A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

"Sir Walter Raleigh. Good food. Good cheer. Good times."

A rhetorical term for the inversion of conventional word order.

"Gracious she was. By gracious I mean full of graces. . . .

"Intelligent she was not. In fact, she veered in the opposite direction."

A type of verbal play in which one word is used in two contrasting (and often comic) senses

"For every woman growing anxious about thinning hair, there are thousands growing it back."

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).

"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us."

A rhetorical term for the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses

"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."

A rhetorical term for a writing style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (the opposite of polysyndeton).

"He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac."

A rhetorical term for a gradual increase in intensity of meaning with words arranged in ascending order of force or importance.

"It's a well hit ball, it's a long drive, it might be, it could be, it IS . . . a home run."

In rhetoric, a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed.

"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."

In grammar and rhetoric, the omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader

"The streets were deserted, the doors bolted."

A figure of speech in which a speaker corrects or comments on something he or she has just said

"I don't like the majority of what I do. I shouldn't say I don't like it, but I'm not satisfied with almost everything that I do."

A rhetorical term for repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis, usually with no words in between.

"I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly."

A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected. The answer may be obvious or immediately provided by the questioner

Is the pope catholic

A rhetorical term for a succession of clauses or sentences of approximately equal length and corresponding structure.

"It takes a licking, but it keeps on ticking!"

The insertion of some verbal unit that interrupts the normal syntactic flow of the sentence.

The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation."

A rhetorical term for a sentence style that employs many coordinating conjunctions (the opposite of asyndeton).

"[I]t is respectable to have no illusions--and safe--and profitable--and dull."

A rhetorical term for the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.

"Kill the boys and the luggage!"