious belief.
METABASIS: Metabasis is a device used to sum up a body of work that has come before, so that you can move on to a new point. Sometimes over the course of pages, the argument can be lost. Metabasis gives the writer a chance to tell the reader exactly what you were doing and to remind them of the most crucial areas you covered. "Having dealt as we have with the many devices used by a writer in his craft, we shall now proceed to examine those devices a reader may make use of to analyze a piece of literature."
METONYMY: Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea. The term metonym also applies to the object itself used to suggest that more general idea. Some examples of metonymy are using the metonym crown in reference to royalty or the entire royal family, or stating "the pen is mightier than the sword" to suggest that the power of education and writing is more potent for changing the world than military force. One of my former students wrote in an argumentative essay, "If we cannot strike offenders in the heart, let us strike them in the wallet," implying by her metonym that if we cannot make criminals regret their actions out of their guilty consciences, we can make them regret their actions through financial punishment. We use metonymy in everyday speech when we refer to the entire movie-making industry as the L. A. suburb "Hollywood" or the advertising industry as the street "Madison Avenue" (and when we refer to businessmen working there as "suits.") Journalists use metonymy to refer to the collective decisions of the United States government as "Washington" or when they use the term "the White House" as a shorthand reference for the executive bureaucracy in American government. When students talk about studying "Shakespeare," they mean metonymically all his collected works of drama and poetry, rather than the historical writer's life alone, and so on.
PARAPROSDOKIAN - A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect. Examples:
I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
PROCATALEPSIS: A relative of hypophora. While hypophora can ask any sort of question, the procatalepsis deals specifically with objections, sometimes without even asking the question. For example, "Many other experts want to classify Sanskrit as an extinct language, but I do not." By directly addressing the objections, procatalepsis lets the writer further his or her argument and satisfy readers at the same time. Strategically, procatalepsis shows your readers that you have anticipated their concerns, and have already thought them through. Very strong in arguments.
SURREALISM: A style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the non rational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.
ZEUGMA: A device in which unexpected items in a sentence are linked together by a shared word. Helps to eliminate the repetition of a verb. "The runner lost the race and his scholarship."
METABASIS: Metabasis is a device used to sum up a body of work that has come before, so that you can move on to a new point. Sometimes over the course of pages, the argument can be lost. Metabasis gives the writer a chance to tell the reader exactly what you were doing and to remind them of the most crucial areas you covered. "Having dealt as we have with the many devices used by a writer in his craft, we shall now proceed to examine those devices a reader may make use of to analyze a piece of literature."
METONYMY: Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea. The term metonym also applies to the object itself used to suggest that more general idea. Some examples of metonymy are using the metonym crown in reference to royalty or the entire royal family, or stating "the pen is mightier than the sword" to suggest that the power of education and writing is more potent for changing the world than military force. One of my former students wrote in an argumentative essay, "If we cannot strike offenders in the heart, let us strike them in the wallet," implying by her metonym that if we cannot make criminals regret their actions out of their guilty consciences, we can make them regret their actions through financial punishment. We use metonymy in everyday speech when we refer to the entire movie-making industry as the L. A. suburb "Hollywood" or the advertising industry as the street "Madison Avenue" (and when we refer to businessmen working there as "suits.") Journalists use metonymy to refer to the collective decisions of the United States government as "Washington" or when they use the term "the White House" as a shorthand reference for the executive bureaucracy in American government. When students talk about studying "Shakespeare," they mean metonymically all his collected works of drama and poetry, rather than the historical writer's life alone, and so on.
PARAPROSDOKIAN - A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect. Examples:
I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
PROCATALEPSIS: A relative of hypophora. While hypophora can ask any sort of question, the procatalepsis deals specifically with objections, sometimes without even asking the question. For example, "Many other experts want to classify Sanskrit as an extinct language, but I do not." By directly addressing the objections, procatalepsis lets the writer further his or her argument and satisfy readers at the same time. Strategically, procatalepsis shows your readers that you have anticipated their concerns, and have already thought them through. Very strong in arguments.
SENTENTIA: A fancy term for a quote, a wise saying. Sententia is best used to sum up what you've been talking about in the preceding paragraph. A strong sententia seems familiar, obvious, and often witty. It adds the weight of the centuries of belief to your argument or discussion topic, making it much harder for your reader to ignore. It adds ethos to what you are writing or saying. "We would do well to remember, however, that all is fair in love and war."
ZEUGMA: A device in which unexpected items in a sentence are linked together by a shared word. Helps to eliminate the repetition of a verb. "The runner lost the race and his scholarship."
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