Rhetorical Devices- Schemes

A _________ is an artful variation from the typical or expected way a word or idea is expressed; it is the figurative use of a word. _________ focus on the significance of word choice (diction).

• Trope

• Scheme

A brief reference to a real or fictitious person, place, event, or work of art.

Example: A reference to Eden, Scrooge, or Picasso in a work is an ____________.

• Allusion

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Oxymoron

An expression of meaning that compares two unlike things.

Example: “But there are many mountaintops yet to climb. We will not rest until every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and opportunity as our birthright.”

• Simile

• Onamatopeoia

• Metaphor

• Allusion

Addressing a person in a speech or composition who is not present.

Example: “Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

• Juxtaposition

• Alliteration

• Apostrophe

• Personification

A comparison of two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.”

Example: The young girl is as brave as a lion.

• Juxtaposition

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Hyperbole

Giving inanimate objects human characteristics.

Example: The lightning danced across the night sky.

• Hyperbole

• Personification

• Assonance

• Consonance

The repetition of vowel sounds between different consonants inside a line.

Example: “Fire at the private eye hired to pry in my business”

• Assonance

• Alliteration

• Consonance

• Onomatopoeia

The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of adjacent or closely placed words.

Example: “They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known.”

• Assonance

• Alliteration

• Consonance

• Onomatopoeia

The repetition of the same consonant sounds repeated in a group of words.

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Onomatopoeia

• Assonance

The intentional use of words that sound like their meaning.

Examples: Buzz, Zap, Pow

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Onomatopoeia