| A | B |
|---|
| alliteration | Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence |
| anacolouthon (non-sequitur) | Lack of grammatical sequence; a change in the grammatical construction within the same sentence |
| anaphora | The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines |
| apostrophe | A sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present |
| assonance | Repetition of the same sound in words close to each other |
| asyndeton | Lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words |
| cacophony | Harsh joining of sounds |
| chiasmus | Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a) |
| hendiadys | Use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea |
| hyperbaton | Separation of words which belong together, often to emphasize the first of the separated words or to create a certain image |
| hyperbole | Exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect |
| hysteron-proteron | Inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important |
| irony | Expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another |
| litotes | Understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed |
| metaphor | Implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it |
| metonymy | Substitution of one word for another which it suggests |
| onomatopoeia | Use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense |
| oxymoron | Apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another |
| personification | Attribution of personality to an impersonal thing |
| pleonasm | Use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought |
| polyptoton | repetiition of the same word or of words from the same root but with different endings |
| prolepsis | The anticipation, in adjectives or nouns, of the result of the action of a verb; also, the positioning of a relative clause before its antecedent |
| simile | An explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as' |
| synchysis | Interlocked word order |
| synecdoche | Understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part |
| tmesis | Separation of a compound verb into its consituent parts, generally for metrical convenience |
| transferred epithet | Grammatical agreement of a word with another word which it does not logically qualify |
| tricolon crescens | Arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power. |
| zeugma | Two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them |
