rhetorical devices

prolepsis

(1) Foreseeing and forestalling objections in various ways. (2) Figurative device by which a future event is presumed to have already occurred. - "In 1963, Nobel Prize-winning economist William Vickrey suggested that [automobile] insurance be included in the purchase of tires. Anticipating the objection that this might lead people to drive on bald tires, Vickrey said drivers should get credit for the remaining tread when they turn in a tire. Andrew Tobias proposed a variation on this scheme in which insurance would be included in the price of gasoline. That would have the added benefit of solving the problem of uninsured motorists (roughly 28% of California drivers). As Tobias points out, you can drive a car without insurance, but you can't drive it without gasoline."

litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite -"Are you also aware, Mrs. Bueller, that Ferris does not have what we consider to be an exemplary attendance record?"

synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it - "Take thy face hence."

oxymoron

A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side - "How is it possible to have a civil war?"

metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as: "crown" for "royalty") - "In a corner, a cluster of lab coats made lunch plans."

auxesis

A gradual increase in intensity of meaning with words arranged in ascending order of force or importance - "It's a well hit ball, it's a long drive, it might be, it could be, it IS . . . a home run."

syllepsis

A kind of ellipsis in which one word (usually a verb) is understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs. - "When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes."

simile

A stated comparison (usually with "like" or "as") between two dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. - "When he lifted me up in his arms I felt I had left all my troubles on the floor beneath me like gigantic concrete shoes."

paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself - "The swiftest traveler is he that goes afoot."

polysyndeton

A style of writing that employs a great many conjunctions in a series. - "[I]t is respectable to have no illusions--and safe--and profitable--and dull."

polsyndeton

A style that employs a great many conjunctions - "[I]t is respectable to have no illusions--and safe--and profitable--and dull."

antimetabole

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the words in reverse grammatical order (ABC... CBA) - "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us."

hyperbole

An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect - "I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far."

metaphor

An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common - "Between the lower east side tenements the sky is a snotty handkerchief."

enthymeme

An informally stated syllogism with an implied premise - "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good."

epiplexis

Asking questions to reproach rather than to elicit answers - "Have you no shame, coming in as Gandhi and stuffing yourself with Buffalo wings? Why didn't you come as FDR and go around with crazy legs?"

invective

Denunciatory or abusive language; discourse that casts blame on somebody or something "A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir to a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deni'st the least syllable of thy addition."

paralepsis

Emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it - "The music, the service at the feast, The noble gifts for the great and small, The rich adornment of Theseus's palace . . . All these things I do not mention now."

paralepsis

Emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it -"The music, the service at the feast, The noble gifts for the great and small, The rich adornment of Theseus's palace . . . All these things I do not mention now."

distinctio

Explicit references to various meanings of a word - usually for the purpose of removing ambiguities - "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If 'is' means 'is and never has been,' that's one thing. If it means 'there is none,' that was a completely true statement."

allegory

Extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings with meanings that lie outside the text - Animal Farm (allegory for the Russian Revolution) - Lord of the Flies (allegory for the Bible)

assonance

Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. - "It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!"

antithesis

Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases - "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."

asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses - "He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac."

ellipsis

Omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader - "Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater."

effectio

Personal description; a head-to-toe inventory of a person's physical attributes or charms - "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun Coral is far more red than her lips' red: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound: I grant I never saw a goddess go-- My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare."

apposition

Placing side-by-side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation of modification of the first - Gussie, a glutton for punishment, stared at himself in the mirror."

paranomasia

Punning, playing with words - "Get that bird a glass of water--he's perched!"

hypophora

Raising questions and answering them - "Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't."

pleonasm

Redundancy; use of words to emphasize what is clear without them - "The most unkindest cut of all."

commoration

Repetition of a point several times in different words - "He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!"

alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sound - "Good men are gruff and grumpy, cranky, crabbed, and cross."

anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word of one line or clause to begin the next - "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you."

anaphora

Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. - "I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."

apostrophe

Rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character - "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky."

paranthesis

The insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactic flow of the sentence - "My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three."

apophasis

The mention of something in disclaiming intention of mentioning it - or pretending to deny what is already validated/affirmed. - "I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama. I just think it's an interesting coincidence."