English

Chiasmus

Chiasmus might be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten").

Parallelism

Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.

Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:

Litotes

Litotes, a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression. Compare the difference between these statements:

Heat waves are common in the summer.
Heat waves are not rare in the summer.

Understatement

Understatement deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather difficult to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to understate the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of description.

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.

They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.

Use polysyndeton to show an attempt to encompass something complex:

The water, like a witch's oils, / Burnt green, and blue, and white. --S. T.

Asyndeton

Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account:

Expletive

Expletive is a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the expletive. (We emphasize the words on each side of a pause or interruption in order to maintain continuity of the thought.) Compare:

But the lake was not drained before April.
But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.

Rhetorical Devices

Here you will find a list of rhetorical devices that should serve as a study guide for AP English

Chapter 19 - Writing About Literature

Writing about literature offers several benefits. Weighing and recording your thought on the different elements sharpen your critical thinking ability. Literary papers also pay artistic dividends, as careful reading and subsequent writing deepen your appreciation of the writer’s craft. Focusing, gathering information, organizing, writing, revising, and editing—the old familiar trail leads to success here too.

8.1 The Elements of Literature

Chapter 15 - Paragraphs

Paragraphs help guide readers through longer pieces of writing. Some break lengthy discussions of one idea into segments of different emphasis, thus providing rest stops for readers.

4.1 Characteristics of Effective Paragraphs

4.1.1 Unity

A paragraph with unity develops one, and only one, key controlling idea, to ensure unity, edit out any stray ideas that don’t belong and fight the urge to take interesting but irrelevant side trips; they only create confusion about your destination.

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