Alliteration

the same sound is repeated noticeably at the

beginning of words placed close together
Examples:
"World Wide Web"
"Find four furry foxes"
 Allusion

casual reference to a famous historical or

literary figure or event.

Example:
" . . . a turn of phrase even Shakespeare would
appreciate."
 Apostrophe
direct address of an absent or dead person or
personified thing.

Example:
"God help me!"
"Ambition, you're a cruel master!"
 Irony
using words to mean the opposite of what is said.
Sarcasm
Hyperbole
Understatement
Example:
After begging for a cat and finally getting one, she found out she
was allergic.
 Sarcasm
a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a
bitter gibe or taunt

Examples
"He's handsome if you like rodents.“
Twinkle twinkle little star
You should know what you are
And once you know what you are
Mental hospital is not so far.
 Hyperbole

exaggeration not meant to be taken literally.

Example:
"I waited forever for him."
"I destroyed that test!"
"The world ended the day my father died."
 Understatement
the representation of something as significantly less than
it actually is.

Example:
"That was some sprinkle." (in reference to the four
inches of rain which fell an hour before)
"It s just a flesh wound 's just a flesh wound ". - (Black
Knight, after having both of his arms cut off)
 Metaphor
an implied comparison between things, events, or
actions which are fundamentally unlike.
Personification
Synecdoche
Metonymy
Examples:
Heart of stone
Time is money
 Metonymy

substituting a word--which is suggested by it or

which is closely associated with it--for another
word
Example:
"He hit the bottle soon after his wife died."
"The White House denied the allegations.“
 Synecdoche
using a part for the whole or the whole for a part
Example:
Many hands make light work.
"Robby got wheels this summer."
 Personification

representing a thing, quality, or idea as a

person
Example:
"The book just begged to be read."
"The ocean screamed its fury"
"Fear lived with us in Vietnam."
 Onomatopoeia

using words to imitate the sound they

represent
Examples:
"I heard the hiss of steam down in the access tunnel."
"The clock in the living room cuckooed the hour."
"The clang of the cymbals echoed across the square."
 Parallelism "Balance"
Expressing two ideas of equal importance through similar
phrasing.
Antithesis
Paradox
Oxymoron
Anaphora
Anticlimax
Climax
 Antithesis

parallelism in grammatical pattern but strong

contrast in meaning.
Example:
"Give me liberty or give me death!"
"That isn't the truth, it's a lie."
"You seem so wise, yet how foolish you are."
 Paradox
a statement that seems self-contradictory. The effect
of this is to jolt the reader into paying attention.
Example:
"He who loses his life for My sake will save it."
"You always hurt the one you love."
 Oxymoron
a paradoxical statement in which two contradictory terms
or words are brought together.
Example:
"The quiet was deafening."
"He was clearly misunderstood."
"They were alone together."
 Anaphora
repetition of the same word or words at the beginning or
successive clauses, verses, or sentences

Example:
"He came as conqueror. He came as ally. He came as a
stranger. He came as brother."
 Climax
refers to a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or
clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance.

Example:
"There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and
love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13
 Anticlimax
refers to a figure of speech in which statements
gradually descend in order of importance.
Example:
“He lost his family, his car and his cell phone.”
"I think we've reached a point of great decision, not just
for our nation, not only for all humanity, but for life
upon the earth."
 Simile
an explicit comparison between things, events, or
actions which are fundamentally unlike.

Example:
"His arguments withered like grapevines in the fall."
"He was cold as an arctic wind."
"Crooked as a dog's hind leg."
 Litotes
Deliberate understatement or denial
of the contrary.
Example:
"The grave's a fine a private place,
But none, , I think, do there embrace."
 Pun
A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the
same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound
of different words.
Example:
Writing with a broken pencil is pointless.
Tigers do not eat clowns because they
taste funny.