1.

The Repetition Sentence (with

key word repeated)
Use this to add emphasis to a
word and to make an otherwise
drab sentence have style. Instead
of "If you don't like yourself, you
won't get along with people,"
write

If you don't like yourself, you
won't like other people.






2. The Repeated Word Sentence
(Epizeuxis)
To add emphasis, rhythm, and
focus to a sentence, repeat a word
with the repetitions in close
proximity. What part of speech
being repeated doesnt matter.

He was a decent man with
common moral, common
values, and common sense.






3. The Repeated-Word Sentence
(with Extended Definition)
By repeating a word several times,
it's possible to suggest
compulsiveness, anger, boredom,
and irritation.

He strove to be a sophomore,
succeeded as a sophomore, was
proud to be a sophomore, and
behaved as a sophomore for
three years.





4. The Repositioned-Adjective
Sentence
Instead of placing the adjective
before the noun, position it after
the noun like some foreign
languages do.
Some religions have disdain for all
things worldly.

I sing the body electric. Walt
Whitman






5. The Rhetorical Question
This sentence was originally a
statement, but after conversion to
a question, it takes on a grander
tone. It can be asked in a
positive or negative form but
actually remains a statement with
an obvious or expected answer.

Are we not men with
responsibilities?






6. The Interrupted Sentence (The
Explanation)
This type of sentence can draw
attention to the portion following
the interruption or act as a brake
on the sentence rhythm.

They have learned - that is,
they have experienced - a great
deal.







7. The Interrupted Sentence (The
Aside)
A parenthetical statement that by
digressing from the main point
adds increased importance to
what follows as well as a new
tone.

A typical teenager (opposed to
the atypical type I haven't met)
shuns homework.






8. The Structured Series
(Balance)
Parallel structure and length in a
series of words (three or more
items long) is an isocolon.
Between two items, it is a
balance. These can be single
word modifiers, phrases, or
clauses.

Life is full of fear, empty of
hope, and devoid of dreams.





9. The Compound-Balance
Sentence
By balancing a compound
sentence, you increase the effect.

If I want success, I work hard;
but if I want failure, I do little.










10. The Structured Series
(Tricolon)
One of the more famous stylistic
devices, it consists of three parts,
which can be words, phrases,
clauses or sentences. Caesar's "I
came, I saw, I conquered" and
Lincoln's "of the people, by the
people, and for the people" are
examples.

Volcanoes had belched molten
lava, lightning had struck in
dry grass, winds had rubbed
dead branches against each
other until they burst into
flame. -Loren Eisely

11. The Structured Series (Four-
Part)
This is a four item series of equal
unit length.

Charm, wit, taste, eloquence--
all those things generally
lacking in most men flourish in
Roden.
London was hideous, vicious,
cruel, and above all
overwhelming. - Henry James





12. The Symmetrical Sentence
This usually short sentence
features a balance like that of a
seesaw with the verb being the
balancing point. The words on
either side are equal in length and
usually short, and the balance can
be intensified by using the same
part of speech or words that
sound the same. Linking verbs
work well as balancing points, but
action verbs work also.

Crissy is spacy.
Democracy ends autocracy.


13. The Negative-Positive
Sequence
By phrasing a sentence in a "not
this, but that" format, you give
the second half special
importance and acknowledge the
contrary argument .

A student does not have to
believe in homework, but he
must believe in education.






14. The Positive-Negative
Sequence
By giving the positive first, the
negative is stressed.

A student must believe in
education, but he does not
have to believe in homework.









15. The Antithesis (an-TITH-e-sis)
A balance of opposites can
emphasize contrasts.

The smartest students make
the worst teachers.
Live or die, pass or fail,
graduate or drop out, I will not
give up on education.
Thats one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.
Neal Armstrong
Let us speak less of the threat
of Communism and more of the
promise of freedom. Richard
M. Nixon



16. The Antimetabole (an-ti-me-
TAB-o-le)
A two- part series with two
elements composes one part of
the balance and their reverse
forming the second.
But if thought corrupts
language, language can also
corrupt thought. - George
Orwell
Let us never negotiate out of
fear, but let us never fear to
negotiate.
Man must put an end to war, or
war will put an end to man.
John F. Kennedy
(speechwriter?)
When the going gets tough, the
tough get going. Folk saying

17. The Asyndeton (a-SYN-de-ton)
By eliminating the conjunction in
a series of items, you make the
items seem to occur as a single
event rather than make the last
seem more important.

A girl giggles in the hallway, a
light flickers in the room, a boy
snores in the corner.
He was a winner, a hero, a
legend.




18. The Polysyndeton (poly-SYN-
de-ton)
This is similar to the asyndeton
except that each item in a series
is separated by a conjunction.

It was a hot day and the sky
was very bright and blue and
the road was white and dusty.
Hemingway
It was neither the place nor the
time nor the man nor history
that produced the tragic event.
Phil Carman



19. The Anaphora (a-NAPH-or-a)
By beginning each item in series
with the same words, you
intensify their meaning and
emphasis.

Love is strange- it can't be
measured, it can't be weighed,
it can't be bought.
We shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing
grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills.
Winston Churchill



20. The Epistrophe (e-PIS-tro-
phe)
This involves ending each time in
a series with the same words. Its
effect is to illustrate the common
denominator between items.

The cars do not sell because
the engineering is inferior, the
quality of materials is inferior,
and the workmanship is
inferior.
I will buy with you, sell with
you, talk with you, walk with
you, and so following: but I
will not eat with you, drink
with you, nor pray with you. -
Shakespeare

21. The Symploce (SYM-plo-ce)
This is a combination of the
anaphora and epistrophe. The
items in the series begin and end
with the same words.

I was born an American; I will
live an American; I shall die an
American. - Daniel Webster
He was born a Catholic, he was
raised a Catholic, he will marry
Catholic. Malcolm Fortson




22. The Anadiplosis (a-na-di-PLO-
sis)
This can be achieved in several
ways:
1) By ending one item in a series
with the words that begin the
next
2) By ending a phrase or clause
with the words that begin the
next
3) By ending a sentence...

The effect is slow motion and
continuity, continuity and
overlapping, overlapping and
emphasis.


23. The Circular Sentence
(Epanalepsis, ep-a-na-LEP-sis)

This is a good way to start a
composition- by beginning and
ending a clause or sentence
with the same words.
During his life he traveled
throughout the world meeting
new and different people but
discovered that he had not
discovered himself during his
life.
Year chases year, decay
pursues decay (two
epanalepses). Samuel
Johnson


24. The Circular Sentence
(Modified Epanalepsis)
Rather than employ the same
word, some form of the word is
used.

Different ages have answered
the question differently. -
Virginia Woolfe








25. The Figurative Sentence
(Simile)
By comparing an idea with a
highly picturable object, person,
or event, it becomes imaginable.
Using like or as to compare two
things creates a simile.

Like a piece of ice on a hot
stove the poem must ride on
its own melting. - Robert Frost






26. The Figurative Sentence
(Metaphor)
This is basically a simile without
like or as. Our mortal life is a
rough sea is an example. By
being subtler and simply implying
the comparison, an implied
metaphor is possible. The rough
seas of our mortal life often
threaten our happiness.







27. The Figurative Sentence
(Reification)
This means making an abstract
idea into a concrete thing. In the
example, English literature, an
abstract idea becomes fire, a
concrete, tangible event.

The winds blew English
Literature, which had been
merely smoldering for
generations, into a blaze of
genius. - J.B. Priestly




28. The Figurative Sentence
(Personification)
This is comparing a nonliving or
inanimate object with something
alive.

Far off, a little yellow plane
scuttles down a runway, steps
awkwardly into the air, then
climbs busily, learning grace. -
Robert Penn Warren






29. The Complex Figurative
Sentence
This sentence features several
clauses full of figurative types.

When the ignorance of our
youth drowns in a pool of
knowledge, when our tires no
longer bark our defiance on
city streets, then we know
adulthood has squashed us
beneath cleated shoes. - Roden





30. The Alliterative Sentence
The repeated use of the beginning
sounds of words can make a
sentence more memorable. Limit
alliterated words or the effect can
be comical.

All beauty comes from
beautiful blood and a beautiful
brain. - Walt Whitman







31. The Rhythmical Sentence
This is a sentence with a more
obvious flow and cadence than
most sentences. Use it for special
effect but avoid lengthy use.

Curiosity is a form of desire. -
Marchette Chute









32. The Metrical Sentence (Four
Beats)
This is a sentence with regular,
patterned accents. In a poem it
would be iambic tetrameter, four
duh-DUM beats in a row.

The sentence is a single cry. -
Herbert Read








33. The Metrical Sentence
(Various Beats)
Rather than strictly follow one
metrical pattern, more than one
is followed.
May in Venice is better than April,
but June is best of all. - Henry
James
(Trochaic and iambic)



These have fancy Greek names,
but their definitions won't be
Greek to you with very little
study..


34. Parallelism
When portions of a sentence
follow the same grammatical
pattern, these portions have
parallelism. The portions, which
can be any parts of speech, can as
short as two nouns with the same
number of adjectives and
participles modifying them

The red, broken bicycle and the
yellow, weathered tricycle are
symbols of my youth.
Or entire clauses
In the morning of the first day I
found the necessary strength, but
in the evening of the last day I
lost the requisite courage.

35. Chiasmus
This could be called reverse
parallelism. The pattern set by
the first group of words is
reversed by the second group to
form a sort of mirror image.

He labors without complaining
and without bragging rests.
The honest man toils by day,
but by night toils the man
dishonest.




36. Hypophora
Unlike a rhetorical question, a
hypophora is a question raised by
the writer that he or she actually
answers. Raising a question the
reader might be considering and
answering it in several sentences
is a solid writing technique.









37. Procatalepsis
Anticipating an objection and
answering it, permits an
argument to continue moving
forward while taking into account
points or reasons opposing either
the train of thought or its final
conclusions. Often the objections
are standard ones:

It is usually argued at this
point that if the government
gets out of the mail delivery
business, small towns like
Podunk will not have any mail
service. The answer to this can
be found in the history of the
Pony Express . . .

38. Metabasis
This consists of a brief statement
of what has been said and what
will follow. It might be called a
linking, running, or transitional
summary, whose function is to
keep the discussion ordered and
clear in its progress:

Such, then, would be my
diagnosis of the present
condition of art. I must now, by
special request, say what I
think will happen to art in the
future. --Kenneth Clark


39. Distinctio
This is an explicit reference to a
particular meaning or to the
various meanings of a word, in
order to remove or prevent
ambiguity. To make methanol for
twenty-five cents a gallon is
impossible; by "impossible" I
mean currently beyond our
technological capabilities.

Some helpful phrases for
distinctio include these: ______
here must be taken to mean, in
this context [or case] ______
means, by _______ I mean, that
is, which is to say.

40. Apophasis (also called
praeteritio or occupatio)
This asserts or emphasizes
something by pointedly
seeming to pass over, ignore,
or deny it. This device has both
legitimate and illegitimate
uses. Legitimately, a writer
uses it to call attention to
sensitive or inflammatory facts
or statements while he remains
apparently detached from
them.
We will not bring up the matter
of the budget deficit here, or
how programs like the one
under consideration have
nearly pushed us into
bankruptcy, because other
reasons clearly enough show.