APLANG RHETORICAL DEVICES

Abstract

Language

Dealing in intangibles, as opposed to concrete

• Honesty

• Sweetness

• Robert is nice

• We’re going away

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence

• Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.

• She sells seashells by the seashore.

• One wide whale waddled in waves with his wife.

Allusion

A reference to something in history, mythology, literature, religion, etc. which the

author expects the audience to recognize

• He is as old as Methuselah

• The teddy bear was named for Theodore Roosevelt

• “Four score and seven years ago” (MLK)

• “All that David Copperfield kind of crap” (Salinger)

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings – either intentional or unintentional – of a word, phrase,

sentence, or passage

Analogy

A comparison between two objects to show similarities between them

Anaphora

Repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the

beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

• We cannot dedicate --- we cannot consecrate --- we cannot hallow...

(Lincoln)

• We live, we laugh, we love

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting or humorous incident

Antecedent

A word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun

• Sally raised her hand. (her refers to Sally)

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel

form/construction

• Man proposes, God disposes

• “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” – Neil Armstrong

Aphorism

A wise and witty saying that teaches a lesson

• Early to bed, early to rise, makes the Willowbrook student healthy,

wealthy, and wise.

• “I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.” – Albert Einstein

Apostrophe

Not the mark of punctuation – A figure of speech in which someone (usually not

present) or some abstract quality, is directly address as though present

• “O, pardon me, thou bleeding earth” (Julius Caesar)

• “O rose, thou art sick”

• O’ Brother, where art thou?

• “O’ eloquent, just, and mighty death!”

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

• Thrice

• Whilst

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds

• “Sorrow, sorrow for my lost Lenore” - Poe

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

(conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

• “And I want you to feel it – the wind coming off the river, the waves, the

silence, the wooded frontier.”

Cliché

A trite or overused idea or expression

Circumlocution

An ambiguous, indirect, or paradoxical way of expressing something; Literally,

"talking around" a subject; i.e., discourse that avoids direct reference to a subject

Conceit

An extended metaphor; a lengthy comparison that usually runs several lines to a paragraph

Concrete

language

Descriptions that include tangible images with details a reader can visualize

• He is untidy and unclean (abstract)

• Paul leaves his dirty dishes on the counter (concrete)

Connotation

The emotions and associations that a word may arouse

Consonance

The repetition of similar consonant sounds

• the pitter patter of little feet

Cumulative

Sentence (Loose Sentence)

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on; Note the independent clause at the beginning of the sentence

• Education has no equal in opening minds, instilling values, and creating opportunities.

Deductive

Reasoning

A form of logical reasoning that follows “top down” logic, or follows that general ideas to be true; therefore, a conclusion is true

• If all planets orbit a star, and Theta II is a planet, then it must orbit a star.

Denotation

A word’s literal meaning

Diction

Word Choice

Ellipsis

The omission of one or more words that, while essential to a grammatical structure, are easily supplied; marks to indicate omission of a word or words

• Histories make men wise, the poets subtle

• The boats sailed to the east, the submarines west.

Epigraph

A literary device in the form of a poem, quotation or sentence usually placed at the beginning of a document or a simple piece having a few sentences but which belongs to another writer

Epigram

An “Inscription”; a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way

Epilogue

The concluding section of a work

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences

• There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans—not as Democrats or Republicans—we are met here as Americans to solve that problem. – Lyndon B. Johnson

Epithet

An adjective or phrase applied to a noun to accentuate a certain characteristic

• The Founding Fathers

• Blundering fool

• Magic Johnson

Exigence

a sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.

• Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Hyperbole

An extreme exaggeration for effect

Inductive

Reasoning

A method of reasoning in which a number of specific facts or examples are used to make a generalization

Image

A picture aroused in the mind: words that summon up the picture or that appeal to any of the senses

Imagery

The renderings of events or details as they immediately appear to the senses

Irony

An attitude or a way of writing that depends on a difference between what is real and what only seems to be real. Irony that depends on words is called verbal irony; the author may say one thing and mean another. Another is dramatic irony: the reader of a story or audience of a play may perceive a special meaning in a character’s words or actions which the character himself does not perceive.

Invective

A speech or writing that attacks, insults, or denounces a person or topic

Jargon

A specific type of language used by a group or by a profession

Juxtaposition

Placement of two ideas/words/concepts closely together to emphasize

comparisons or contrasts

• The atheist cries there is no God while the Christian cries there must be.

• Make love, not war.

Metaphor

Figure of speech that says one thing is another in order to explain by comparison

• Life is a rollercoaster

• Jungle of suspicion

Metonymy

A trope in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly, and often physically, associated with it.

• Calling a monarch/royalty “the crown.” The crown is a physical symbol

of royalty.

• Referring to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers as “9-11.” The date represents the experience that happened in the United

States.

• You can't fight “city hall.”

Occasion

The reason or moment for writing or giving a speech

Onomatopoeia

Wording that signifies the meaning through sound effects

• hiss or sizzle

Overstatement

Paradoxical juxtaposition

• Jumbo shrimp

• Living deaths

• Working vacation

• Deafening silence

Paradox

A statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense yet may be true.

• The coach considered this a good loss. (good loss is also an oxymoron)

• The first will come last and the last will come first

• Can an all-powerful being create something greater than itself?

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

• “The end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science

is performance” – Aristotle

• The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit.

• I bought a can of fruit, a bottle of milk, and a bag of candy.

Periodic

Sentences

Sentence whose main clause, main idea, or “weight” is withheld until the end.

• If the class size were smaller, the teachers were better, and the degree was

nationally recognized, I would be willing to pay more for tuition.

• Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons were wet, each man

carried a green plastic poncho...

Personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or idea.

• The trees danced in the wind.

Polysyndeton

The repetition of conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

• “All my aunts and uncles were there, and Abraham Lincoln, and Saint

George, and a nine-year-old girl named Linda...and a blind poet, and LBJ, and..”

Rhetoric

The art of persuasion through speech and writing.

Rhetorical

Question

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for getting an answer.

• Will you join in that historic effort?

• Would you bite the hand that feeds you?

Simile

Comparison using like or as.

Syllogism

A form of logical reasoning that joins two or more premises to arrive at a conclusion.

• All humans are mortal; Socrates is a human; therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Symbol

Something specific that is used to stand for an idea. A literary symbol, for example, may be a thing (an old tower) or an action (climbing stairs), and it is to be used so that it becomes highly suggestive. (Climbing stairs, for instance, may be used to symbolize the struggle to gain wisdom)

Synecdoche

A trope where a PART of something represents the WHOLE. It is a form of metonymy (some rhetoricians do not even distinguish the difference between the two).

· Referring to your boat as “the sail”

· The “ABCs” instead of saying the alphabet

· If I had some “wheels,” I'd put on my best “threads” and ask for Jane's hand

in marriage.

· "20 heads were bowed down over the exam”

Syntax

Sentence Structure

Tone

The attitude of the author

Understatement

The ironic minimization of fact; opposite of hyperbole

· Be sure to study a little bit for the AP exam. – Meaning you should study A LOT!