Rhetorical Analysis Terms

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.

Analogy

A comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. Often, an analogy uses something simple or familiar to explain something unfamiliar or complex.

Anaphora

A device in which the writer repeats a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple clauses or sentences.

Anecdote

 A short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person that speakers use to illustrate a point

Antanagoge

A way of ordering points to downplay negative points, so the reader feels less strongly about them.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order. 

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

Aphorism

These are short, concise, and memorable statements that express a wise idea or truth.

Apostrophe

A rhetorical device in which the writer breaks out of the flow of the writing to directly address a person or personified object.

Call to Action

Ask your audience to do something.  Ask them to write to their congressman, to boycott a product, to disseminate information, etc.

Climax

Organizing single words, to short clauses, to longer sentences, to entire paragraphs so they proceed from the least to the most important to slowly build your reader up to a state of excitement, then deliver your crowning statements.

Concession to the Opposition

Concedes a point or two to win over opponents and to show the speaker is open-minded.

Distinctio

The writer elaborates on the definition of a word to make sure there is no misunderstanding.

Enumeratio

The act of supplying a list of details about something. It is used structurally to expand on a central idea, lending force to that idea by enumerating its many different facets.

Exclamations

Use of highly emotional or provocative statements. 

Exemplum

Providing your reader with an example to illustrate your point.

Hortative Sentence

A sentence that exerts, urges, intrigues, implores, or calls to action. 

Hypophora

The technique of asking a question, then proceeding to answer it.

Loaded Language

The use of name calling to evoke an emotional response and to make writing more memorable. 

Parallelism(Anaphora)

Repeat the use of a phrase or syntactical pattern to begin or end a series of sentences

Rebuttal/Refutation

Diminish the power of the opponent by anticipating and then countering his arguments or exposing the weaknesses of his arguments.

Repetition

Repeating the same sentence again in the same words or repeating the same word in a sentence is an important technique for achieving cohesion.

Restatement

Reiterate a key idea in a different way each time

Rhetorical Question

A question to which no answer is expected because the answer is obvious or a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.

Rhetorical Situation

Rhetoric is always situational and each situation

Sententia

A fancy term for a quotation, maxim, or wise saying.

Syllogism

A logical structure that uses the major premise and minor premise to reach a necessary conclusion.