TIP OF THE DAY 104: Speaking with style - figures of speech continued

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day

QUESTION: List the common schemes.

ANSWER: from Wikipedia: Figure of Speech

Schemes are words or phrases whose syntax, sequence, or pattern occurs in a manner that varies from an ordinary usage.

Accumulatio: restating, through accumulation, already said arguments in a concise and forceful manner.

Alliteration: the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Anadiplosis: repetition of a word at the end of a clause and then at the beginning of its succeeding clause.

Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Anastrophe: changing the object, subject and verb order in a clause.

Anti-climax: an abrupt descent (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the strong conclusion that appeared imminent.

Antimetabole: a sentence consisting of the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in reverse order.

Antithesis: juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas in separate clauses.

Aphorismus: statement that calls into question if a word or phrase is properly used to characterize a subject.

Aposiopesis: breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect, often through the use of dashes or ellipses.

Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds: "Smooth move!" or "Please leave!" or "That's the fact Jack!"

Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions between related clauses.

Chiasmus: two or more clauses related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point. subordinate class to antimetabole.

Climax: arrangement of words in an ascending order.

Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse.

Correlative verse: matching items in two sequences.

Diacope: repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words.

Elision: omission of one or more letters in speech, making it colloquial.

Enallage: wording ignoring grammatical rules or conventions.

Epanalepsis: ending sentences with their beginning.

Epiphrase: one or more sentences (typically of the author's understanding/expression of the issue) added to the end of a completed sentence

Epistrophe (also known as antistrophe): repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive clauses. The counterpart of anaphora.

Epizeuxis: repetition of a single word, with no other intervening words.

Hendiadys: use of two nouns to express an idea when it normally would consist of an adjective and a noun.

Hendiatris: use of three nouns to express one idea.

Homeoteleuton: words with the same ending.

Hypallage: a transferred epithet from a conventional choice of wording.[9]

Hyperbaton: two ordinary associated words are detached.[10][11] The term is also used more generally for any figure of speech that transposes natural word order.[11]

Hypozeuxis: every clause having its own independent subject and predicate.

Hysteron proteron: the inversion of the usual temporal or causal order between two elements.

Isocolon: use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses.

Internal rhyme: using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence.

Litotes: an understatement achieved by negating the opposite statement, such as "not too bad" for "very good", or "she is not a beauty queen" for "she is ugly", yielding an ironical effect.

Onomatopoeia: word that imitates a real sound (e.g. tick-tock or boom).

Paradiastole: A rhetorical device using euphemistic or mild language to avoid offence or harsh reality.

Parallelism: the use of similar structures in two or more clauses.

Paraprosdokian: A sentence or phrase with an unexpected twist or surprise at the end.

Paroemion: alliteration in which nearly every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter.

Polyptoton: repetition of words derived from the same root.

Polysyndeton: close repetition of conjunctions.

Sibilance: repetition of letter 's', it is a form of consonance.

Spoonerism: switching places of syllables within two words in a sentence yielding amusement.

Syncope: omission of parts of a word or phrase.

Symploce: simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe: the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning and the end of successive clauses.

Synchysis: words that are intentionally scattered to create perplexment.

Synecdoche: referring to a part by its whole or vice versa.

Synonymia: use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence.

Tautology: redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice.

Tmesis: insertions of content within a compound word.

Tricolon diminuens: combination of three elements, each decreasing in size.

Tricolon crescens: combination of three elements, each increasing in size.

Zeugma: the using of one verb for two or more actions.

QUESTION: List the common tropes.

ANSWER: from Wikipedia: Figure of Speech

Tropes are words or phrases whose contextual meaning differs from the manner or sense in which they are ordinarily used.

Accismus: expressing the want of something by denying it.[12]

Adynaton: an extreme form of hyperbole (exaggeration). It the opposite of understatement.

Allegory: a metaphoric narrative in which the literal elements indirectly reveal a parallel story of symbolic or abstract significance.[13][14][15]

Allusion: covert reference to another work of literature or art.

Anacoenosis: posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker.

Analogy: a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Anapodoton: leaving a common known saying unfinished.

Antanaclasis: a form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses.[16]

Anthimeria: transformation of a word of a certain word class to another word class: such as a noun for a verb and vice versa. [17]

Anthropomorphism: ascribing human characteristics to something that is not human, such as an animal or a god (see zoomorphism).

Antiphrasis: a name or a phrase used ironically such that it is obvious of what the true intention is: see verbal irony.

Antonomasia: substitution of a proper name for a phrase or vice versa.

Aphorism: briefly phrased, easily memorable statement of a truth or opinion, an adage.

Aporia: faked or sincere puzzled questioning.

Apophasis: (Invoking) an idea by denying its (invocation), also known as occupatio or paralipsis.

Apostrophe: when an actor or speaker addresses an absent third party, often a personified abstraction or inanimate object.

Bathos: pompous speech with a ludicrously mundane worded anti-climax.

Catachresis: blatant misuse of words or phrases.

Cliché: overused phrase or theme.

Dysphemism: substitution of a harsher, more offensive, or more disagreeable term for another. Opposite of euphemism.

Ekphrasis: lively describing something you see, often a painting.

Epanorthosis: immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue.

Euphemism: substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another.

Hyperbole: use of exaggerated terms for emphasis.

Hypocatastasis: an implication or declaration of resemblance that does not directly name both terms.

Hypophora: answering one's own rhetorical question at length.

Illeism: the act of referring to oneself in the third person instead of first person.

Innuendo: having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not.

Irony: use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning.[18]

Kenning: using a compound word neologism to form a metonym.

Litotes: emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite.

Malapropism: using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar.

Meiosis: use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something.

Merism: type of synecdoche referring to two or more contrasting parts to describe it's whole

Metalepsis: figurative speech is used in a new context.

Metaphor: an implied comparison between two things, attributing the properties of one thing to another that it does not literally possess.[19]

Metonymy: a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept.

Nosism: the practice of using the pronoun we to refer to oneself when expressing a personal opinion.

Non sequitur: statement that bears no relationship to the context preceding.

Onomatopoeia: words that sound like their meaning.

Oxymoron: using two terms together, that normally contradict each other.

Parable: extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson.

Paradiastole: extenuating a vice in order to flatter or soothe.

Paradox: use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth.

Paraprosdokian: phrase in which the latter part causes a rethinking or reframing of the beginning.

Parody: humouristic imitation.

Paronomasia: pun in which similar-sounding words but words having a different meaning are used.

Pathetic fallacy: ascribing human conduct and feelings to nature.

Personification: attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

Pleonasm: the use of more words than is necessary for clear expression.

Procatalepsis: refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument.

Proslepsis: extreme form of paralipsis in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic.

Proverb: succinct or pithy, often metaphorical, expression of wisdom commonly believed true.

Pun: play on words that has two meanings.

Rhetorical question: asking a question as a way of asserting something. Asking a question that already has the answer hidden in it, or asking a question not to get an answer, but to assert something (or to create a poetic effect).

Satire: humoristic criticism of society.

Sesquipedalianism: use of long and obscure words.

Simile: comparison between two things using like or as.

Snowclone: alteration of cliché or phrasal template.

Syllepsis: the use of a word in its figurative and literal sense at the same time or a single word used in relation to two other parts of a sentence although the word grammatically or logically applies to only one.

Synecdoche: form of metonymy, referring to a part by its whole, or a whole by its part.

Synesthesia: description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.

Tautology: superfluous repetition of the same sense in different words Example: The children gathered in a round circle

Zeugma: use of a single verb to describe two or more actions.

Zoomorphism: applying animal characteristics to humans or gods.

MJ. Smith

QUESTION: List some Logos/Verbum books relevant to the rhetorical study of the Bible?

ANSWER: from my library:

Barton, John. The Art of Rhetorick Concisely and Compleatly Handled Exemplified out of Holy Writ, and with a Compendious and Perspicuous Comment, Fitted to the Capacities of such as Have Had a Smatch of Learning, or Are Otherwise Ingenious. By J.B. Master of the Free-School of Kinfare in Staffordshire. Early English Books Online. London: Printed for Nicolas Alsop, and are to be sold at the Angel in Popes-head-alley, 1634.

Classen, Carl Joachim. Rhetorical Criticism of the New Testament. Edited by Martin Hengel and Otfried Hofius. Vol. 128. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000.

Cox, Leonard. The Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke. Early English Books Online. Imprinted at London: In Fletestrete by saynt Dunstones chyrche, at the sygne of the George, by me Robert Redman, 1532.

Meynet, Roland. Rhetorical Analysis: An Introduction to Biblical Rhetoric. Vol. 256. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.

Porter, Stanley E. Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 B.C.-A.D. 400. Leiden; New York; Köln: Brill, 1997.

Porter, Stanley E., and Dennis L. Stamps. Rhetorical Criticism and the Bible. Vol. 195. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series. London; New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.

Rainolde, Richard. A Booke Called the Foundacion of Rhetorike Because All Other Partes of Rhetorike Are Grounded Thereupon, Euery Parte Sette Forthe in an Oracion Vpon Questions, Verie Profitable to Bee Knowen and Redde: Made by Richard Rainolde Maister of Arte, of the Uniuersitie of Cambridge. 1563. Early English Books Online. Imprinted at London: By Ihon Kingston, 1563.

Sherry, Richard. A Treatise of Schemes [and] Tropes Very Profytable for the Better Vnderstanding of Good Authors, Gathered out of the Best Grammarians [and] Oratours by Rychard Sherry Londoner. Whervnto Is Added a Declamacion, That Chyldren Euen Strapt Fro[m] Their Infancie Should Be Well and Gently Broughte vp in Learnynge. Written Fyrst in Latin by the Most Excellent and Famous Clearke, Erasmus of Roterodame. Early English Books Online. Imprynted at London: By Iohn Day dwellinge ouer Aldersgate, beneth saint Martyns. And are to be sold at his shop by the litle conduit in Chepesyde at the sygne of the Resurrection, 1550.

Trible, Phyllis. Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah. Guides to Biblical Scholarship. Old Testament Series. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1994.

Williams, David J. Paul’s Metaphors: Their Context and Character. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999.

Wilson, Thomas. The Arte of Rhetorique for the vse of All Suche as Are Studious of Eloquence, Sette Forth in English, by Thomas Wilson. Early English Books Online. London: Richardus Graftonus, typographus regius excudebat, 1553.

Witherington, Ben, III. New Testament Rhetoric: An Introductory Guide to the Art of Persuasion in and of the New Testament. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2009.