- Amplification Strategies (page one)
- Argumentation Techniques (page two)
- Balance, Antithesis, and Paradox (below)
- Emotional Appeals (Pathos) (below)
- Metaphorical Substitutions and Puns (below)
- Omission of Words, Phrases, and Clauses (below)
- Repetition of Letters, Syllables, and Sounds (page four)
- Repetition of Words, Phrases, Clauses, and Ideas (page four)
Balance, Antithesis, and Paradox
- 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 (A-B-C, C-B-A). - antithesis
Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. - auxesis
A gradual increase in intensity of meaning with words arranged in ascending order of force or importance. - chiasmus
A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. - climax
Mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction, with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of a series of events or of an experience. - hypophora
Raising questions and answering them. - isocolon
A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure. - litotes
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. - oxymoron
A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side. - paradox
A statement that appears to contradict itself. - polysyndeton
A style that employs a great many conjunctions.
Emotional Appeals (Pathos)
- antirrhesis
Rejecting an argument because of its insignificance, error, or wickedness. - aposiopesis
An unfinished thought or broken sentence. - apostrophe
Rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character. - bdelygmia
A litany of abuse--a series of critical epithets, descriptions, or attributes. A type of invective. - categoria
Direct exposure of an adversary's faults. - ecphonesis
An exclamation expressing emotion. - ecomium
Tribute or eulogy in prose or verse glorifying people, objects, ideas, or events. - epiplexis
Asking questions to reproach rather than to elicit answers. - euphemism
Substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. - meiosis
To belittle, use a degrading epithet or nickname, often through a trope of one word. - pathos
The means of persuasion in classical rhetoric that appeals to the audience's emotions. - sarcasm
A mocking, often ironic or satirical remark intended to wound. - tapinosis
Undignified language that debases a person or thing. Generally considered a vice, not a self-conscious technique.
Metaphorical Substitutions and Puns
- allegory
Extending a metaphor through an entire speech or passage so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text. - antanaclasis
(1) One word used in two contrasting (and often comic) senses. (2) Homonymic pun. - antistasis
Repetition of a word in a different or a contrary sense. - antonomasia
Substitution of a title, epithet, or descriptive phrase for a proper name (or of a personal name for a common name) to designate a member of a group or class. - catachresis
An extreme, far-fetched, or mixed metaphor; strained or deliberately paradoxical figure of speech; substitution of an inexact word in place of the correct one. - euphemism
Substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. - fable
Fictional story meant to teach a moral lesson. - hyperbole
An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. - irony
Use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. - meiosis
To belittle, use a degrading epithet or nickname, often through a trope of one word. - metaphor
An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. - metonymy
A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. - parable
A story, usually short and simple, that illustrates a lesson. - paranomasia
Punning, playing with words. - pun
A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words. - simile
A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. - 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. - tapinosis
Undignified language that debases a person or thing. Generally considered a vice, not a self-conscious technique.
Omission of Words, Phrases, and Clauses
- asyndeton
Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. - ellipsis
Omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader. - 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. - zeugma
Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
