Rhetorical Devices

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Rhetorical Devices

• AP Language

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Schemes involving Balance
MOST COMMON!

• Parallelism
• The repetition of similar grammatical or
  syntactical patterns.
• Parallelism of words
• Parallelism of phrases
• Parallelism of clauses

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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.

Active verb
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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.

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Zeugma (zoog-mah)

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

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Examples of zeugma
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

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Antithesis

• Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting
  ideas
• Antithesis of
• Words,
• Phrases
• Clauses

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

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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.

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Another to add (antithesis)

• Antimetabole (anti-met-ab-olee)
• Words are repeated in different grammatical
  forms.
• When the going get tough, the tough get going
• Ask not what your country can do for you- ask
  what you can do for your country.
• You take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you
  cant take the honky tonk out of the girl.

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Schemes Involving INTERUPTION

• 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 jockswho would expect any
  different?ready to show that theyre potentially
  as good as the varsity players.

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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
  todays student athletes.

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Schemes Involving Omission

• Ellipsis
• the omission of one or more words that are
  obviously understood but that must be supplied to
  make a construction grammatically complete
  (sometimes replaced with three consecutive
  periods)
• In a hockey power play, if you pass the puck to
  the wing, and he to you, then you can close in on
  the goal.

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Omission

• Asyndeton (a-sin-da-ton)
• The omission of conjunctions
• He has provided the poor with jobs, with
  opportunity, with self-respect.

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Schemes Involving Repetition

• Dont be repetitive, but use repetition. ?
• Alliteration-
• Repetition of same sound or letter at the
  beginning of consecutive words or syllables.
• Intramural hockey is a strenuous, stimulating,
  satisfying sport.

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Repetition

• Assonance (ass-o-nance)
• The repetition of identical or similar vowel
  sounds
• A workout partner is finally a kind, reliable,
  right-minded helper.

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Repetition

• Anaphora (ana-for-a)
• The repetition of same group of words at the
  beginning of clauses
• Exercise builds stamina in young children,
  exercise builds stamina in teenagers and young
  adults, exercise builds stamina in older adults
  and senior citizens.

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Schemes involving Repetition

• Epistrophe (E-pis-tro-fee)
• Repetition of same group of words at end of
  successive clauses
• To become a top-notch player, I thought like an
  athlete, I trained like an athlete, I ate like an
  athlete.

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Repetition

• Anadiplosis (ana-dip-lo-sis)
• Repetition of last word of one clause at the
  beginning of following clause
• Mental preparation leads to training, training
  builds muscle tone and coordination muscle tone
  and coordination, combined with focused thinking,
  produce athletic excellence.

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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.

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Comparison

• Synecdoche
• a part of something used to refer to the whole
• We decided we could rearrange the gym equipment
  if everyone would lend a hand.

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Comparison

• Metonymy
• an entity referred to by one of its attributes
• The central office announced today new
  regulations for sports nights.

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Comparison

• Personification
• Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate
  objects
• After almost three periods of searching, the
  puck finally found the goal.

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Comparison

• Periphrasis (puh-RI-frah-suhs)
• a descriptive word or phrase used to refer to
  proper name
• The New York Yankees and the New York Islanders
  vie to be the best hockey team in the Big Apple.

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Schemes Involving Comparison

• Metaphor
• Figure of speech used when one thing is spoken of
  as though it were something else, thus making an
  implicit comparison
• Many an athletic contest is lost when the
  players mind is an idling engine.

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Comparison

• Simile
• A figure of speech that uses like or as to
  compare two things
• An athletes 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.)

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Tropes Involving Word Play

• Pun
• suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting
  multiple meanings of words, or of
  similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous
  or rhetorical effect
• The tipped-but-caught third strike, ending a
  bases-loaded rally, was a foul most foul.

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Word Play

• Antimeria (anti-mer-ia)
• One part of speech, usually a verb, that
  substitutes for a noun
• When the Little Leaguers lost the championship,
  they need just to have a good cry before they
  could feel okay about their season.

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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.

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Overstatement and Understatement

• Hyperbole (Hy-per-bowl-ee)
• The use of exaggeration as rhetorical device. It
  may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create
  a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken
  literally
• He couldnt make that shot again if he tried a
  million times.

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Overstatement and Understatement

• Litotes (LYE-tuh-tees)
• The use of an understatement as rhetorical
  device. It may be used to evoke strong feelings
  or to create a strong impression, but is not
  meant to be taken literally.
• Shutting out the opponents for three straight
  games is no big deal (NBD) .

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Litotes Examples

• "Not bad."
• " no ordinary city
• "She is not as young as she was."

• Good
• a very impressive city.
• Shes old.

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Management of Meaning

• Irony
• Words meant to convey the opposite of literal
  meaning
• Their center is over seven feet tall- where do
  they come up with these little pipsqueaks?

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Management of Meaning

• Sarcasm
• Bitter Irony
• Thanks for everything you did for us tonight
  (when he really did nothing).

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Management of Meaning

• Oxymoron
• Words with contradictory meanings placed side by
  side
• When you have to face your best friend in
  competition, whoever wins feels an aching
  pleasure.
• Jumbo shrimp, deafening silence, alone together
• Same difference, constant variable, unbiased
  opinion

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Management of Meaning

• Rhetorical Question
• A question designed not to secure an answer, but
  to move the idea forward and suggest a point.
• Hasnt the state of intercollegiate athletics
  reached the point where the line between
  professionalism and amateurism is blurred?

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