Rhetorical Devices

Affirmation Pattern Series of questions or statements that makes your audience shake their head yes.

Alliteration Repetition using the beginning consonant sounds of two or more neighboring words. EXAMPLE: The kids stampede the stuffy streets at school at South.

Allusion is a reference to a familiar person, place, or thing. "And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side." -- George W. Bush, 2000 Inaugural Address

Analogy is a comparison of an unfamiliar idea to a simple, familiar one. The suggestion is sometimes lengthy with several points of comparison. Ex: "Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded." -- Henry Kissinger, Memo to President Richard Nixon, 10 September 1969.

Anecdote is a short story told to illustrate a point. Example: If you are giving a speech on stricter drunk driving laws, and you relate a story about a relative who was hit by a drunk driver.

Antithesis is a figure of speech involving bringing out opposites with parallel structure and grammar, usually done within the same sentence. Example: When there is need of silence you speak; and when there is need of speech you are silent.

Hyperbole The counterpart of understatement—deliberately exaggerates conditions or emphasis of effect. Example: There are 1,000 reasons why more research is needed for solar energy.

Irony (verbal) using a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal meaning: sarcasm Example: It was a blistering twenty-five degrees outside during the snowstorm

Metaphor A form of figurative language which is a comparison between two seemingly unrelated subjects without using like or as. Example: All the world’s a stage…

Negative definition describing something by telling what it is not rather than, or in addition to, what it is. Example: A Catholic is a Christian who is not a Protestant.

Parallel structure is the repetition of words or phrases in meaning and/or structure. Example: I came, I saw, I conquered

Repetition is the uttering of the same word of phrase in order to create a sense or cadence, rhythm and emphasis. Example: “Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked to one another that a disaster for one is a disaster for everybody.” (Natalia Ginzburg, The Little Virtues, 1962) Anaphora: a type of repetition which is the repetition of two or more words at the beginning of a sentence or phrase.

Quotations are sometimes famous words that were spoken by someone in the past. These words are highlighted in order to lend understanding or credibility to a concept the speaker is trying to convey.

Rhetorical questions is a question posed to highlight a point, not for the purpose of eliciting a response. Example: What are you going to do about it?

Synecdoche (sih-NECK-duh-kee) Figure of comparison in which a word standing for part of something is used for the whole of that thing or vice versa; any part or portion or quality of a thing used to stand for the whole of the thing or vice versa -- genus to species or species to genus. "And I began a little quiet campaign of persuasion with certain editors, seeking to show the unlimited possibilities for education and amusement. One would have thought that we would find willing ears on the part of the newspapers." -- Lee De Forest Note: Two instances of synecdoche. The first uses a part (willing ears) to stand for the whole (persons in charge of making the decisions). The second uses a part (newspapers) to stand for the whole (newspaper companies).