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a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant
Example: Someone saying sarcastically "Lucky You" |
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the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language
Example: The young man carries the lady.
The lady carries the young man. |
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type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa)
Example: Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands |
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the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character
Example: In To Kill a Mockingbird, mockingbirds symbolize innocence and how it is a sin to kill innocence |
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an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does
Example: Macbeth by William Shakespeare: The witches predict one thing, which happens to come true but Macbeth often misinterprets their words |
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the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.
Example: They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked. |
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recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Example: •Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness |
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a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth
Example: War is peace."
"Freedom is slavery."
"Ignorance is strength |
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paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit
Example: IcyHot; Jumbo Shrimp |
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another form of metaphor, very similar to synecdoche (and, in fact, some rhetoricians do not distinguish between the two), in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with (but not an actual part of) the subject with which it is to be compared
Example: •The orders came directly from the White House.
In this example we know that the writer means the President issued the orders, because "White House" is quite closely associated with "President," even though it is not physically a part of him. |
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a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression
Example: Heat waves are not rare in the summer |
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a rhyme created by two or more words in the same line of verse
Example: In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud |
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