Schemes

Anadiplosis Refers to the repetition of a word or words in successive clauses in such a way that the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause.

 “This public school has a record of extraordinary reliability, a reliability that every other school is jealous of in the city.”

Anaphora the deliberate repetition of a grammatical pattern at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses in order to achieve an artistic effect

“…government of the people, for the people, by the people…” “…that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are…”

Antithesis literal meaning opposite, is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. Antithesis emphasizes the idea of contrast by parallel structures of the contrasted phrases…

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Asyndeton a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and in the sentence, yet maintain the grammatical accuracy.…

“Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?”(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare) “Without looking, without making a sound, without talking” (Oedipus at Colonus by Sophecles)

Antimetabole/Chiasmus Antimetabole is a literary term or device that involves repeating a phrase in reverse order. “You like it; it likes you” and “Fair is foul and foul is fair” etc. Chiasmus is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect. “Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.” They are essentially the same thing—we won’t pick hairs…

Epistrophe derived from a Greek word that means turning upon, which indicates the same word returns at the end of each sentence. Epistrophe is a stylistic device that can be defined as the repetition of phrases or words at the end of the clauses or sentences.

“Hourly joys be still upon you. Juno sings her blessings on you “Hourly joys be still upon you! Juno sings her blessings on you. . . . Scarcity and want shall shun you, Ceres’ blessing so is on you.”

Isocolon a rhetorical device that involves a succession of sentences, phrases and clauses of grammatically equal length. In this figure of speech, a sentence has a parallel structure that is made up of words, clauses or phrases of equal length, sound, meter and rhythm.

*Parallelism Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter. Grammatical vs. “artistic”

Juxtaposition Juxtaposition is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. No direct comparison/contract drawn!

Zeugma from Greek “yoking” or “bonding”, is a figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas.

Always do your best, but not your best friend.

Polysyndeton a stylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect

“And Joshua, and all of Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had.” (The Bible)

Loose Sentence A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by one or more coordinate orsubordinate phras es and clauses. Contrast withperiodic sentence.

I knew I had found a friend in the woman, who herself was a lonely soul, never having known the love of man or child. (Emma Goldman)

Periodic Sentence A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word-- usually with an emphatic climax. Contrast with loose sentence andcumulative sentence.

"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius." (Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self- Reliance,"1841)

Cumulative Sentence An independent clause followed by a series of subordinateconstructions (phrases or clauses) that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea. Contrast with periodic sentence. Another name for a loose sentence

Climactic sentence A rhetorical term for a gradual increase in intensity of meaning with words arranged in ascending order of force or importance. 

"It's a well hit ball, it's a long drive, it might be, it could be, it IS . . . a home run." (American baseball broadcaster Harry Carey)

Inverted sentence a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree:” (“Kubla Khan,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Rhetorical Question  asked just for effect or to lay emphasis on some point discussed when no real answer is expected.