AP English Language and Composition Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
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| 5444263286 | Amplification | An expansion of detail to clarify a point: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." | 0 | |
| 5444263287 | Anacoluthon | A sudden break in a sentence's grammatical structure: "So, then I pulled up to her house — are you still with me here?" | 1 | |
| 5444263288 | Anadiplosis | Repetition of words, especially located at the end of one phrase or clause and the beginning of the next: "I was at a loss for words, words that perhaps would have gotten me into even more trouble." | 2 | |
| 5444263289 | Anaphora | Repetition of one or more words at the head of consecutive phrases, clauses, or sentences: "I came, I saw, I conquered." | 3 | |
| 5444263290 | Anastrophe | Inversion of word order to mark emphasis: "Enter the forest primeval." | 4 | |
| 5444263291 | Antanaclasis | Repetition of a word in a sentence in which a different meaning is applied each time: "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired, with enthusiasm." | 5 | |
| 5444263292 | Antanagoge | The contradiction of a negative comment with a positive one, as in "The car wouldn't start this time, but it least it didn't catch on fire." | 6 | |
| 5444263293 | Antimetabole | Reversal of repeated words or phrases for effect: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. | 7 | |
| 5444263294 | Antiphrasis | Ironic use of a single word: "It was a cool 100 degrees in the shade." | 8 | |
| 5444263295 | Antistrophe | Repetition of a word or phrase at the close of successive clauses: "You said he was late — true enough. You said he was not prepared — true enough. You said he did not defend his statements — true enough." | 9 | |
| 5444263296 | Antithesis | Contrast within parallel phrases (not to be confused with the ordinary use of the word to mean "extreme opposite"): "Many are called, but few are chosen." The term can also refer to literary characters who, though not necessarily antagonists, represent opposite personal characteristics or moral views. | 10 | |
| 5444263297 | Apophasis | Calling attention to something by dismissing it: "No one would suggest that those who are homeless elected to live on the streets willingly." | 11 | |
| 5444263298 | Aporia | A statement of hesitation, also known as dubitatio, in which characters express to themselves an actual or feigned doubt or dilemma: "Should I strike now, or bide my time?" | 12 | |
| 5444263299 | Aposiopesis | Abrupt discontinuation of a statement: "If you say that one more time, I'm gonna -" | 13 | |
| 5444263300 | Apostrophe | Interruption of thought to directly address a person or a personification: "So, I ask you, dear reader, what would you have me do?" | 14 | |
| 5444263301 | Asyndeton | Absence of conjunctions: "We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground." | 15 | |
| 5444263302 | Auxesis | Exaggeration, often with sequential enhancement: "You found my purse? You are a hero, a prince, a god!" | 16 | |
| 5444263303 | Bdelygmia | A rant of abusive language: "Calling you an idiot would be an insult to stupid people. Are you always this stupid, or are you just making a special effort today?" | 17 | |
| 5444263304 | Bomphiologia | Excessive braggadocio: "I am the very model of a modern major-general. I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral." Also known as verborum bombus. | 18 | |
| 5444263305 | Brachyology | An abbreviated expression or telegrammatic statement: "'Morning,' he mumbled as he stumbled out of bed"; "I have three words for you, buddy: pot, kettle, black." | 19 | |
| 5444263306 | Cacophony | Deliberate use of harsh letter sounds: "The clash and clang of steel jarred him awake." | 20 | |
| 5444263307 | Catachresis | A hyperbolic metaphor, as in "Each word was a lightning bolt to his heart." | 21 | |
| 5444263308 | Chiasmus | This is the reversal of grammatical order from one phrase to the next, exemplified in these two well-known quotes about evaluation: "Judge not, lest ye be judged" and "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." | 22 | |
| 5444263309 | Commoratio | Repetition of a point with different wording: "He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker!" (etc., ad absurdum) | 23 | |
| 5444263310 | Dehortatio | Imperative advice about how not to act: "Do not look a gift horse in the mouth." | 24 | |
| 5444263311 | Diacope | Repetition of one or more words after the interval of one or more other words: "People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like." | 25 | |
| 5444263312 | Diatyposis | Advice: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." | 26 | |
| 5444263313 | Distinctio | A definition or clarification of a term: "What we will be seeking . . . will be large, stable communities of like-minded people, which is to say relatives." | 27 | |
| 5444263314 | Epanelepsis | Starting and ending a phrase, clause, or a sentence, or a passage, with the same word or phrase: "Nothing is worse than doing nothing." | 28 | |
| 5444263315 | Epistrophe | The repetition of a word at the end of each phrase or clause: "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." | 29 | |
| 5444263316 | Epizeuxis | Epizeuxis, epizeuxis, epizeuxis! My favorite new word, also called palilogia, refers to nothing more than the repetition of words: "To my fifteen-year-old daughter, everything is 'boring, boring, boring!'" | 30 | |
| 5444263317 | Hendiadys | A conjunctive rather than a coordinate phrase: "I made it nice and hot, just the way you like it." | 31 | |
| 5444263318 | Hyperbaton | Excursion from natural word order in various ways: "Theirs was a glory unsurpassed"; "It is a sad story but true." | 32 | |
| 5444263319 | Hysteron | proteron-A reversal of logical order of elements in a phrase: "Sudden thunder and lightning drove them to shelter." | 33 | |
| 5444263320 | Litotes | This is the strategy of understatement often employed to provide subtle emphasis, frequently for ironic effect or to underline a passionate opinion: "The assassin was not unacquainted with danger." | 34 | |
| 5444263321 | Meiosis | A dismissive epithet, such as treehugger, or a humorously dismissive understatement (also known as tapinosis), such as the Monty Python and the Holy Grail gem "It's just a flesh wound!" | 35 | |
| 5444263322 | Metanoia | The qualification of a statement to either diminish or strengthen its tone, as in "She was disturbed — make that appalled — by the spectacle." Traditionally, nay is often a keyword that sets up the shift, but no replaces it in modern usage except in facetious or whimsical writing: "You are the fairest flower in the garden — nay, in the entire meadow." | 36 | |
| 5444263323 | Paronomasia | Punning wordplay, including any of many types, including homophonic or homographic puns, both of which are included in this example: "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass." | 37 | |
| 5444263324 | Pleonasm | Redundancy for emphasis: "We heard it with our own ears." | 38 | |
| 5444263325 | Polyptoton | Repetition of two or more forms of a word; also known as paregmenon: "You try to forget, and in the forgetting, you are yourself forgotten." | 39 | |
| 5444263326 | Polysyndeton | Insertion of conjunctions before each word in a list: "My fellow students read and studied and wrote and passed. I laughed and played and talked and failed." | 40 | |
| 5444263327 | Scesis Onomaton | Repetition of an idea using synonymous words or phrases: "We succeeded, won, and walked away victorious." | 41 | |
| 5444263328 | Sententia | The punctuation of a point with an aphorism such as "Don't judge a book by its cover." | 42 | |
| 5444263329 | Sentential Adverbs | These single words or brief phrases emphasize the thought they precede, interrupt, or — rarely — follow. Examples include however, naturally, no doubt, and of course — and, in informal writing, phrases such as "you see." | 43 | |
| 5444263330 | Syllepsis | Divergent use of a word in two phrases: "We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately." | 44 | |
| 5444263331 | Symploce | A combination of anaphora and epistrophe: "To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man." | 45 | |
| 5444263332 | Synathroesmus | A series of adjectives, also known as accumulation, compiled often in the service of criticism: "You're the most arrogant, selfish, self-absorbed, insufferable narcissist I've ever met!" | 46 | |
| 5444263333 | Synecdoche | Substitution of a part or a substance for a whole, one thing for another, or a specific name used for a generic: "A hundred head of cattle were scattered throughout the field"; "A regiment of horse paraded by"; "The swordsmen unsheathed their steel"; "Do you have a Kleenex?" | 47 | |
| 5444263334 | Tapinosis | Invective: "Get out of my way, you mouth-breathing cretin." | 48 | |
| 5444263335 | Tricolon | A series of three parallel words, phrases, clauses, or statements: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." | 49 |