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AP Lang Rhetoric Terms Tropes

Word List with 14 words
By Brogan

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Words in This List

irony

n.,

the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning:

paradox

a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

metaphor

compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked by the to be verb

simile

is a comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. In formal prose the simile is a device both of art and explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some familiar thing an object, event, process, etc. known to t

synecdoche

is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself

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metonymy

is another form of metaphor, very similar to synecdoche and, in fact, some rhetoricians do not distinguish between the two, in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with but not an actual part of the subject with which it

Personification

metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and abstractions can also be personified.

zeugma

includes several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage or yoking together of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. Thus examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two or more verbs, a v

onomatopoeia

is the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. Buzz, for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying insect. Other examples include these: slam, pow, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle, crunch, wring, wren

hyperbole

the counterpart of understatement, deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect. In formal writing the hyperbole must be clearly intended as an exaggeration, and should be carefully restricted. That is, do not exaggerate everything, but trea

litotes

a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifyin

rhetorical question

erotesis differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no. It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the

Hypophora

consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it:

oxymoron

is a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun eloquent silence or adverb-adjective inertly strong relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit: