| Term | Definition |
| Parallelism | Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses |
| Isocolon | Parallelism in which elements are similar not only in structure but in length |
| Antithesis | The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure |
| Anastrophe | Inversion of the natural or usual word order |
| Parenthesis | Insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence |
| Apposition | Placing side by side two co-ordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first |
| Ellipsis | Deliberate ommision of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context |
| Asyndeton | Deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses |
| Brachylogia | Omission of conjunctions between single words or phrases, subsection of asyndeton |
| Polysyndeton | Deliberate use of many conjunctions |
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words |
| Assonance | The repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words. |
| Anaphora | Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses |
| Epanalepsis | Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. |
| Anadiplosis | Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause |
| Climax | Arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance |
| Antimetabole | Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order |
| Chiasmus | Reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses |
| Polyptoton | Repetition of words derived from the same root |