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AP Rhetorical Devices Examples Flashcards

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11822187247Assonance"Hear the lark and harden to the barking of the dark fox gone to ground"0
11822194373AsyndetonAn empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was thick, warm, heavy, sluggish.1
11822201143Anaphora (Epistrophe)'Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.'2
11822204634PolysyndetonAnd Joshua, and all of Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had.3
11822208231MetaphorChaos is the breeding ground of order. War is the mother of all battles.4
11822216446AlliterationBetty Botter bought some butter, but she said, this butter's bitter; if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better.5
11822219127Parallelism1. He wanted to have a new house to live in, and a new car to drive. 2. The applicant was approached through telephone, email, and snail mail. 3. Their new teacher was neither a Catholic, nor an Anglican. 4. His favorite foods are chocolate, chips, and soft drinks.6
11822246555Oxymoroncontrolled chaos kill with kindness old news "I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it is much better to prophesy after the event has already taken place. " - Winston Churchill "It's a step forward although there was no progress." - President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt7
11822253563Antithesis"Many are called, but few are chosen." "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." "To err is human; to forgive divine." "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." (Sara Lee is a brand of cake). Dumbledore and Voldemort engage in a fiery and electric battle of the ages.8
11822272289AllusionYou're acting like such a Scrooge! (Dickens' Christmas Carol). I didn't have any bus fare, but fortunately some good Samaritan helped me out! (Biblical parable). You are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. (mythology).9
11822288444UnderstatementJ. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield says, "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet when Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt. Mercutio says, "Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, 'tis enough. Where is my page?-Go, villain, fetch a surgeon." "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." - REM10
11822298349ConsonanceMike likes his new bike. Toss the glass, boss. He struck a streak of bad luck.11
11822306189OnomatopoeiaThe *buzzing* bee flew away. The sack fell into the river with a *splash*. The books fell on the table with a loud *thump*. He looked at the *roaring*. The *rustling* leaves kept me awake.12
11822314535Hyperbole"Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue. Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard. People had to wait until sunup to find out what folks were talking about the night before."13
11822321454Euphemism"I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." (Othello, Shakespeare) "For the time being," he explains, "it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations." (Orwell, Animal Farm)14
11822331700Chiasmus"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." "We shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us." "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us."15
11822333231SimileI wait, washed, brushed, fed, like a prize pig. (Handmaid's Tale, Atwood).16

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