alliteration: several
words beginning with the same sound or letter ("the menaced mallard")
anadiplosis: repetition
of words from end of one phrase at beginning of next
anaphora: repetition
of words at the beginning ("he would ... he would ... he would ...")
anticlimax: enumeration in order of decreasing importance
("mothers and roses and ambitions ... and collars")
antithesis: words or phrases that contrast with each
other ("large appetites and modest purses")
apostrophe: sudden
shift to direct address
asyndeton: enumeration
without conjunctions ("degraded days, unworthy desires, dead hopes, wrecked
faculties")
chiasm: crosswise arrangement of parts of a sentence
climax: enumeration in order of increasing importance
conceit: an elaborate, often extravagant metaphor
ellipsis: leaving out a
word ("a policeman in the lead")
epiphora: repetition of words at the end
euphemism: substitution of an inoffensive term for
an unpleasant one ("Island" for "prison")
exclamation: sudden outcry or interjection expressing
violent emotion
hyperbaton: change
of regular word order ("neatly upon his left ear ...")
hyperbole: exaggeration ("a pail of suds")
invocation: direct
address of a god or similar being
irony: words are used to convey a meaning contrary
to their literal sense
litotes: emphasis by negating the opposite ("his
hibernatorial ambitions were not of the highest")
metaphor: implicit
comparison ("the level sea of asphalt")
metonymy: use of one word for a related one ("bottle"
for "drink")
onomatopoeia: imitation
of natural sounds by words
oxymoron: combination of two contradictory words
(bittersweet)
paradox: statement that appears contradictory
to common sense yet is true in fact. ("damaged by improvements")
parenthesis: a piece of text that wanders off from
the main topic
parallelism: equal
syntactic structure ("Its crockery and atmosphere were thick;
its soup and napery thin")
periphrasis: round‑about
explanation ("the minutest coin and himself were strangers")
personification: representation of inanimate objects or
abstract ideas as living beings ("the callous pavement")
polyptoton: repetition of words in different forms
("Soapy moved uneasily ... Soapy moves uneasily ...")
polysyndeton: enumeration with conjunctions ("quaint
and rambling and gabled")
prolepsis: use of a word logically too early
pun: humorous use of words usually with more
than one meaning
rhetorical question: no answer is expected by the speaker
rhyme: similar sounds at word endings ("right
little, tight little")
simile: comparison by means of the words "like"
or "as" ("... as a carpenter's rule opens")
syllepsis: one word
wrongly refers to several in a sentence
synecdoche: the part stands for the whole, the whole
for a part, ("brass buttons" for "policeman")
zeugma: one word refers to several in sentence
with different meaning