AP Greek Rhetorical Devices

litotes

deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite [Building the Golden Gate Bridge was no small task]

anastrophe

departure from normal word order for the sake of emphasis (verb before subject; adjectives after noun) ["This is the forest primeval."]

polysyndeton

employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm. [We lived and laughed and loved.]

malapropism

incorrect use of words, often absurd or humorous, often occurring when two words sound the same [he liked everybody, and so it's fitten that his funeral orgies sh'd be public]

antithesis

juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas (often, although not always, in parallel structure) [It was the best of times, It was the worst of times]

metonymy

reference to something or someone by naming one of its ATTRIBUTES [the pen is mightier than the sword]

synecdoche

reference to something or someone by naming one of the PARTS of the WHOLE thing [all hands on deck]

antimetabole

repetition of WORDS, in successive clauses, in reverse order (ABBA) {by definition, must also use anadiplosis} [We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us.]

epiphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses; also known as epistrophe ["I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper, we're a Pepper."]

anadiplosis

repetition of the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next ["The laughter had to be gross or it would turn to sobs, and to sob would be to realize, and to realize would be to despair."]

epiplexis

rhetorical question meant to rebuke someone or express grief [Have you no sense of decency?]

anthimeria

substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used as a verb) [We Googled it.]

isocolon

succession of clauses or sentences of approximately equal length and corresponding structure [Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get.]

asyndeton

the omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect [I came, I saw, I conquered.]

anaphora

the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences [This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England]

zeugma

the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one [He missed the train and his opportunity for stardom.]

hypophora

to ask and then immediately answer one's own question (or raise and then settle imaginary objection); a type of rhetorical question [What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.]

apostrophe

turning one's speech from one audience to another, occurring most often when one addresses oneself to an abstraction, to an inanimate object, or to the absent (often used when emotion cannot be held back) ["Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are.]