(Based on The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth)
Here’s something Forsyth inspired me to make to experiment with style and see what to add or remove from my writing toolbox.
For each of the figures of speech, try writing a few sentences (or more) using it. If you have the book, that’ll be handy since it has many examples of each type to get you thinking. Otherwise, a browser search plus the book’s Wikipedia page will be handy. Try not to focus on writing the best possible responses as much as practicing it and getting a feel for how it sounds in your writing. Good luck!
- Alliteration
- Polyptoton
- Antithesis
- Merism
- Blazon
- Synesthesia
- Aposiopesis
- Hyperbaton
- Anadiplosis
- Periodic sentences
- Hypotaxis and Parataxis
- Diacope
- Rhetorical Questions
- Hendiadys
- Epistrophe
- Tricolon
- Epizeuxis
- Syllepsis
- Isocolon
- Enallage
- Versification
- Zeugma
- Paradox
- Chiasmus
- Assonance
- The Fourteenth Rule
- Catachresis
- Litotes
- Metonymy and Synecdoche
- Transferred Epithets
- Pleonasm
- Epanalepsis
- Personification
- Hyperbole
- Adynaton
- Prolepsis
- Congeries
- Scesis Onomaton
- Anaphora
(Cross-posted from my other writing-focused blog)
Image credit: Pexels
Advertisements
