Rhetorical Devices AP Language. Balance Schemes Purpose: To evenly distribute focus of individual concepts within a scheme: it also helps with the “flow”

Rhetorical Devices

AP Language

Balance Schemes

Purpose: To evenly distribute focus of individual

concepts within a scheme: it also helps with the “flow” of a piece.

Schemes involving Balance

Parallelism The repetition of similar

grammatical or syntactical patterns.

Parallelism of words Parallelism of phrases Parallelism of clauses

MOST COMMON!

Examples Parallelism of words

“Exercise physiologists argue that body-pump aerobics sessions benefit a person’ s heart and lungs, muscles and nerves, and joints and cartilage.

Parallelism of phrases “Exercise physiologists argue that body-

pump aerobics sessions help a person breathe more effectively, move with less discomfort, and avoid injury of muscles and cartilage.

Active verb

Example

Parallelism of clauses “Exercise physiologists argue that body-

pump aerobics is the most efficient exercise class, that body-pump participants show greater gains in stamina then participants in comparable exercise programs, and that body-pump aerobics is less expensive in terms of equipment and training needed to lead or take classes.”

Zeugma (zoog-mah)

A figure in which more than one item in a sentence is governed by a single word, usually a verb.

Examples of zeugma “You held your breath and the door for me.” ~Alanis Morissette

“Head Over Feet”

“You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit.”

~Star Trek: Next Generation

“He runs his mouth as muchAs his feet” ~Noah P.

Antithesis Parallel structure that juxtaposes

contrasting ideas

Antithesis of: Words, Phrases Clauses

(placement of two things side by side for emphasis)(placement of two things side by side for emphasis)

Examples of Antithesis Of WORDS

“When distance runners reach the state they call the zone, they find themselves mentally engaged yet detached.

Of PHRASES“When distance runners reach the state they

call the zone, they find themselves mentally engaged with their physical surroundings yet detached from moment-to-moment concerns about their conditioning.”

Examples of Antithesis

Of CLAUSES “When distance runners reach the state they call the zone, they find that they are empirically engaged with their physical surroundings yet they are also completely detached from moment-to-moment concerns about their conditioning.”

Balance Antimetabole (anti-met-ab-olee)

Words are repeated in different grammatical forms.

**Most rhetoricians claim that antimetable and chiasmus are similar tools of rhetoric.

Antimetabole examples resemble chiasmus examples as they are marked by the inversion of structure. (literarydevices.net)

Antimetabole “We didn’t land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth Rock

landed on us.” Malcolm X

Eat to live, not live to eat.” Socrates

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”

“Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” JFK

“You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl.” Brooks and Dunn

Student Input: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight,

it’s the size of the fight in the dog” (Tyler A.)

“How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood”

(James S.) Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled

peppers, a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

(Bridget S. and Brandi B.)

Schemes Involving INTERRUPTION

Necessary for on the spot information or ideas

Parenthesis (paren-the-ses) an amplifying or explanatory word, phrase,

or sentence inserted in a passage from which it is usually set off by punctuation

“Sports night at the school always brings out the would-be jocks—who would expect any different?—ready to show that they’re potentially as good as the varsity players.

Interruption

Appositive

A word or phrase that renames the nearby noun or pronoun.

“Joe Weider, a pioneer in personal weight training, would marvel at the facilities open to today’s student athletes.”

Omission

Purpose: Gives the sentence rhythm is

heightened and often accelerated and so the reader will pay close attention to the potentially dramatic effect of the prose.

Omission

Asyndeton (a-sin-da-ton)

A writing style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses

“He has provided the poor with jobs, with opportunity, with self-respect.”

No “and”

OMISSION

Polysyndeton The deliberate use of many conjunctions

between words, phrases, clauses

They read and studied and wrote and drilled.

I laughed and played and talked and flunked.

pg. 20 and 76 of The Glass Castle

Schemes Involving Repetition

“Don’t be repetitive, but use repetition.”

Purpose: Leads the reader to pay closer attention, to see the writer as purposeful, forceful, even artistic.

Alliteration- words following each other or close together that start with the same consonant sound

“Intramural hockey is a strenuous, stimulating, satisfying sport.

Repetition

Assonance (ass-o-nance)the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllables (and sometimes in the following unstressed syllables) of neighboring words

“A workout partner is finally a kind, reliable, right-minded helper.”

Repetition

Anaphora (ana-for-a)Deliberate repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs

“Exercise builds stamina in young children, exercise builds stamina in teenagers and young adults, exercise builds stamina in

older adults and senior citizens.

Schemes involving Repetition

Epistrophe (E-pis-tro-fee) Repetition a word or expression at the

end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or versus especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.

To become a top-notch player, I thought like an athlete, I trained like an athlete, I ate like an athlete.

Repetition

Anadiplosis (ana-dip-lo-sis) Repetition of the last words at one clause

and the beginning of the next clause.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

~(Yoda to Anakin Skywalker)

Repetition

Climax Repetition of words, phrases, or clauses

in order of increasing number or importance

Excellent athletes need to be respectful of themselves, their teammates, their schools, and their communities.

Comparison

Purpose Leads the reader to emphasize or

downplay a particular topic and perhaps, achieve a better understanding

Comparison

Synecdoche Metaphor where the part stands for the

whole: seems more literal

We decided we could rearrange the gym equipment if everyone would lend a hand.

Comparison

Metonymy A figure of speech in which one word or

phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated at a deeper level

(“crown for royalty; “lend me your heart”)

Today, the White Announced that…”

Comparison

Personification: Giving human qualities to something that is

not human

The wind whispered through the pines.

Comparison

Periphrasis (puh-RI-frah-suhs)A trope in which one substitutes a descriptive word or phrase for a proper noun

The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders vie to be the best hockey team in the Big Apple.

Schemes Involving Comparison

Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a direct

comparison between two unlike things

Many an athletic contest is lost when the player’s mind is an idling engine.

Comparison Simile:

To compare two unlike things using the connecting words like or as

An athlete’s mind must be like a well-tuned engine, in gear and responding to the twists and curves of the contest. (This sentence begins w/ simile and ends with implied metaphor.)

Word Play

Purpose: To attract reader’s attention

Tropes Involving Word Play

Pun The use of similar sounding words to

create an alternate meaning to the sentence in which they are used.

When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye.

Word Play

Anthimeria (anti-mer-ia) One part of speech, usually a verb, that

substitutes for another word, usually a noun (any novel change in a word’s use)

When the Little Leaguers lost the championship, they just needed to have a good cry before they could feel okay about their season.

Word Play

Onomatopoeia (ono-mato-pia) A word that imitates or suggests the

source of the sound that it describes.

The puck whizzed and zipped over the ice, then clattered into the goal.

Word Play

Euphemism Mild, indirect or vague term substituting

for a harsh, blunt, or offensive terms

“passed away” vs. “died”

Overstatement and Understatement

Hyperbole (Hy-per-bowl-ee) Also known as overstatement;

exaggeration used to emphasize a point

He couldn’t make that shot again if he tried a million times.

Overstatement and Understatement

Litotes (LYE-tuh-tees) A particular form of understatement

generated by denying the opposite of the word which would otherwise be used

Shutting out the opponents for three straight games is no big deal (NBD) .

Litotes Examples "Not bad."

"[…] no ordinary city

"She is not as young as she once was."

“Good”

“[ ] a very impressive city.

“She’s old.”

Management of Meaning

Irony The use of words to convey a meaning

that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Their center is over seven feet tall- where do they come up with these little pipsqueaks?

Management of Meaning

Sarcasm A style of bitter irony intended to hurt or

mock its target

“Thanks for everything you did for us tonight” (when he really did nothing…).

Management of Meaning Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two usually contradictory terms in a compressed paradox

When you have to face your best friend in competition, whoever wins feels an aching pleasure.

Jumbo shrimp, deafening silence, alone togetherSame difference, constant variable, unbiased

opinion, pretty ugly, old news, freezer burn, organized chaos, living dead, plastic silverware

Management of Meaning

Rhetorical Question A question that is merely asked for

effects

Hasn’t the state of intercollegiate athletics reached the point where the line between professionalism and amateurism is blurred?

Word Play Imperative Sentence

Sentence giving a command.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. ~JFK

“We’re going into the attic now, folks. Keep your accessories with you at all times.” (Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story 3)

Imperative Sentence "You have been the veterans of creative

suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed."(Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream," August 1963)

Imperative Sentence

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."(Robin Williams as John Keating in Dead Poets Society, 1989)