AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION

AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION Rhetorical Terms Review Set 6 Syntax Strategies

Anadiplosis Definition: repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. Examples: “The laughter had to be gross or it would turn to sobs, and to sob would be to realize, and to realize would be to despair. “ John Howard Griffin “Don’t you surrender! Suffering breeds character; character breeds faith; in the end faith will not disappoint. ..” Jesse Jackson

Antanaclasis Definition: using the same word in two different meanings – repetition of a word in two different senses. Examples: “If we don’t hang together, we will hang separately.” Ben Franklin “Although we’re apart, you’re still a part of me.” from “On Blueberry Hill”

Anthithesis Definition: the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure Examples: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong “Our knowledge separates as well as it unites; our orders disintegrate as well as bind; our art brings us together and sets us apart.” J. Robert Oppenheimer

Chiasmus Definition: reversal or crossing of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses Examples: • "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."(Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006) • “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” –Bill Clinton, 2008 DNC (this has anadiplosis, too!)

Ellipsis Definition: deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by the context. Examples: “Rape is the sexual sin of the mob, adultery of the bourgeoisie, and incest of the aristocracy.” –John Updike “The Master’s degree is awarded by seventy-four departments, and the Ph.D. by sixty.” Student example

Epistrophe Definition: repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive cluases, the opposite of anaphora Examples: “I’ll have my bond! Speak not against my bond!/I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond!” Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, III.iii.3-4. “…We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another.” Richard Nixon

Epanalepsis Definition: repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning. Examples: “Blood hath brought blood, and blows have answer’d blows:/Strength match’d with strength, and power confronted with power.” King John, II.i.329-30. “Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,/Possessed by what we now no more possessed.” –Robert Frost

Inverted Syntax Definition: reversing the normal word order of a sentence Examples: “Never was seen so black a day as this:” Romeo and Juliet, V.iv “Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” Yoda from Star Wars

Rhetorical Question Definition: a question asked for rhetorical effect to emphasize a point, no answer being expected Examples: “Robert, is this any way to speak to your mother?” “…Was I an Irishman on that day that I boldly withstood our pride? or on the day that I hung down my head and wept in shame and silence over the humiliation of Great Britain?...” –Edmund Burke

Polyptoton Definition: repetition of words derived from the same root. Examples: • “But alas…the gate is narrow, the threshold high, few are chosen because few choose to be chosen.” –Aldous Huxley • Please, Please Me. Title of a Beatles’ song

AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION