Rhetorical Terms Set 4

Allusion

a reference to a well-known person, place, or thing from literature, history, etc. Example: that person has the patience of Job (Biblical reference to Job’s trials.)

Annotation

explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data.

Antithesis

the presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs. Examples: “To be or not to be…” and “Ask not what your country can do for you, as what you can do for your country…”

Asyndeton

commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. Asyndeton takes the form of X, Y, AZ as opposed to X, Y, and Z.

Diction

word choice, an element of style; Diction creates tone, attitude, and style, as well as meaning.

Epigraph

the use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme.

Explication

the art of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text. Explication usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

Exposition

the immediate revelation to the audience of the setting and other background information necessary for understanding the plot; also, explanation; one of the four modes of discourse.

Induction

the process that moves from a given series of specifics to a generalization.

Interior Monologue

writing that records the conversation that occurs inside a character’s head.

Lyrical

songlike; characterized by emotions, subjectivity, and imagination.

Mode

the method or form of a literary work; the manner in which a work of literature is written.

Parable

a short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory.

Parallelism

the technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures by placing them side by side and making them similar in form. Parallel structure may be as simple as listing two modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of two or more of the same type of phrases (prepositional, gerund, appositive) that modify the same noun or verb; it may also take the form of two or more subordinate clauses that modify the same noun. Or, parallel structure may be a complex bend of single word, phrase, or clause parallelism all in the same sentence.

First Person Narrator

a narrator referred to as “I” who is a character in the story and relates the actions through her/his own perspective, also revealing her/his own thoughts.

Omniscient

third person narrator, referred to as “she,” “he,” or “they,” who is able to see into each character’s mind and understands all the action.

Limited Omniscient

third person narrator who reports the thoughts of only one character and generally only what one character sees.

Objective

a third person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera; thoughts and feelings are only revealed if a character speaks of them.

Red Herring

when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue.

Rhetorical Question

one that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience.

Simile

a figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to make a direct comparison between two essentially different objects, actions, or qualities. Example: “The sky looked like an artist’s canvas.”

Speaker

the voice of a work; an author may speak as herself/himself or as a fictitious persona. It is vital to understand that the speaker is not necessarily the author.

Syntactic Permutation

sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. They are often difficult for a reader to follow.

Tone

the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience. Examples: anger, sarcastic, loving, didactic, emotional, etc.

Understatement

the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.