Figures of Speech

Tropes: not to be taken literally

Name	Explanation	Example
metaphor
metonymy
synekdoche
metalepsis
irony
paradox
oxymoron
litotes
hyperbole

Metaplastic figures: playing with spelling and sound

The addition of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
prosthesis	addition of letters to the beginning of a word
epenthesis	addition of letters to the middle of a word
paragoge	addition of letters to the end of a word

The omission of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
aphaersis	omission of letters to the beginning of a word
syncope	omission of letters to the middle of a word
apocope	omission of letters to the end of a word

The switching of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
antisthecon	substitution of a letter or sound for another within a word
metathesis	transposition of a letter out of its normal order in a word

Combinations of these factors

synaeresis

Playing with the structure of sentences

Words (seem to) get lost

Name	Explanation	Example
ellipsis	omission of a word
zeugma	an ellipsis of a verb, in which one verb is used to govern several clauses
scesis onamaton	omission of the verb of a sentence
anapodoton	omission of a clause
aposiopesis	stopping a sentence in midcourse so that the statement is unfinished
occupatio	The orator promises not to speak of a certain thing - and does it the more provocatively by doing so

Repetions of words

Name	Explanation	Example
epizeuxis	emphatic repetition of a word with no other words between
polyptoton	repetition of the same word or root in different grammatical functions or forms
antanaclasis	repetition of a word, but in two different meanings
anaphora	repetition of a word at the beginning of a clause, line, or sentence
epistrophe	repetition of a word at the end of a clause, line, or sentence	I'll have my bond!/ Speak not against my bond!/ I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.---The Merchant of Venice, 3.3.4
symploce	repetition of both beginnings and endings
epanalepsis	repetition of the beginning at the end
anadiplosis	repetition of the end of a line or clause at the next beginning	Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain ---Sir Philip Sidney, Loving in Truth (1591)
gradatio
congeries	a heaping together and piling up of many words that have a similar meaning
antimetabole	repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order; a chiasmus on the level of words (AB; BA)
pleonasm

Figures of unusual word order

Name	Explanation	Example

Peculiar thoughts

Name	Explanation	Example

anthimeria