RHETORICAL DEVICES
1. ANAPHORA
 Use repetition at the beginning of
successive words, phrases, clauses.
EX:
To think on death it is a misery,
To think on life is a vanity,
To think on the word verily it is,
To think that here man hath no perfect bliss.
2. EPIPHORA
 The repetition of word or phrases at the end
of the successive clause.
 Also known as Epistrophe.
EX:
Where now? Who now? When now?
She’s sage, just like I promised,
She’s all set to marry Norrington just like
she promised.
And you get to die for her, just like you
promised.
3. CHIASMUS
 The reversal of syntactic structures in
successive phrases clauses.
 Or; Two or more clauses are balance against
each other by reversal of their structure.
EX:
Let us never negotiate out of fear,
but let us never fear to negotiate.
4. ZUEGMA
 Uses one word to modify two other words,
in two different ways.
EX:
She broke his car and his heart.
5. OXYMORON
 Used two contradictory terms combined side
by side in order to create a rhetorical effect
by paradoxical means.
EX:
Civil War
Open Secret
6. ANTITHESIS
 Is designed to highlight the differences of
two irreconcilable opposites in parallel
structure
EX:
To err is human;
To forgive divine.
That’s one small step for a man kind
One giant leap for mankind.
7. PARADOX
 The use of seemingly contradictory situation
which is actually true.
EX:
I must be cruel to be kind.
8. ASYNDETON
 The omission of conjunction between
coordinate words, phrases or clauses.
EX:
I came, I saw, I conquered
(Weaker version: I came and I saw and I
conquered.)
9. POLYSYNDETON
 Uses and or another conjunction to separate
the items in a series.
EX:
I wore a sweater, and a hat, and a scarf, and
a pair of boots, and mittens.
10. RHETORICAL QUESTION
 Asked not for the purpose of getting an
answer, but for the purpose of provoking
thought.
EX:
I you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle
us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we
not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge?
2 TYPES – question without answer,
question that have obvious answers.
11. HYPOPHORA
 Raising question/s and then proceeding to
answer them, usually at some length
EX:
What then shall we say that Abraham, our
forefather discovered in this matter?...
What does the Scripture say?
Abraham believed God.
12. DENOTATION
 Direct definition of the word that you will
find in the dictionary.
EX:
House – something referred to a building or
structure.
13. CONNOTATION
 Emotional suggestions of a word, that is not
literal.
EX:
House is different from the word “Home”
14. HYPERBOLE
 Extreme kind of exaggeration to make a
point, not to be taken literally.
EX:
I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.
13. UDERSTATEMENT
 To intentionally make a situation seem less
important than it really is.
EX:
She gained a little weight. It’s not a big
deal jumping from size 8 to 16.
15. TROPES
 Figure of speech that move the meaning of
the text from literal to figurative.
EX:
SIMILE: Her smile is as bright as sunshine
METAPHOR: You are my sunshine.
EUPHEMISM: “Passed away” instead of
“died”
PERSONIFICATION: The eye of the needle
is small.
IRONY: It’s too crowded.