Scheme (rhetoric)

In rhetoric, a scheme is a type of figure of speech that relies on the structure of the sentence, unlike the trope, which plays with the meanings of words. A single phrase may involve both a trope and a scheme, e.g., may use both alliteration and allegory.

Structures of balance

 * Parallelism – The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
 * Isocolon – Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
 * Tricolon – Use of three parallel structures of the same length in independent clauses and of increasing power
 * Antithesis – The juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
 * Climax – The arrangement of words in order of increasing importance

Changes in word order

 * Anastrophe – Inversion of the usual word order
 * Parenthesis – Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
 * Apposition – The placing of two elements side by side, in which the second defines the first

Omission

 * Ellipsis – Omission of words
 * Asyndeton – Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
 * Brachylogia – Omission of conjunctions between a series of words

Repetition

 * Alliteration – A series of words that begin with the same letter or sound alike
 * Anaphora – The repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
 * Anadiplosis – Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
 * Antanaclasis – Repetition of a word in two different senses
 * Antimetabole – Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
 * Assonance – The repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
 * Asyndeton – Lack of conjunctions
 * Chiasmus – Reversal of grammatical structures in successive clauses
 * Climax – Repetition of the scheme anadiplosis at least three times, with the elements arranged in an order of increasing importance
 * Epanalepsis – Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence
 * Epistrophe – The counterpart of anaphora
 * Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds without the repetition of the vowel sounds
 * Polyptoton – Repetition of words derived from the same root
 * Polysyndeton – Repetition of conjunctions
 * Symploce – Combination of anaphora and epistrophe