figures of speech turns of phrase, schemes, tropes, ornaments, colors, flowers

Schemes and Tropes Schemes and tropes both have to do with using language in an unusual or "figured" way: Trope: An artful deviation from the ordinary or principal signification of a word. Scheme: An artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words. Examples "I work like a slave" [trope: simile] "I don't know if I'm working my job or my job, me" [schemes: antimetabole, ellipsis, personification] Categories of tropes and schemes. Click on a category to see specific figures of speech, or proceed directly to the tropes page or the schemes pages to see them all. To see other organizational methods for the figures of speech, click here. Kinds of Tropes Reference to One Thing as Another Wordplay and puns Substitutions Overstatement/Understatement Semantic Inversions Kinds of Schemes Structures of Balance Change in Word Order Omission Repetition