Name: _______________________________
Period: ___
Basic Rhetoric
First of all, a little review:
■ Parallelism – Repetitive grammar structures within a sentence or among a group of
sentences. In this structural arrangement several parts of a sentence or several sentences are
developed and phrased similarly to show that the ideas in the parts are equal in importance.
Example: I like to sing, to dance, and to live.
[Here, the underlined elements are structurally the same – to + verb]
■ Chiasmus – A repetitive grammar structure that might be called “reverse parallelism” since
the second part of the construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse
order. Thus, an AB construction would be balanced by a BA construction.
Example: He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
A
B
B
A
[Here, the first structure is verb + compliment (AB), followed by the second structure of
compliment + verb (BA)]
■ Anaphora – The repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases,
clauses, or sentences.
Example: Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live
according to what he has learned?
[Here the underlined elements are the same and they are at the beginning of successive
sentences, thus they are said to be in anaphora]
For each sentence below, identify the rhetorical strategy being used. Be able to explain WHY!
(A) = Parallelism, (B) = Chiasmus, and (C) = Anaphora
1. What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly.
2. What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten.
3. Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm
by night in the forest of Darkness.
4. To think on death it is a misery, to think on life it is a vanity; to think on the world verily
it is, to think that here man hath no perfect bliss.
5. Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council
skilled.
6. If we can get the lantern lit, if we can find the main cave, and if we can see the
stalagmites, I’ll show you the one with the bat skeleton in it.
7. On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then it had a flat on the way home.
8. On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then on the way home it had a flat.
~ On the reverse side of this paper, write three sentences of your own (one using
parallelism, one using chiasmus, and one using anaphora).