Asyndeton:
A
condensed form of expression in
which elements customarily joined
by conjunctions are presented in
series without conjunction. The
parts are emphasized equally when
the conjunction is omitted; in
addition, the use of commas with
no intervening conjunctions speeds
up the flow of the sentence.
“veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I
saw, I conquered.)
Julius Caesar
“…government of the people,
by the people, for the
people…”
Abraham Lincoln
Polysyndeton:
 The
use of more conjunctions
than is normal. This strategy
stresses equally each member of
the series. It makes the
sentence slower and the items
more emphatic than in the
asyndeton.
“…pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or
wades, or creeps, or flies.”
Milton from Paradise Lost
Anaphora:
 Repetition
of a word, phrase, or
clause at the beginning of two or
more sentences in a row. This is
a deliberate form of repetition
and helps make the writer’s
point more coherent.
“We cannot dictate-we cannot
consecrate- we cannot
hallow this ground.”
Abraham Lincoln
Chiasmus:
A
rhetorical device in which certain
words, sounds, concepts or syntactic
structures are reversed or repeated in
reverse order. The term chiasmus is
derived from the x-shaped Greek letter
chi; the implication is that the two parts
of a chiastic whole mirror each other as
do the parts of the letter x.
“Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
William Shakespeare Macbeth
“Her soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling
faintly through the universe and faintly falling….”
James Joyce “The Dead”
Not all Chiasmus is precise!
“Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask
what you can do for your country.”
Pres. John F. Kennedy
Chiastic structure may also create
or heighten paradox!
“…why it (is) that eating
something good could make
me feel so terrible, while
vomiting something terrible
could make me feel so
good.”
Amy Tan
A pattern of syntactic reversal such as
the following also constitutes a kind of
chiasmus:
“Into the rain ran the cat; the
dog followed into the
darkness.”
(Prepositional phrase, verb,
subject, subject, verb,
prepositional phrase)
“…works without show and
without pomp presides.”
(Verb, prepositional phrase,
prepositional phrase, verb)
Alexander Pope “essay in
Criticism”
Sonic Chiasmus
“In Xanadu did Kubla khan…”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Anecdote:
A
brief account of some
interesting or entertaining and
often humorous incident.
Lacking the complexity of the
short story, an anecdote simply
relates a particular episode or
event that makes a single
point.
EXAMPLE:

The story of George
Washington and the
cherry tree
Syntax
 The
arrangement – the
ordering, grouping, and
placement – of words within a
sentence.
 Syntax has also been viewed
as one of the two components
of diction (the other being
vocabulary).
EXAMPLE:
“I rode across the meadow.”
Vs.
“Across the meadow rode I.”
Synecdoche
 (suh-NEK-duh-kee)
A
figure of speech in which a
part of something is used to
represent the whole
EXAMPLE:
 Referring
to a car as “wheels”
 “We hope everyone will lend a
hand in completing this
project.”
Litotes
( Lie-Ta-Tees) or (Lie-Toe-Tees)
A
form of understatement in
which a thing is affirmed by
stating the negative of its
opposite
 Authors often use litotes to
achieve an ironic effect
Litotes
( Lie-Ta-Tees) or (Lie-Toe-Tees)
 Sometimes
used
synonymously with meiosis
(intentional understatement
for humorous or satiric
effect)
EXAMPLE
The test was “not bad.”
 A few unannounced quizzes are
not inconceivable.
 War is not healthy for children
and other living things.
 One nuclear bomb can ruin your
whole day. (meiosis)

Euphemism
A
device (figure of speech) in
which indirectness replaces
directness of statement,
usually in an effort to avoid
offensiveness
Euphemism
 “senior
citizens” vs. “old people”
 “in the family way” vs “pregnant
 “rest room” vs. “toilet”
 “pass away” vs. “die”