Summer Rhetorical Terms

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines: This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

Anecdote

A short, personal story: Louv describes his friend’s experience shopping for an SUV and how “The salesman’s jaw dropped when I said I didn’t want a backseat television.”

Antimetabole

Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order (very similar to chiasmus): When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Antithesis

Juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas (often, although not always, in parallel structure): "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." —Abraham Lincoln

Asyndeton

a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and in the sentence

A. One type is used between words, phrases and a sentence: “Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?”

B. Second type is used between sentences or clauses: “Without looking, without making a sound, without talking.”

Colloquialism

the use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writing.

Diction

precise word choice--always use with a descriptor (adjective) before the word: Examples of correct usage: controlled ______, passionate ______, uplifting _________

Epistrophe

Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —Emerson

Hyperbole

Rhetorical exaggeration; is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors: I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

Irony

Speaking/writing in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest. Remember the three main types: situational, dramatic, verbal.

Juxtaposition

a technique in which two or more ideas, places, people, characters and/or their actions are placed side by side in a piece of writing for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

Maxim

One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings: Actions speak louder than words.

Metonymy

Reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes: The pen is mightier than the sword. (The pen is an attribute of thoughts that are written with a pen; the sword is an attribute of military action.)

Oxymoron

Placing two ordinarily opposing terms adjacent to one another. A compressed paradox: old news, bittersweet

Paradox

A statement that is self-contradictory on the surface, yet seems to evoke a truth nonetheless; longer and more complex than an oxymoron: Whosoever loses his life shall find it.

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses; verb tenses are consistent

I enjoy going out to a movie as much as I enjoy renting a movie and staying home to watch it.

Parody

an imitation of a particular writer, artist or a genre, exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect.

Polysyndeton

Employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm: I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water. —Ernest Hemingway

Satire

a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule.

Syntax

a set of rules in a language that dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought; determines how the chosen words are used and arranged to form a sentence; this is NOT diction; refers to the structure within sentences in a piece of writing. 

Tone

an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience; is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Understatement

 a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is (also called meiosis): A person flips out in anger over a hockey game on television and breaks their TV: "I have a little bit of a temper."

Vernacular

a literary genre that uses everyday, daily language in writing and speaking.

Voice

the form or a format through which narrators tell their stories.

Wit

a literary device used to make the readers laugh; has paradoxical and mocking quality, and evokes laughter through apt phrasing.

Speaker

the voice that speaks behind the scene/writing.

Audience

the person for whom a writer writes, or composer composes. A writer uses a particular style of language, tone, and content.

Message

idea put across by author.

Exigence

the catalyst for the writing. 

Ethos

appeal to credibility of the speaker; involves persuasion by the writer/speaker involved (not an ethical (morality) appeal)

Pathos

appeal to emotion; a quality that evokes pity or sadness, or emotion.

Logos

appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason.