Rhetorical Devices

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A study guide for Thomas so he doesn't have a panic attack by your girlfriend who loves you :)

English

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24 Terms

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Allegory

Sustained metaphor where the people and places represent something else; often use animals to communicate meaning

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Analogy

Like a metaphor or simile (in that it is a comparison), but the comparable elements are explained

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Metaphor/Simile

Both comparisons

Metaphor - a direct comparison

Simile - an indirect comparison using like, as, or than

The author uses something familiar to help explain something unfamiliar

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Understatement/Euphemism

Using a word or phrase to reduce the severity of an idea or statement

Often used to communicate denial, insecurity or pity

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Diction

Deliberate word choice - the word has a certain meaning or association.

Positive connotation - positive association

Negative connotation - negative association

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Allusion

Authors make reference to known events or people to help the reader understand new information (biblical, classical and topical)

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Repetition

Repeating a word or phrase IN CLOSE SUCCESSION

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Anaphora

Using the same phrase or word to being successive sentences

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Irony - the opposite of what the reader would expect

Three types of irony:

  1. Verbal - Sarcasm

  2. Dramatic - when the audience knows more than the characters in a work of literature

  3. Situational - when the outcome is different than what was intended

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Personification

Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object or idea (to make the setting reflect what is happening in the text)

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Imagery

Using descriptive language (adjectives and adverbs) to create a VIVID mental picture in the reader’s head

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Symbolism

Attaching an abstract idea (intangible) to a concrete (tangible) object, shape, colour etc.

Symbol is specific to THAT text

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Oxymoron

Two contradicting words are used together in a sentence or phrase

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Alliteration

The repetition of initial letters to draw emphasis to a specific phrase or line

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Juxtaposition (Contrasting)

A side by side contrast or comparison to emphasize differences (sometimes this is diction, sometimes theme, sometimes through imagery

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Onomatopeia

Words that sound like a noise or that are associated with the sound that it makes

Plays on the reader’s sense of hearing

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Hyperbole/Litote

A purposeful over exaggeration for effect

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Climatic Word Order

Similar words are listed in order of emphasis to highlight the writer’s idea

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Amplification

The repetition of similar terms that relate to a central idea for the purpose of creating emphasis

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Pun

A joke that uses words with different meanings or sound alike but have different meanings

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Pathetic Fallacy

When the weather reflects the themes, mood, tone of the text

Natural world mirrors what is happening in the human world

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Idiom

A commonly used phrase that is often not meant to be taken literally

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Anecdote

A short story, often personal, that helps to explain the author’s message through the use of an example

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Rhetorical Question

A question that has an implied and obvious meaning. Used to reiterate a key fact or idea