Rhetorical & stylistic analysis

1. Name the brief, indirect reference to a well-known historical, cultural or literary work: Allusion or Oxymoron?

2. Name the repetition of initial consonant sounds across nearby words (e.g. “wild winds whipped the waves”): Alliteration or Caesura?

3. Name a statement that appears self-contradictory on the surface yet reveals a deeper truth (e.g. “Less is more”): Paradox or Cliché?

4. Name the rhetorical appeal that establishes the speaker’s credibility, character and authority: Ethos or Pathos?

5. Name the device that repeats conjunctions between every item in a list for cumulative weight (e.g. “lions and tigers and bears”): Polysyndeton or Asyndeton?

6. Name the device that uses deliberate, extreme exaggeration for emphasis rather than literal truth (e.g. “I have told you a million times”): Hyperbole or Litotes?

7. Name the device that repeats a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses (e.g. “of the people, by the people, for the people”): Epistrophe or Anaphora?

8. Name the device that omits conjunctions between series items to accelerate rhythm (e.g. “reduce, reuse, recycle”): Asyndeton or Polysyndeton?

9. Name the repetition of vowel sounds within nearby non-rhyming words (e.g. “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”): Assonance or Oxymoron?

10. Name the device that substitutes a mild or indirect expression for one considered harsh or blunt (e.g. “passed away” for “died”): Euphemism or Paradox?

11. Name the device that places two contrasting ideas side by side in balanced parallel structure (e.g. “To err is human; to forgive, divine”): Antithesis or Onomatopoeia?

12. Name the rhetorical appeal that stirs the audience’s emotions and empathy: Pathos or Ethos?