AP LANG RHETORICAL DEVICES
questions and answers with solutions
2025
alliteration - ANSWER repetition of sounds at the beginning of a word
assonance - ANSWER repetition of a vowel sound
consonance - ANSWER repetition of a consonant sound
cacophony - ANSWER harsh discordance of sounds (e.g. jack cut crispy carrots)
euphony - ANSWER pleasing sounds from a combination of words
parallelism - ANSWER repetition of similar words/phrases/ideas to represent that the ideas are of equal
or higher value & importance
isocolon - ANSWER parallelism relating to equal length (syllables/word count)
chiasmus - ANSWER words are repeated in reverse order (e.g. the fire burned, burned the fire)
antithesis - ANSWER opposition or contrast of ideas/words in a balanced or parallel structure
climax - ANSWER height of suspense; turning point in literature; sentence structured in increasing
importance
anticlimax - ANSWER an event/conclusion/statement that is less powerful than built up
paraprosdokian - ANSWER a sentence/phrase in which the second half is surprising and causes one to
rethink the first half
, anaphora - ANSWER repetition of the first word/phrase in successive sentences
epistrophe - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase at the end of a phrase/sentence
epanalepsis - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase at regular intervals; a sentence starts & ends with the
same word
anadiplosis - ANSWER repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next
commoratio - ANSWER attempting to prove a point by repeating it several times in different ways
tautology - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase without specific purpose/meaning; redundancy
anacoluthon - ANSWER a construction involving a break in grammatical sequence
anastrophe - ANSWER inversion of typical word order
parenthesis - ANSWER an aside; an explanatory part of a sentence that cannot stand on its own
apposition - ANSWER two elements, normally noun phrases, placed side-by-side so that one element
modifies/defines the other
hysteron proteron - ANSWER a figure of speech in what should be last comes first; an inversion of the
natural order (e.g. I die! I faint! I fail!)
ellipsis - ANSWER omission of words when something is implied; can be done without an ellipses (...)
juxtaposition - ANSWER placing of contradictory things next to one another
questions and answers with solutions
2025
alliteration - ANSWER repetition of sounds at the beginning of a word
assonance - ANSWER repetition of a vowel sound
consonance - ANSWER repetition of a consonant sound
cacophony - ANSWER harsh discordance of sounds (e.g. jack cut crispy carrots)
euphony - ANSWER pleasing sounds from a combination of words
parallelism - ANSWER repetition of similar words/phrases/ideas to represent that the ideas are of equal
or higher value & importance
isocolon - ANSWER parallelism relating to equal length (syllables/word count)
chiasmus - ANSWER words are repeated in reverse order (e.g. the fire burned, burned the fire)
antithesis - ANSWER opposition or contrast of ideas/words in a balanced or parallel structure
climax - ANSWER height of suspense; turning point in literature; sentence structured in increasing
importance
anticlimax - ANSWER an event/conclusion/statement that is less powerful than built up
paraprosdokian - ANSWER a sentence/phrase in which the second half is surprising and causes one to
rethink the first half
, anaphora - ANSWER repetition of the first word/phrase in successive sentences
epistrophe - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase at the end of a phrase/sentence
epanalepsis - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase at regular intervals; a sentence starts & ends with the
same word
anadiplosis - ANSWER repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next
commoratio - ANSWER attempting to prove a point by repeating it several times in different ways
tautology - ANSWER repetition of a word/phrase without specific purpose/meaning; redundancy
anacoluthon - ANSWER a construction involving a break in grammatical sequence
anastrophe - ANSWER inversion of typical word order
parenthesis - ANSWER an aside; an explanatory part of a sentence that cannot stand on its own
apposition - ANSWER two elements, normally noun phrases, placed side-by-side so that one element
modifies/defines the other
hysteron proteron - ANSWER a figure of speech in what should be last comes first; an inversion of the
natural order (e.g. I die! I faint! I fail!)
ellipsis - ANSWER omission of words when something is implied; can be done without an ellipses (...)
juxtaposition - ANSWER placing of contradictory things next to one another
