Rhetoric Vocab (WCS)

Rhetoric

effective or persuasive communication

Anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or lines

Antithesis

opposition, or a contrast of ideas or words in a balanced & parallel construction

Asyndeton

lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Metaphor

implied comparison of two objects that have nothing in common

climax

an arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power.  

Alliteration

repetition of the beginning consonant of several words in a sentence

Allusion

phrase or segment that refers to another work of art, noted person, or historical document

Call to Arms

invitation, or appeal to undertake a particular course of action  

Ethos

ethics or credibility; a trusted source of information

Logos

Logic; based on factual evidence, to make sense, follows a believable order

Pathos

emotion; to appeal to human emotions

Amplification

writer makes a point twice in a row, with greater emphasis, details, or explanation the second time—thus, amplifying it.

Litotes

Using understatement, along with a double negative

Parallelism

arrangement of words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures placed side by side, making them similar in form

Antimetabole

A figure of speech in which words or clauses from the first half of a sentence are repeated in the second half of the sentence in reverse order.