Rhetorical and Literary
Devices
S
Alliteration
S The repetition of initial sounds
(consonants) in words
S Example: The slippery snake
slithers sneakily
Anecdote
S A short account of an event or story
in someone’s live
S Example: So this one time, at band
camp…
Allusion
S Short reference to a person/place/event
in another work (text)
S Example: the hockey article referring to
the Expendables 3
Cliche
S A phrase that has become overly familiar
or commonplace
S Example: what goes around comes
around
Colloquialism
S Used in familiar or informal
conversation, similar to slang
S Example: Gonna, Kinda, Kid instead of
Child
Connotation
S The emotional content of a word and the
associations it evokes
S Example: Killed versus Slaughtered;
House versus Home
Denotation
S The exact dictionary definition of a word
S Example: a house is a building that
serves as living quarters for people
Hyperbole
S An extravagant exaggeration
S Example: I’ve told you a million times…
Jargon
S The technical terminology of a specific group (aka Shop
Talk)… often meaningless out of context
S Example: 9 to 5, bang for your buck, TTYL, BTW, LOL
Juxtaposition
S Placing two opposing things side by side
to compare them
S Example: Child holding a gun; think of a
shoot-em-up scene in a movie with funny
or calming music in the back
Irony
S use of words where the meaning is the
opposite of their usual meaning or what
is expected to happen.
S Example: fire station that burns down,
traffic cop with unpaid parking tickets
Metaphor
S A word or phrase that compares two
unlike things (without using like or as)
S Example: calling someone who is
dependable a “rock”… saying “he was in
a world of trouble”
Pathetic Fallacy
S When nature reflects human’s mood/emotion
S Attaching human qualities to nature, like
personification
S Example: a thunderstorm during an argument;
calling a tornado “angry” or the wind “cruel”
Personification
S Giving human characteristics/qualities
to inanimate objects or ideas
S Examples: saying that an old house looks
depressed
Oxymoron
S A combination of contradictory words
S Example: Great Depression, walking
dead, jumbo shrimp, global village
Paradox
S Something that seems contradictory or
unbelievable; argument that defies logic
or common sense
S Example: going to war to bring about
peace
Simile
S Two unlike things are compared using
“like” or “as”
S Example: as happy as a hippo
Parallelism
S Using parallel or corresponding
structures in writing
S Example: She likes cooking, reading and
running (rather than: She likes cooking,
to read and to run); stanzas starting the
same way
Rhetorical Question
S A question asked for effect, or to prove a
point, with no desired response
S Example: You didn’t think I would go
through with it, did you?
Tone
S The author’s attitude towards its subject
or audience
S Example: the Sportsnet article’s tone was
humourous, ridiculing, sarcastic
Understatement
S A form of irony, intentionally
representing something as less than it
was
S Example: Wayne Gretzky was a pretty
good hockey player