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Spicing Up Your Prose Part 5 of 6

This week, we continue to add to our collection of rhetorical devices.


Polysyndeton uses conjunctions to string phrases in a series.

The library was dim and overly warm and full of sneaky shadows.

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail would keep Dick from finding Jane.

Polyptoton repeats words from the same root but with different inflections appearing in close proximity.

Dick believed the only thing they had to fear was fearlessness.

Prefabs can be used to create two and three beat rhythms to speed the sentence up. They include, but are not limited to:


  • boom and bust
  • bump and grind
  • daily double
  • doom and gloom
  • ebb and flow
  • eager beaver
  • fixer-upper
  • flimflam
  • flip-flop
  • harum-scarum
  • helter-skelter
  • herky-jerky
  • hip-hop
  • hotsy-totsy
  • hour of power
  • hurly-burly
  • itsy-bitsy
  • lean and mean
  • meet and greet
  • moldy oldie
  • namby-pamby
  • near and dear
  • oopsy daisy
  • razzle-dazzle
  • rinky dink
  • rise and fall
  • rough and ready
  • rough and tough
  • rough and tumble
  • shilly-shally
  • splish-splash
  • super-duper
  • super-saver
  • surf and turf
  • teenie-weenie
  • thrills and chills
  • tit for tat
  • topsy-turvy
  • town and gown
  • wear and tear
  • wheeler-dealer
  • whipper-snapper
  • wild and wooly
  • wishy-washy
  • zigzag

Next week, we will contine adding spices to your prose shelf.

For the complete list of spices and other revision layers, pick up a copy of: 

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