Rhetorical Vocab

rhetoric

the study of effective, persuasive language use

Rhetorical situations

a situation where the speaker/writer produces a text that requires them to make strategic writing choices ,

EX: SPACE CAT

Speaker/writer

who’s speaking and do they take on a persona?

Persona

the character the speaker/writer takes on.

Purpose

Why the speaker is speaking; what do they hope to achieve.

EX: Anna’s purpose in “Do you wanna build a snowman?” is to build a relationship with her sister

audience

who is being addressed

context

circumstances surrounding the situation, time, place, and event.

exigence

what makes it urgent?; what inspired this person?

(rhetorical) choices

anything a writer does to effectively communicate .

logos

logic

pathos

emotion

ethos

credibility

tone

authors attitude

message

theme; what the writer wants the audience to think/know

analogy

a comparison made when things share a similar feature (overlap with similes and metaphor)

EX: a heart and a pump

appositive phrase

a group of words that rename/identify another noun or pronoun, set off by commas .

EX: Penny, my older sister , works for the University of Kentucky.

diction

an authors choice of words

anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses , or sentences .

EX: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France.” - Winston Churchill

antimetabole

the repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order .

EX: “Why am I dying to live if I am living to die?” - Tupac

antithesis

opposite or contrasting ideas in a balanced or para;;e; construction.

EX: “ The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here .” - Abraham Lincoln