Rhetorical Devices And Techniques
Choose the correct technique or device after each example. Note that this is not a quiz; it is intended as a tool to acquire and identify rhetorical terms, so take notes.
- 1.These devices were calculated to stir his audience into a rational hysteria.
- A.
Apostrophe
- B.
Oxymoron
- C.
Parallelism
- D.
Asyndeton
- E.
Synecdoche
- 2.Come over Saturday night, and we'll break bread together.
- A.
Simile
- B.
Personification
- C.
Pun
- D.
Synecdoche
- E.
Prepositional phrase
- 3.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
- A.
Synecdoche
- B.
Epistrophe
- C.
Anaphora
- D.
Ellipses
- E.
Polysyndeton
- 4.There is even, and it is the achievement of this book, a curious sense of happiness running through its paragraphs. Norman Mailer
- A.
Parenthesis
- B.
Ellipsis
- C.
Apostrophe
- D.
Antithesis
- E.
Chiasmus
- 5.Rape is the sexual sin of the mob, adultery of the bourgeoisie, and incest of the aristocracy. John Updike
- A.
Anaphora
- B.
Climax
- C.
Antithesis
- D.
Hyperbole
- E.
Ellipsis
- 6.. . .government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln
- A.
Parenthesis
- B.
Asyndeton
- C.
Antithesis
- D.
Chiasmus
- E.
Anaphora
- 7.Our knowledge separates as well as it unites; our orders disintegrate as well as bind; our art brings us together and sets us apart. J. Robert Oppenheimer
- A.
Asyndeton
- B.
Climax
- C.
Antithesis
- D.
Ellipsis
- E.
Synecdoche
- 8.It is hard to make money, but to spend it is easy.
- A.
Chiasmus
- B.
Anaphora
- C.
Climax
- D.
Ellipsis
- E.
Litotes
- 9.It shreds the nerves, it vivisects the psyche--and it may even scare the living daylights out of more than a few playgoers. A review in Time, 1966
- A.
Ellipsis
- B.
Parenthesis
- C.
Apostrophe
- D.
Climax
- E.
Chiasmus
- 10.Entertainer Frank Sinatra isn't the slow-burn type. Article in Newsweek, 1965
- A.
Hyperbole
- B.
Anaphora
- C.
Ellipsis
- D.
Irony
- E.
Litotes
- 11.By Spring, if God was good, all the proud privileges of trench lice, mustard gas, spattered brains, punctured lungs, ripped guts, asphyxiation, mud, and gangrene, might be his. Thomas Wolfe
- A.
Antithesis
- B.
Anaphora
- C.
Irony
- D.
Hyperbole
- E.
Apostrophe
- 12.O, eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded. . . .Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of a man, and covered it all with these two narrow words, Hic jacet. Sir Walter Raleigh
- A.
Asyndeton
- B.
Ellipsis
- C.
Anaphora
- D.
Personification
- E.
Apostrophe
- 13.Mother Tongue is a self-reliant female. Charlton Laird
- A.
Simile
- B.
Personification
- C.
Apostrophe
- D.
Metaphor
- E.
Synecdoche
- 14.We walked along a road in Cumberland and stooped, because the sky hung so low. Thomas Wolfe
- A.
Metaphor
- B.
Personification
- C.
Synecdoche
- D.
Hyperbole
- E.
Ellipsis
- 15.So let the class invent its own assignments. If it wants more sophistication, fine. Peter Elbow
- A.
Ellipsis
- B.
Antithesis
- C.
Metaphor
- D.
Apostrophe
- E.
Zeugma
- 16.He maintained a flourishing business and racehorse.
- A.
Metaphor
- B.
Zeugma
- C.
Synecdoche
- D.
Ellipsis
- E.
Hyperbole
- 17.Any theory of post-historical society--our sense of being "in history" is largely determined by the pressure of political and social conflicts--will have to consider the dilemma of human motivations in the just city. George Steiner
- A.
Zeugma
- B.
Apostrophe
- C.
Anaphora
- D.
Parenthesis
- E.
Polysyndeton
- 18.Are there no roofs in this town where I can rest?
- A.
Simile
- B.
Metaphor
- C.
Synecdoche
- D.
Chiasmus
- E.
Zeugma
- 19.Though studious, he was popular; though argumentative, he was modest; though inflexible, he was candid; and though metaphysical, yet orthodox. Samuel Johnson
- A.
Ellipsis
- B.
Polysyndeton
- C.
Antithesis
- D.
Chiasmus
- E.
Synecdoche
- 20.This semester I am taking English and history and biology and mathematics and sociology and physical education.
- A.
Irony
- B.
Polysyndeton
- C.
Asyndeton
- D.
Metaphor
- E.
Climax
Questions: 22 | Attempts: 102 | Last updated: May 17, 2019
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Sample QuestionExpletive
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Sample QuestionChoose which one is a metaphor.
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Sample QuestionRead lines 5 - 8and check each Rhetorical Device(s) that are used. "We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives so that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
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