Rhetoric Strategies

metaphor

metaphor

is a comparison in which something is said to figuratively be something else.

Example: He was a wolf among sheep.

hyperbole

is an intentional exaggeration.

Example: The plate exploded into a million pieces.

alliteration

is repeating the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words.

Example: She sells seashells by the sea shore.

analogy

is a comparison between two similar things, typically using figurative language. Metaphors and similes—more on them later—are usually considered to be types of analogies. Sometimes, analogies are considered to be a unique device that is a comparison that explains itself; basically, a complex metaphor or long simile.

Example: Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get.

onomatopoeia

is a word that imitates the sound it refers to.

Example: The thunder boomed and the lightning crashed.

allusion

is the act of casually referencing something, usually a work of popular culture.

Example: Finishing his memoir was his white whale.

oxymoron

is a figure of speech that uses two opposite words together.

Example: The treaty led to a violent peace.

satire

is using humor to criticize public figures.

Example: When Senator Jackson said “numbers don’t lie,” he forgot that his first name wasn’t “Numbers.”

paradox

refers to making a statement that seems self-contradictory or impossible but actually makes sense.

Example: Youth is wasted on the young.

simile

is a comparison in which something is said to figuratively be like something else.

Example: It was as hot as a desert this morning.

irony

means to use words to mean the opposite of their literal meaning. (verbal, situational, dramatic)

Example: Ashley said it was a beautiful day while drying off from the drenching rain. (Ashley ironically referred to poor weather as “beautiful.”)

personification

is the act of giving human elements to non-human things.

Example: The beautiful valley spread its arms out and embraced us.anecdote

anecdote

is a brief story about something that happened to the speaker, usually something funny or interesting.

Example: Five years ago, I went to the store and met some clowns. Those clowns gave me the advice I am sharing with you now.

euphemism

is using alternative language to refer to explicit or unpleasant things.

Example: The baseball struck him in a sensitive area.

connotation

is using words to suggest a social or emotional meaning rather than a literal one.

Example: This is a house, but I want a home.

apostrophe

occurs when a writer or speaker directly addresses an absent person, a concept, or an inanimate object.

Example: You have made a fool out of me for the last time, washing machine!

antithesis

is using parallel sentences or clauses to make a contrast.

Example: No pain, no gain.

sarcasm

is using irony to mock something or to show contempt.

Example: Oh, yeah, he is a great guy. A great guy who took the last slice of pizza.

consonance

is a repetition of consonants or consonant sounds.

Example: Mike likes Ike’s bike.

rhetorical question

is a question that isn’t intended to be answered. The point of asking the question is to make an audience think or to cause an emotional reaction.

Example: Can we really know what our place in the universe is? We have asked ourselves this question for millennia.

epithet

is a nickname or descriptive term used to refer to someone.

Example: You need to listen to me and not Clueless Kevin over there.

anaphora

is the repetition of a word or words at the start of phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

climax

is ordering words so that they build up in intensity.

Example: Look at the sky! It’s a bird! A plane! Superman!

cacophony

is the act of purposefully using harsh sounds.

Example: The gnashing of teeth and screeching of bats kept me awake.

assonance

is the repetition of the same vowel sound with different consonants.

Example: She and Lee see the bees in the tree.

pun

when they humorously use words with multiple meanings or words with similar sounds to create wordplay.

Example: The farmer tried to get his cows to get along, but they insisted on having a beef with each other.

parallelism

is using grammatically similar phrases or sentences together.

Example: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

aphorism

is a short sentence that presents truth or opinion, usually in a witty or clever manner.

Example: A penny saved is a penny earned.

synecdoche

is when a part of something is used to refer to a whole.

Example: The commander had an army of 10,000 swords. (The people holding the swords were there, too.)

parody

is an imitation of something with the intent to poke fun at it.

Example: If Edgar Allen Poe had written this speech, it might have opened with “Here we are, weak and weary, gathered on a Monday dreary.”

colloquialism

is an instance of informal language or a local expression. The act of using such language.

Example: Here in Philly, we love to eat hoagies and all kinds of tasty jawns.

Understatement (litotes)

is using language to intentionally lessen a major thing or event.

Example: The erupting volcano was a little problem for the neighboring city.

syllogism

is an argument based on deductive reasoning that uses generalizations to reach specific conclusions. Usually, a syllogism follows the format of “A is B. B is C. So, A is C.”

Example: Dogs are mammals. Biscuit is a dog. Therefore, Biscuit is a mammal.

Example: He is the LeBron James of chess.

Juxtaposition

The intentional arrangement of things side by side to highlight similarity or contrast.

Example: The author ______ the speech of the swearing sailor with that of the nun to add humor.

metonymy

is when the name of something is replaced with something related to it.

Example: He loved music from the cradle (birth) to the grave (death).

parenthetical

is an interruption used for clarity.

Example: The audience, or at least the paying members of the audience, enjoyed the show.

expletive

is an interrupting word or phrase used for emphasis.

Example: The eggs were not, in any sense of the word, delicious.

Ethos Logos Pathos

The intentional appeal to credibility, logic, or emotion to persuade an audience

Example: The speaker’s ____ was clear as he was able to both cite plenty of quantitative evidence which created a logical appeal, as well as personal anecdote that created a ____ appeal as well.

chiasmus

is reversing the grammatical order in two otherwise parallel phrases or sentences.

Example: Dog owners own dogs and cats own cat owners.

asyndeton

is the removal of conjunctions from a sentence.

Example: Get in, cause a distraction, get out.