Schemes and Tropes

The repetition of words in different or contrary sense

Placing two coordinate elements side by side, the second one explaining or modifying the first

Deliberately leaving out conjunctions between a series of related clauses

A rhetorical repetition of the same root word, with the word being repeated in a different grammatical form each time

Similar to the above, but each repetition only changes the word's meaning

Intentionally repeating conjunctions for effect

Repeating the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses

Repeating the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses

A combination of the two previous answers

Repeating the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

Substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant

Juxtaposing contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

Claiming to want to avoid mentioning something—or pretending to deny what is really implied—and thereby mentioning or implying it (e.g. "I don't want to say anything bad about another doctor, especially one who's a useless drunk")

A sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present

Piling up many adjectives next to each other

Raising questions and answering them

To ask questions to rebuke or reproach rather than to elicit answers

Arranging words, phrases or clauses in an order of increasing importance; also called incrementum or gradatio

Paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another

A figure of speech in which the normal word order of the subject, the verb, and the object is changed

The repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words

The repetition of a word or a group of words from the beginning of the sentence at the end of said sentence

Repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences

A general term describing when one part of speech governs two or more other parts of a sentence without being directly restated (e.g. "As Virgil guided Dante through Inferno, the Sibyl Aeneas Avernus")

Using exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect

Using understatement to enhance the impressiveness of what we say

Asking a question to assert or deny something obliquely without an expected answer

An implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common

An explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common, using "as" or "like"

Giving abstractions or inanimate objects human qualities or abilities

Words that phonetically imitate and echo the sound being described

A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent a whole

The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; can be verbal, situational, or dramatic

The use of vivid language designed to appeal to the senses