Rhetorical terms

Tone

Expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject, considered the sound of the 'voice.'

Attitude

A feeling or emotion toward a fact or state; a mental position with regard to a fact or state.

Denotation

The specific, exact meaning of a word; a dictionary definition.

Connotation

The emotional implications that a word may carry; implied or associated meaning for a particular word.

Allusion

A figure of speech which makes a brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object.

Colloquial

Informal expressions accepted in certain geographical areas and groups, e.g., 'pop' for soda.

Erudite

Language characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly in tone.

Simile

A figure of speech which compares two unlike quantities using 'like' or 'as'.

Metaphor

A figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without using 'like' or 'as'.

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor introduced and further developed throughout a literary work.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect and emphasis; overstatement.

Personification

A figure of speech where inanimate objects are given qualities of speech and/or movement.

Paradox

A statement containing seemingly contradictory elements that may be seen as true from another angle.

Oxymoron

A technique used to produce an effect by seeming self-contradicting.

Imagery

Devices which appeal to the senses: visual, tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and kinetic.

Cliché

A worn out idea or overused expression.

Idiom

An expression common and familiar but not taken literally.

Pun

A play on words wherein a word conveys two meanings at the same time.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something non-human or someone not present.

Litotes

Understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary.

Euphemism

A substitute word that sounds better than another; neutral words describing harsher concepts.

Understatement

A statement in which the literal sense falls short of the magnitude of what is being talked about.

Irony

The use of words to convey a meaning opposite to its literal meaning.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Jargon

The language used for a particular activity or by a particular group of people.

Vernacular

A language or dialect native to a region or country.

Dialect

Speech particular to a region; exhibits distinctions between groups.

Juxtaposition

The positioning of ideas or images side by side for emphasis or contrast.

Analogy

The comparison of two things that are alike in several respects for clarification.

Anecdote

A short narrative about a real incident or person used to make a point.

Hypophora

A device where the author poses a question which is then answered.

Absolute Language

Language that allows for no exceptions.

Qualified Language

Language that puts limitations on a claim.

Phrase

A group of words expressing a single idea but not forming a complete sentence.

Clause

A group of words containing a subject and a verb forming a simple or complex sentence.

Independent Clause

A group of words that can function alone as a full sentence.

Simple Sentence

A sentence that contains one independent clause without a dependent clause.

Subordinate Clause

A clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Participial Phrase

A phrase that looks like a verb but actually functions as an adjective.

Prepositional Phrase

A series of words made up of a preposition and its object.

Infinitive Phrase

The infinitive form of a verb plus any complements and modifiers.

Imperative Sentence

A sentence that gives a direct command.

Declarative Sentence

A sentence that makes a statement.

Interrogative Sentence

A sentence that asks a question.

Parallelism

The repetition of syntactical similarities in passages closely connected for effect.

Antithesis

When two opposite ideas are contrasted in a sentence.

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of the first part of a sentence for artistic effect.

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

Repetition

When a word is intentionally interspersed multiple times within a text.

Compound-complex Sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Polysyndeton

The use of several conjunctions in close succession.

Asyndeton

The omission of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

Compound Sentence

A sentence containing two or more independent clauses.

Complex Sentence

A sentence containing one or more dependent clauses in addition to the main clause.

Periodic Sentence

A sentence that leaves the completion of its main clause to the end, creating suspense.

Cumulative Sentence

A sentence that begins with a main clause followed by phrases and/or clauses that modify it.

Pronoun

The part of speech that substitutes for nouns or noun phrases.

Antecedent

The noun that a pronoun refers back to in a sentence.