In rhetoric, a rhetorical device or resource of language is a technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in his audience (his reader(s) or listener(s)). These emotional responses are central to the meaning of the work or speech, and should also get the audience's attention.
Partial list
This list contains both rhetorical devices per se, as well as other tools of spoken and written language that may be prominently used for rhetorical purposes. See also the Glossary of rhetorical terms.
- Anacoluthon, an abrupt change in sentence structure
- Analogy
- Antithesis
- Aposiopesis, suddenly breaking off in speech, as in "Why, you little —"
- Chiastic structure, in which attention is drawn to a main idea or complete thought
- Diction, the choice of words based on their connotation and precise meaning
- Epithet, a descriptive word or phrase that has become a fixed formula
- Imagery, also known as sensory detail
- Metaphor, a direct comparison between seemingly unrelated subjects
- Parade of horribles
- Parallelism
- Personification, giving human qualities to an inanimate object.
- Polysyndeton, (opposite asyndeton), the use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted, as in "he ran and jumped and laughed for joy".
- Rhetorical organization, a division of a work into components, either explicitly or subtly, used for rhetorical purposes.
- Rhetorical question, a question to which an answer is not expected in response
- Simile
- Synecdoche, in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in "New York won by six runs" (meaning "New York's baseball team won by six runs").
- Symbolism, in which a (usually recurrent) object or character represents an idea.
- Syntax, also known as sentence structure, may be used as a rhetorical device.
